Adobe puts an end to the diversity of hiring objectives after changes at industry scale

Another technology giant – Adobe – reduces its hiring objectives of diversity.

During an internal meeting of all hands on Monday, the director of Adobe’s people, Gloria Chen, said that Adobe would no longer hold diversity, equity and the hiring of inclusion, objectives, nicknamed “ambitious objectives”, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by Business Insider.

The ambitious objectives were set in 2020 to “increase global diversity and inclusion” at leadership levels, according to Adobe’s business blog. The objectives included the increase in the representation of female leadership at 30% in the world, the doubling of the minorities underrepresented in the leadership roles and the doubling of the representation of blacks in percentage percentage US employees by 2025.

“We interrupt the practice of setting ambitious representation objectives while pursuing our concentration on fair and consistent hiring practices,” said Chen, adding that Adobe has never really hired on such quotas.

Adobe is the last of a long list of companies, including Google, Meta, McDonald’s and Deloitte, to reduce its Dei initiatives. The change follows decrees published by President Donald Trump in January aimed at putting an end to the Dei programs within the federal government and its entrepreneurs.

Adobe’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comments.

‘Need more transparency’

During the meeting on Monday, the CHEN HR chief added that the decrees can be “complex” to interpret and that Adobe “assesses” many programs, activities and internal practices to ensure that the company complies with them.

Chen added that Adobe does not believe that the withdrawal of Dei applies to countries outside the United States for the moment. In November, Adobe had just over 30,000 employees worldwide, including 50% in the United States, according to a business file.

Adobe also deleted all the diversity mentions in his latest proxy declaration, a change spotted for the first time by Michelle Leder, founder of football Nedud, a site that analyzes dry deposits. Adobe mentioned diversity 22 times in the proxy of the previous year. This year’s proxy has also removed a graphic on the diversity of administrators.

Some Adobe employees have shared their frustration in an internal breakdown chain, according to screenshots seen by Bi. An employee said that Adobe’s unique culture to embrace different perspectives, called Adobe for all, now seems “lost”. Another said it was “heartbreaking” and had asked for additional advice from the management team.

“I think we all need more transparency around this problem,” said one of the people.

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