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EDITOR’S COMMENT Donald Trump loomed over many a conversation at last week’s MIPIM conference about many a part of the market, and rarely for good.
I spent some of Tuesday morning talking about just one: the US president’s pushback against diversity, equity and inclusion in governmental and corporate America – and what it means in the rest of the world.
First things first, in case it needs to be made clear, Trump’s criticism of what he has called “illegal and immoral discrimination programmes” is nonsensical. His executive order banning DEI initiatives in federal agencies or contractors said: “Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect”. That is, of course, exactly what DEI initiatives are put in place to ensure.
But nonsense can still be toxic and can still undo years of progress. Swathes of companies in the US have now amended or even abandoned DEI initiatives and targets.
The topic was unavoidable at a Real Estate Balance and Greystar panel I chaired at MIPIM. At that event, I asked Jo Davis, chair of Real Estate Balance and UK chair of agency Avison Young, how significant a moment this was for the DEI agenda and what concerned her about announcements coming out of the US. She gave two takes: one glass-half-full, one glass-half-empty.
“There is no point pretending. What’s happening across the pond is going to impact what’s happening here… My glass-half-empty [view] is it is serious, we need to be concerned,” she said.
And the glass-half-full view? Just look around the Greystar villa and the people who had travelled up from la Croisette to listen to the discussion, Jo said.
“To make great places you need diversity of voice and diversity of people. You don’t get that by not continuing on the journey,” she added. “It’s our collective responsibility to keep banging on the table and making sure those changes don’t fall away. You can’t start the journey and then decide to get off the bus with something as important as this.”
In real estate, companies are already adjusting. Look at the 2024 annual reports published by the big US-listed real estate agencies over recent weeks and the trend seems clear. None have said they’re lessening their focus on diversity and inclusion, but they’re certainly talking about it less.
10-K filings from big agencies including Cushman & Wakefield, CBRE, JLL and Newmark for 2023 all included paragraphs in their “human capital” sections outlining initiatives in areas termed “diversity, equity and inclusion”, “diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity” or similar. This year, none has included that sub-section or any reference to such phrases.
These are just words. Omitting them doesn’t mean the companies in question are also jettisoning the ideas behind them. Colliers’ annual report this year talks about the firm’s efforts to create “a supportive workplace where everyone can thrive”. But it does so without using the words “diverse” or “inclusive”, both of which it used in that same section of the report a year ago.
I truly hope it is just words being lost, not intent. But these companies are far from alone in rethinking the language they use, even if they still believe in the moral and business reasons for past efforts. Analysis from the Financial Times last week found “hundreds” of US companies have removed some or all references to DEI from annual reports this year, including 90% of the largest companies in the S&P 500 index to have filed a 2024 report.
Real estate will be worse as an industry if it abandons DEI – and the buildings and places it makes will be worse too. So do as Jo at Real Estate Balance said: bang on the table. Loud words and unavoidable action. No matter what is said and done across the pond, this is not the moment to stop the journey short.
