Business travel leaders have vowed to retain diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies despite a growing backlash against diversity initiatives in the US.
Duro Oye, founder and chief executive of social enterprise and youth empowerment organisation 20/20 Change, acknowledged the government-led backlash in the US when he addressed the Corporate Travel Summit last week and warned: “It’s only a matter of time before we see it here.”
But he told the conference of Business Travel Association (BTA) and Advantage Global Business Travel members: “We can’t be followers of what is happening in the US
“The Trump administration will only be there for four years, so this will pass. But people won’t forget how they were treated [by employers].”
He insisted: “We want equal treatment. Why would we change the term DEI.” But he suggested: “People pushing for this [diversity, equity and inclusion] in the US won’t call it DEI. They will call it something else.”
Oye noted worldwide expenditure on DEI has been estimated at $7.5 billion and said: “If business have spent that much, it could be they have spent it on the wrong things.”
He explained: ““We place people at a junior level and they progress. Post-Covid so many organisations thought ‘Let’s just bring in a DEI director’. But you need to invest in this in the right way rather than parachuting people in.”
Pat McDonagh, chief executive of Clarity Business Travel, said: “There is a cost to doing this but also a cost to not doing it. We need diversity of recruitment to get talent in [to the industry]. A lot of us have invested heavily in apprenticeships.”
Sian Sayward, director of people, partnerships and projects at meetings and travel management company Inntel, insisted: “DEI initiatives have to be seen as investments. Not doing this will mean less return in future.”
Kevin Harrison, director of Good Travel Management, agreed saying: “There are a lot of challenges. But if we don’t invest in this, opportunities are lost.”
BTA chief executive Clive Wratten told the conference: “Our industry is a leader in this area [regardless of] what is going on across the pond with diversity, equity and inclusion.”