We WON’T drop woke insurance policies to placate Donald Trump, say British bosses

Most British bosses are refusing to follow their American counterparts by falling into line with Donald Trump’s war on woke.

A poll by the Institute of Directors (IoD) has revealed that 71 per cent of UK firms will not scale back so-called ‘equity, diversity and inclusion’ (ED&I) initiatives in the face of his attack on them.

Many organisations in the US have responded to the President’s cajoling by rethinking their approach to issues such as racial inequality and transgenderism.

Even those outside America are being caught up in the backlash with the White House demanding that universities that receive US funding prove the money is not being spent on diversity projects.

It also puts pressure on businesses operating in the United States, even if their headquarters are overseas. 

Yesterday, Barclays said it was scrapping its diversity and inclusivity targets in its US business, but made clear that they would continue to apply across the rest of the company.

War on woke: Many organisations in the US have responded to the president’s cajoling by rethinking their approach to issues such as racial inequality and transgenderism

The IoD, which conducted a survey of 605 bosses in March, found that while most did not feel the need to bend to Trump’s views as they shape their workplace policies, 11 per cent do expect to scale down diversity activities in the near future.

Alex Hall-Chen, principal policy advisor for employment at the IoD, said: ‘This research suggests that, while developments in ED&I in the US may have some spill-over effect in the UK, the vast majority of UK workplaces will see no change. 

Particularly for employers with no US presence, the prevailing view among British businesses is that decisions made by the US government and US companies will have little to no bearing on investment in their own ED&I programmes.

‘However, some global employers will undoubtedly have to tread a difficult line between avoiding divergence with US counterparts and meeting the expectations of UK stakeholders.’

Trump signed a series of executive orders instructing US government agencies to cease so-called ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ (DEI) programmes. 

That has prompted many American companies to fall into line with the new attitude and ditch such programmes themselves.

Notably, Instagram and Facebook-owner Meta decided to remove tampons from men’s toilets.