Wells Fargo appears to have quietly rebranded its public-facing DEI language earlier this summer, completely eliminating all diversity language, HR Brew found while comparing the current version of the company’s site to a previous version, recovered through an archival site.
The company’s website now refers to the program as “inclusion and accessibility” and features a host of other changes.
In February, Wells Fargo said it would no longer require hiring managers to consider a diverse slate of candidates for upper-level positions, but that appeared to be the only major change to its DEI programming, Bloomberg reported. (On August 15, protesters demanded the company reinstate the requirement, along with its environmental commitments, according to WCNC Charlotte.)
That same month, Wells Fargo also appeared to remove from its website a section on the company’s long history with diversity and inclusion, which honored its work with the first national organization for lesbians, its support for Japanese-Americans held in US concentration camps, and its Spanish-language support, which dates back to the 1800s.
Then, at the end of May, Wells Fargo’s DEI landing page, sub-page, and related content disappeared from its website. While the company had used to display openly text about advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, touting its annual DEI report, racial equity assessment and pay equity analysis, that information has no longer appeared on its website; HR Brew recovered the deleted information through the Wayback Machine archival site.
The site also previously shared information on its DEI councils that were developed to “support our lines of business and international leaders to help implement programs and initiatives,” but the company did not respond when asked if the councils still exist. Wells Fargo’s employee resource networks (often referred to as ERGs) appear to be active and information on them is still available.
Ebony Thomas, who was named head of DEI in May 2024, still oversees Wells Fargo’s DEI efforts, according to her LinkedIn. However, the company appears to have publicly kept aspects of DEI that some legal experts believe could be less risky, including recruiting veterans and military spouses, supporting disabled workers, and its Neurodiversity Program, which was established in 2020.
It’s a far cry from last fall, when Wells Fargo called DEI “a business imperative.” Still, the company has had previous struggles with DEI. In 2022, it came under fire for a performative diversity hiring policy that led to fake interviews, the New York Times reported. Its CEO, Charles Scharf, had also been criticized for comments he made in 2020 about finding Black talent.
Wells Fargo did not respond to requests for comment.
This report was originally published by HR Brew.
