President Trump has only been in office for a little more than 100 days, but his policy changes have already had widespread consequences for workplaces across the country, as businesses anticipate newfound challenges.
Nearly 85% of employers believe that the federal changes to DEI policy will have an impact on their business during the first year of the Trump administration, according to a new survey from Littler, the largest global employment and labor law firm, which surveyed around 350 legal and HR leaders across various industries. And around 75% of employers said that they had concerns about the business and legal impacts of immigration policy changes.
“The findings illustrate that topics dominating the headlines—including immigration and inclusion, equity and diversity (IE&D)—are creating significant challenges for employers both from a workforce management and legal perspective,” the report reads.
Jorge Lopez, chair of the immigration and global mobility practice group at Littler, tells Fortune that employers are running into problems when it comes to how these topics intersect with their ability to adequately staff their companies.
“Not because employers are going out there and hiring undocumented workers,” he says. “But they’re concerned because of a higher level of scrutiny and review mechanisms from a compliance perspective, and what impact that could potentially have.”
Almost immediately after his inauguration, President Trump signed an executive order eliminating all federal DEI programs. He also signed a directive ordering federal agencies to “combat illegal private sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.” Although this would only affect companies who are already operating illegally, those signals from the executive branch acted as an impetus for many major corporations to roll back their policies—a trend that had already begun the year before.
The president has also taken unprecedented steps to crack down on immigration, declaring a national emergency at the southern border, and attempting to limit birthright citizenship, although the latter issue has been blocked in court. The administration has also received widespread criticism for sending hundreds of immigrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador on the allegations they were gang members, despite the fact that many had never been tried and convicted. Last week, he called for an additional 20,000 ICE officers to help with immigration arrests.
When it comes to DEI, however, there is still significant employer resistance despite the presidential interest. Around 45% of employers said that they are not currently considering new or further rollbacks of their diversity policies.
“Even as some organizations modify their programs in response to the administration’s priorities, it’s unlikely that IE&D will disappear any time soon,” writes Jeanine Conley Daves, a member of the firm’s Inclusion, Equity and Diversity Consulting Practice. “It remains an important talent recruitment and retention strategy at many organizations.”
