Diversity, fairness, inclusion are ‘propaganda words’, says world’s richest man Elon Musk

Elon Musk on Friday night criticized Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as “propaganda words” regardless of efforts by Tesla Inc. to advertise such initiatives.

The billionaire is chief government officer and the biggest shareholder of Tesla, the electric-vehicle maker which has boasted that underrepresented teams make up the vast majority of its US workforce. The firm didn’t reply to requests for touch upon Musk’s views, made on the social-media platform X, which he owns.

Tesla, with headquarters in Austin and factories in California, Nevada, Texas and New York, revealed its first ever Diversity, Equity and Inclusion report in December 2020. More not too long ago, DEI efforts have been a part of the EV maker’s annual influence report.

“We are proud to be a majority-minority company with a large representation of employees from communities that have long struggled to break through the historic roadblocks to equal opportunity in the U.S.,” says the corporate’s 2022 Impact Report.

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Tesla has held hiring occasions concentrating on girls and college students of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic-Serving Institutions, in addition to a number of inside occasions to have fun worker variety. It additionally has a number of Employee Resource Groups and the corporate in 2022 launched a nationwide inside DEI publication.

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In February 2022, California’s civil rights company sued Tesla for “rampant racism” on behalf of Black staff on the firm’s Fremont manufacturing facility. In September, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission additionally sued Tesla for subjecting Black staff “to severe or pervasive racial harassment.”

“Inclusion is everyone’s responsibility,” Tesla stated in its influence report. “From day one during onboarding, employees are exposed to our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) principles and are encouraged to join Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) — led by passionate individuals who care about creating a strong community experience within Tesla.”