FRANKFURT, March 19 — Swiss drugmaker Roche has abandoned global targets for a more diverse workforce to avoid penalties from recent United States executive orders, the latest in a slew of companies to do so.
Among measures taken, Roche said its chief diversity offices in the US and at its Basel headquarters “will focus on inclusion and belonging, and responsibilities will be re-scoped accordingly”. Diversity was not mentioned under the offices’ new remit.
According to a memo to global staff made available to Reuters, the changes were made to ensure that Roche “can continue to deliver medicines and diagnostic solutions to patients”.
A number of US companies have been scaling back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes since US President Donald Trump declared some elements of DEI illegal and threatened possible investigations into firms that practise it.
Among companies not headquartered in the US, Swiss bank UBS this week scrapped references to establishing women in management roles and hiring employees from ethnic minority backgrounds from its 2024 annual report.
Roche said the changes would also take effect outside the US “because our global programmes and goals can have an impact on our US organisations if we are not compliant under the new law”, read the memo.
— Reuters
