Many large Australian employers are winding back their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, with some scrapped altogether, amid an “anti-woke” backlash triggered by the Trump administration in the US, new research has found.

A new report by Australia’s major workplace inclusion organisation, Pride in Diversity (PID) found that one in ten executives surveyed said their businesses were stepping back from DEI policies or ending programs entirely.

And many has cancelled their membership of PID, the survey – of 92 senior leaders, board directors and executives – found.

Lead author of the ‘National Conversation’ report Dawn Emsen-Hough said trends first seen in the US were now present in Australia.

“What began internationally as targeted opposition to trans inclusion quickly broadened into resistance to LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion and a wider anti-woke campaign,” Ms Emsen-Hough said.

“These currents are no longer distant, they are being felt in Australia.”

While the report focuses on LGBTQ+ employees, it has implications for people from ethnically diverse communities.

Employers told the survey Donald Trump’s election and rollback of DEO measures had “opened the floodgates” globally and encouraged Australians to challenge local inclusion measures.

Leaders said the tone of their programs had alienated workers, especially those not belonging to minority groups, sparking dismissive language and dissent towards company policy.

Growing hostility in public discourse led one company to stop running transgender inclusion training out of fears for gender-diverse staff, the report said.

Paul Zahra, PID patron and former chief executive of David Jones, said the retreat was misguided and could deter people from coming out as LGBTQ at work or home.

“Organisations pulling back [are] responding to imported culture war narratives that don’t reflect Australian workplace realities,” Zahra said.

PID member organisations were subjected to negative campaigns and some ended their partnerships, Zahra said.

The program still includes nearly 500 major employers, including ASX200 companies such as the big four banks, leading law and accounting firms, government agencies, universities and not-for-profits.

But some employers said promoting DEI programs risked losing US customers.

“We are having to remove the word diversity from presentations in case the US sees it,” one executive told the survey.

Big Australian companies have already been quietly winding back their DEI efforts.

The Commonwealth Bank, Macquarie Bank and miner BHP have all slashed references to DEI in their annual reports.

But most Australian companies were working to avoid backlash by softening language and broadening their inclusion programs, rather than scrapping measures, the report said.

Read the full report: TheNationalConversation.pdf