Companies that kept DEI commitments saw higher reputation scores in 2025
Companies that maintained their commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion saw reputation scores rise in this year's Axios Harris Poll 100 reputation rankings.
Why it matters: Unclear corporate values or a lack of conviction — most recently seen through mass DEI walk-backs — can hinder reputation.
By the numbers: Across all 100 companies, corporate reputation declined by an average of 2.34 points in 2025.
However, those companies that held firm on their DEI commitments saw scores rise by an average of 1.5 points.
The big picture: Several companies have scaled back their DEI benchmarking goals amid concerns of legal exposure after the Trump administration's calls to dismantle DEI programs within corporate America.
Yes, but: According to a recent Pew Research study, a slim majority of U.S. workers say increasing DEI at work is mainly a good thing.
Zoom in: Reputation scores are tabulated based on trust, culture, ethics, citizenship, vision, growth, and products and services.
Patagonia and Costco rank within the top three in character, culture and citizenship.
Microsoft, which saw one of the largest score increases since last year, ranked "excellent" across the categories of trust, culture and vision, among others.
Meanwhile, most companies that saw a decline in reputation in the past year also rolled back or revised their DEI policies.
AB InBev — which ranked "poor" across the reputation categories of ethics, citizenship and character — has seen its reputation decline more than 10 points since 2021.
The Walt Disney Company has seen a 7-point slide since 2021, and Target's score declined by 5 points. Both fall in the bottom 25% in terms of ethics.
Of note, Google revised its DEI policies but still saw a significant increase in score (+2.3 points) due to its "excellent" score for products and services and "very good" ranking for trajectory, vision and growth.
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