If not considered shortly after the draft opinion was leaked in May, it took more than a month for the company to formulate a response to the termination of the federal abortion right in the United States.
However, when the final decision arrived at the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on Friday, a relatively small number had nothing to say about the results.
Most companies remained silent, including those known for speaking about social issues such as Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ rights. Some companies that blacked out their Instagram pages in 2020 or posted the rainbow flag on their Pride Month website have been hesitant to comment on abortion.
Dave Fleet, head of the global digital crisis at consulting firm Edelman, said: “They are worried about the backlash because they know there is no way to please everyone.”
Many companies that issued a public statement on Friday chose to work on ways in which the Supreme Court’s ruling could affect workers’ access to health care. In some cases, they avoided the word “abortion” altogether, perhaps aiming for a more palatable reaction.
“The process is in place to ensure that employees who may not have access to care in one location have affordable coverage to receive similar levels of care in another,” Disney executives said. He wrote a note to the staff and added that “family planning” was also included. (Including pregnancy-related decisions). “
Other companies that have said they will cover the travel expenses of employees who gave birth on Friday include Warner Bros., Condé Nast, BuzzFeed, Vox Media, Goldman Sachs, Snap, Macy’s, Intuit, and Dick’s Sporting Goods. They have joined groups such as Starbucks, Tesla, Yelp, Airbnb, Netflix, Patagonia, DoorDash, JPMorgan Chase, Levi Strauss & Co., PayPal, OKCupid, Citigroup, Kroger, Google, Microsoft, Paramount, Nike, Chobani, Lyft, Reddit. did. I had previously implemented a similar policy.
“Employers are a way for many people to access the health care system,” Fleet added. “I see companies looking inward first.”
Several companies have made statements on these policy changes. Roger Lynch, head of Condé Nast, called this decision a “catastrophic blow to reproductive rights.” Lyft said the ruling “will hurt millions of women.” Jonah Peretti, CEO of BuzzFeed, called it “regressive and scary.” For some business leaders, co-founder and former Microsoft head Bill Gates called the ruling an “injustice and unacceptable setback,” and former Meta executive officer Sheryl Sandberg. “Undo the progress women have made in the workplace.”
However, many companies that spoke on social issues such as racism did not respond to or declined to comment after the Supreme Court’s ruling, including Target, Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola, Delta, and Wendy’s. Hobby Lobby, which filed a proceeding with the Supreme Court in 2014, challenged whether employer-provided health care should include contraception and refused to comment on Dobbs’ decision.
In recent years, there have been increasing expectations for companies to tackle political and social issues. According to consumer research firm Forester, the percentage of online American adults who believe companies are responsible for participating in discussions on current issues has increased over the past year.Expectations are even more pronounced among young social media users, according to a survey from Sprout social..
When George Floyd was killed by police in 2020, public companies and their foundations invested more than $ 49 billion to combat racial inequality. After a Republican-led parliament in Georgia restricted access to voters last year, some CEOs, including Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines, criticized the law, and 72 black business leaders were “discriminatory” to corporate leaders. We have issued a letter urging you to “openly oppose the law.” “
When it comes to abortion, public opinion is a little different. Forrester found that few respondents believed that businesses should take a stance on abortion. Opinion polls consistently show that the majority of Americans believe that abortion is legal in all or most of the time, Recent research According to the Pew Research Center, people have broad views on morals on this issue. Companies are afraid of the possible backlash from confronting this issue.
Mike Proulx, Vice President and Research Director of Forrester, said:
Political involvement is rarely an easy choice for corporate leaders. Disney, which has long avoided partisan politics, faced internal backlash this year when it didn’t take a strong stance on Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” law, but Florida legislators did. Occasionally we canceled special tax incentives. John Gibson, CEO of gaming company Tripwire Interactive, quickly replaced after speaking in favor of a Texas abortion ban six weeks after pregnancy.
2020 study Of the 149 companies listed in the Journal of Marketing, corporate activity had a negative impact on the performance of a company’s stock market, but if the activity matched the value of the company’s consumers, it had a positive impact on sales. Has been exerted.
Both engaging and deciding not to be involved can come at a price.
“We need to be careful not to take the wrong lessons from some of those moments,” said Fleet of Edelman. “It’s pretty easy to look at a failed company and say,’Well, you shouldn’t say anything,’ but in fact, some clients who say nothing make a mistake.”
Some companies warned staff on Friday to be careful about how to discuss decisions at work. “There will be a lot of public debate about this decision,” Citigroup’s Human Resources Director wrote to staff. “Remember that we must always respect each other, even if we disagree.”
Meta publicly said on Friday that it would reimburse employees for travel expenses to have an abortion. However, according to three employees, the company quoted a policy of putting “a strong guard rail around social, political and sensitive conversations” in the workplace about the court’s ruling on a wide range of internal communications channels. I told the workers not to discuss it openly.
However, there are other companies that have not avoided a more serious statement about abortion, and they are urging other companies to match their tone and commitment.
OkCupid sent a notification to app users in states where abortion is restricted, urging them to contact officials elected to support the abortion. Melissa Hobley, Global Chief Marketing Officer, works behind the scenes to make other female business leaders promise to help abortion.
“We had to say we screwed in the risk,” she said. “It’s an economic issue, it’s a marketing issue. If you’re in a prominent, competitive industry like technology, law, or finance, you’re all fighting for women’s talent.”
Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman said he felt it was important to talk about access to abortion, whether or not there was a business case for abortion.
“Sure, not everyone agrees when you talk about these issues,” he said. “Looking at this, we felt very strongly that it was the right thing to do,” he added. “It was a 50-year reconciled law.”
Some business leaders said they were concerned about how abortion restrictions would affect their ability to hire workers. These states include Texas, which has been crowded with high-tech companies in recent years.
research Consignment The Tara Health Foundation found that two-thirds of the college-educated workers surveyed discouraged employment in Texas due to restricted abortion legislation and passed similar legislation in other states. I found that I would not apply for employment.
“Employers like us may be the last line of defense,” said Civitech, chief operating officer of Texas-based 55 companies building technology tools for political campaigns. One Sarah Jackel said. The company promised to cover the travel expenses of employees in need of abortion shortly after the Texas Ban SB 8 passed.
Jackal said the policy has gained strong support from both employees and investors, but if anyone used it, the company refused to share it.
“It makes business sense,” she added. “There is no reason why we should be in a position to choose whether to keep our employees working or to carry out unwanted pregnancies.”
Emily fritters, Lauren Hirsch, Mike isaac, Kate kelly, Ryan Mac, Benjamin Marine When Katie Robertson Report that contributed.
