In Trump era, companies are rebranding DEI efforts, not giving up

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end the government's DEI programs.

Despite DEI becoming such a divisive term, companies aren't necessarily ending their efforts.

Some experts say organizations will be forced to be more thoughtful about their plans.

Many companies are continuing DEI work but using different language or rolling it under less charged terminology.

Terms like "DEI" and "belonging" dropped between 2023 and 2024 .

Amazon reorganized its DEI group in 2023 to better represent the nature of the work.

Google announced in February that it would retire its aspirational DEI hiring targets.

The sensitivity of the term DEI came to the forefront at SXSW earlier this month .

Amazon eliminated references to inclusion and diversity in its annual report and altered a website to remove sections titled " Equity for Black people" and "LGBTQ+ rights" Amazon CEO Andy Jassy characterized the DEI eliminations as being part of Amazon 's ongoing cost-cutting efforts.

Experts that spoke with CNBC said they've yet to lose any clients as a result of DEI backlash.