US Companies Avoid Hiring White Men as Part of Diversity Push

Hundreds of companies are deliberately shunning white men for jobs amid pressure to make workplaces more diverse, a survey has found.

A poll of 1,216 of American businesses with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies found that one in 10 avoid hiring white men altogether and six in 10 human resource (HR) managers put diversity over qualifications when selecting candidates.

The study, conducted by website Resume Builder, also found that one in three HR managers believe that “reverse discrimination” occurs because of DEI policies. Three-quarters suspect that these policies were introduced “in part for appearances”.

The survey comes after Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders that banned federal agencies and businesses with government contracts from having DEI policies.

Last month, the Trump administration sent letters to France and other EU countries warning that the DEI ban applied to companies outside of America if they had US contracts.

Many male Trump voters believe that US society discriminates against them, recent studies show – despite white men being disproportionately represented in every state in high-paying jobs.

Although the UK branches of businesses such as McDonald’s and Deloitte have kept their DEI policies in place – despite their US counterparts scrapping them – HR advisers say similar tensions are evident in the British recruitment market.

Some diversity schemes have faced a public backlash in recent weeks amid concerns that white workers are being blocked from certain jobs.

The Conservatives this month proposed plans that could force bosses to justify “racist” hiring practices for white workers, after West Yorkshire Police temporarily blocked applications from white British candidates for its police constable entry programmes.

NHS England has also come under scrutiny after documents showed that managers were having to justify hiring white British citizens.

Under an amendment to Angela Rayner’s Employment Rights Bill, Conservative peers say that employers should be required to give those who lost out a chance to anonymously ask questions about the process.

Bosses would then be required by law to respond to the questions, justifying their decision.

That could impact senior staff such as Amanda Blanc, the Aviva boss, who has previously admitted that all senior white male recruits must get final sign-off from her.

Ms Blanc, who became Aviva’s first female chief executive in 2020, told the Treasury select committee in 2023 that there was “no non-diverse hire at Aviva without it being signed off by me”. It is understood that her comments applied only to senior hires.

However, a tribunal ruled in 2023 that wanting to hire “fewer white men” for a job is not discrimination.

In the UK, it is legal to take “positive action” to support the recruitment of someone based on their race, gender or sexuality.

However, positive discrimination, where a minority candidate is explicitly favoured over a white candidate who is better qualified, is illegal.