Employees of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) expressed concern in January after Meta’s top HR executive announced that that company would no longer put resources toward hiring and working with diverse and underrepresented job candidates and business suppliers (a suite of practices often referred to as DEI, for diversity, equity and inclusion), according to internal CZI messages viewed by the Guardian.
In the days after the end of Meta’s diversity efforts became public, CZI employees wrote in a Slack group for managers and executives that they found the changes at Meta “extremely troubling” and asked whether CZI executives would “reaffirm” the organization’s values, according to screenshots of the messages.
Despite CZI’s assurances to staff that Zuckerberg’s changes to Meta will not affect CZI, employee concern has been brewing in recent months as they’ve watched their co-leader make public moves to forge ties with Donald Trump and his administration, some more overt than others.
Mark Zuckerberg’s charity confirms support for DEI despite Meta’s overhaul Exclusive: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative workers express concern, as recent changes there similar to those at Meta.
While Chan is seen inside CZI as its day-to-day leader, Zuckerberg also makes decisions for the organization, including ones regarding layoffs and reorganization, and is said by a current employee to maintain oversight of CZI’s yearly budget.
