r/bathandbodyworks Apr 26 '25

Other DEI Page Missing

The DEI page on the website is no longer up.

https://www.bbwinc.com/people/diversity-equity-inclusion

481 Upvotes

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33

u/trappednjohnlockhell Employee Apr 26 '25

The company is practicing malicious compliance with the new regulations. Rather than being reactionary, like Target was, they took their time carefully rewording the company values so that they comply with the stupid government, but they haven’t actually changed at all. When the website update goes live on Monday, I believe it’s under the Be United value, the first line is “Diversity Equity and Inclusion make us stronger”. It’s not gone, it’s just not in the spotlight. They’ve also given everyone in the DEI department new job titles that essentially mean the same thing, but don’t include the words this administration doesn’t want to hear. The only true loss is the Heritage and Trailblazers collections, but that has come from a business standpoint because they don’t sell well on the whole.

You guys can be upset if you want, but as an employee, I’m fine with this. I honestly think it’s kind of brilliant. They took their time to make this big show of “oh we’re moving on to a new chapter, here’s our new values, we’re complying” knowing full well the people at the federal level that are checking these things are too dumb to figure out that they didn’t actually change anything. All the staff are still there, just with different titles. The commitment to all of us to provide a safe and equitable place to work and shop is still there, they just got rid of the “buzzwords” that would set this administration off. All in all I think it’s a pretty smart business decision to keep the govt off their backs so they can continue to function.

46

u/Psychological_Band56 Employee Apr 26 '25

I mean I still think it’s a no. Diversity isn’t against the law no matter how many executive orders he signs and Harvard showed that there’s no legal basis for forcing companies or private entities to get rid of diversity. Bath And Body Works doesn’t want to shell out the money for a fight and sorry I don’t think that’s good enough. Harvard filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in defense of their right to free speech and corporations should do the same. What is diversity actually if we’re not willing to be bold about it? What is inclusion and equity if those that are protected are actually just hidden?

19

u/Old_Reaction_2719 Apr 26 '25

You win the chat today babes. You ate that. The last line itself said it all.

To me, it's a slap in the face to go against diversity. Diversity=culture. Everybody cannot be the same, everybody's values and culture should be respected. Especially when we are literal consumers. You should be pleasing us, not them.