Roche Scraps Global DEI Leadership Targets on Trump Pressure

(Bloomberg) — Roche Holding AG scrapped long-held global diversity targets for its leadership, showing how pressure from the Trump administration is causing companies to back away from DEI policies outside the US.

The impact will go beyond Roche’s US unit, called Genentech, to affect the Swiss drugmaker’s business worldwide, management told workers late Tuesday in an email that was seen by Bloomberg News.  

“Many of you may wonder why changes in US law may require adjustments at the global level, rather than just within our US entities,” Roche said in the staff email. “It is because our global programs and goals can have an impact on our US organizations if we are not compliant under the new law.” 

Roche is the latest in a growing number of companies to bow to US government pressure to do away with diversity and inclusion targets. The drugmaker had previously pulled US-specific diversity targets from the Genentech website, but until this week had said it didn’t plan to change its efforts elsewhere.

Roche’s crosstown rival Novartis AG has also walked back some DEI efforts. Novartis will “retire the use of diverse slates and panels as part of the hiring process for any role located in the US,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday. Unlike Roche’s shift, the Novartis change will only apply inside the US.

Roche’s long-term, stated goal was to have diverse leadership that reflects its workforce. That will be replaced with a statement that the company will seek to “foster an inclusive environment that inspires people to perform at their best,” the email said, without mentioning diversity.

Roche had set incremental annual goals for boosting the number of female leaders and leaders from under-represented nationalities. It aimed eventually to have half of its leaders and 40% of global executives be women, according to its 2024 annual report. 

Those targets will now fall away, according to people close to the drugmaker who asked not to be named because the discussions were private.

The drugmaker had also sought to have a quarter of its executives be from under-represented nationalities by 2030. 

Roche planned to discuss the change in a town hall with workers on Wednesday, the people said. Managers decided it was important to communicate openly about the change, one person close to the discussions said.  

The company has “consistently adapted to changing external dynamics to comply with local laws and regulations wherever we operate,” a Roche spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement. The drugmaker is making the changes to ensure it’s “compliant with the new requirements in the United States,” the statement said. 

Genentech is based in South San Francisco, California, and about a quarter of Roche’s 103,000 employees are in North America, meaning that changes in the US workforce would alter its ability to hit worldwide targets. 

Roche’s chief diversity offices in the US and at its headquarters in Basel will now focus on “inclusion and belonging,” according to the email to employees. That will mean some changes in responsibilities, the email said.

The US pharmaceutical market is the most lucrative in the world and crucial for Roche. Last year, the country accounted for more than half of Roche’s drug sales. The company is also a US government contractor.   

(Updates with Novartis change in the fifth paragraph)

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