Last week, major European companies were invited by US embassies to follow a decree from US President Donald Trump who prohibits companies from having guidelines linked to diversity, equality and inclusion if they want to do business with the United States.
Now Swedish telecom giant Ericsson has cleared all such formulations from its annual report, reports Today’s industry.
“Diversity” completely removed
“Ericsson strives to create an organization that is characterized by diversity and inclusion,” it says in Swedish telecom giant Ericsson’s annual report from 2023.
But, in the company’s annual report from 2024, the formulations on “diversity” and “inclusion” are no longer left. A comparison between the annual reports Dagens Industri shows that previous formulations on diversity have now been replaced with “equal treatment and opportunities”.
From having previously been twelve times in the section on the company’s personnel policy, “diversity and inclusion” now does not occur at all. The telecom giant has also removed a formulation about an equal gender distribution among newly hired employees, writes the magazine.
Ericsson believes that the changes in the annual report have not been made after pressure from the United States, reports Di.
In a written comment to SVT, Ericsson’s press manager Ralf Bagner says that the language in the company report has been updated for “increased clarity” – and that the company does not allow discrimination.
“Ericsson has not changed working methods in terms of diversity and inclusion. We regularly review and update the language in our communication, for example in the annual reports, to ensure clarity and consequence.” writes Ralf Bagner.
Lego takes after while Volvo is stuck
Danish Lego has also removed the words “diversity” and “inclusion” from the annual report, reports Dagens Industri with reference to the Danish business site Finans. They should also have formulated about parts of the report that deal with gender balance in the management.
However, Svenska AB Volvo has left the words- and believes that the executive order from Donald Trump does not affect the company’s diversity and equality work.