Molson Coors Beverage Co. has made changes to its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programmes, with the US drinks major moving to a "broader view in which all employees know they are welcome".
In a staff memo sent yesterday (3 September), Molson Coors said its "previous DEI-based training programmes" have been completed, with all US staff having taken part.
The Coors Light brewer said it was drawing up "the next evolution of our company trainings, focused on growth for our business and a strong workplace where everyone can thrive".
However, the company has pulled a goal on supplier diversity, will no longer take part in the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) corporate rankings and will stop linking executive compensation to staff representation. Molson Coors says it has never had hiring quotas at the company.
Last month, it emerged spirits giant Brown-Forman had scrapped its diversity and inclusion policies and ended its participation in the HRC index, which rates businesses on their treatment of LGBTQ+ staff.
The Woodford Reserve brand owner said it would be “ensuring” executive incentives and employee goals are tied to business performance and that it would be removing its “quantitative workforce and supplier diversity ambitions”.
US home-improvement chain Lowe’s and motor companies Ford and Harley-Davidson have also scaled back their DEI programmes.
The web pages on Brown-Forman’s site that listed its diversity and inclusion policies have been removed, as have those of Molson Coors as of today.
Orlando Gonzales, VP of programmes, research and training at the HRC, said today (4 September): “The LGBTQ+ community is an economic powerhouse, and we want to work for and support companies who support us.
“Attacks on DEI initiatives are shortsighted and make our workplaces less safe and less inclusive for hard-working Americans of all demographics and backgrounds.
“Companies like Molson Coors, Ford, and others that abandon their values and backtrack from commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion risk losing both top employee talent and consumer dollars.”
Last year, Anheuser-Busch InBev faced a consumer backlash after a social media promotional tie-up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who quickly became a target of transphobic abuse from conservative-leaning figures in the US, leading to calls for a boycott of the Bud Light brand.
Despite numerous attempts by AB InBev to quell the controversy, Bud Light’s sales slipped dramatically in the US, with the beer losing its crown as the country’s best-selling beer to Constellation Brands’ Modelo Especial.
In February, AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris told analysts during a full-year earnings call that the group was still feeling the effects of the backlash and that it would continue to see growth slowly come back quarter-by-quarter.
