Corporate Consolidation Is Undoing Diversity Work Before It Compounds
According to The Washington Post, the FCC under Chair Carr is prepared to block mergers and acquisitions involving companies that continue promoting diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Verizon and T-Mobile, which had transaction reviews before the commission, eliminated their DEI programs to facilitate deal approval. Meta eliminated several DEI-related activities, including supplier diversity programs and its internal DEI function. Trump’s executive order banning certain DEI-related policies among federal contractors has had a ripple effect across the private sector, with many large companies reconsidering their DEI commitments.
Mergers kill initiatives before they compound. When companies merge, departments consolidate. Diversity and inclusion departments are often considered duplicative and are eliminated. This kills diversity initiatives exactly when they might begin measurable impact. Diversity work takes time to compound. Hiring practices change slowly. Advancement patterns change even more slowly.
The investment in early years—awareness training, data infrastructure, recruiting strategy changes—begins to produce results in years five through ten as hiring cohorts advance through the pipeline and promotion patterns shift. A company that hires 40% women in year one will see that cohort reach manager level in years six to seven if advancement patterns are equitable. By years eight to ten, the pipeline feeds diversity into senior roles. But the payoff takes time.
When you eliminate diversity infrastructure after five years instead of letting it run ten years, you never reach the point where progress becomes self-sustaining. You eliminate programs exactly when they’re beginning to transition from requiring external management to beginning to drive organic change.
A company that invested five years building diversity infrastructure—hiring practices targeted at women and people of color, mentorship programs, training, data systems to track demographic progress—was acquired in year five. The new parent consolidated recruiting. Diversity became the acquiring company’s diversity agenda. The prior diversity team was eliminated as redundant. Investment was sunk. Progress erased.
The senior leader who authored the diversity strategy was absorbed into a regional role where diversity is not their primary responsibility. The diversity team members are laid off or repositioned. The infrastructure that tracked hiring and promotion data is dismantled. The mentorship relationships that were supporting advancement are disrupted. The momentum is lost.
Then the merged company resets. New hiring without the infrastructure to ensure inclusion reverts to previous patterns. The demographic composition remains predominantly white and male. Diversity work never compounds into systemic change.
Corporate consolidation is systematically undoing diversity work by eliminating infrastructure before it can take root. Not always intentional but structural. A merger creates opportunity to cut costs. Diversity departments are considered soft functions. Progress requires compounding. Cutting infrastructure after five years means you never reach where progress becomes self-sustaining. The next round of consolidation will kill future diversity work. Without infrastructure, inclusion cannot persist without constant external investment.
