Columbia University’s $220 million deal with the Trump administration last week included a commitment to “not maintain programs that promote unlawful efforts to achieve race-based outcomes, quotas, diversity targets, or similar efforts.” It’s the latest in a series of high-profile and behind-the-scenes retreats from DE&I (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs at companies and institutions in the U.S. and around the world.
But not everywhere.
At Babbel, the Berlin-based language learning platform with about 1,000 employees, DE&I remains a core part of the company’s identity. “We’ve always had the value that diversity makes us stronger,” said Eileen Barnard, Principal Organisational Culture Manager, DE&I at Babbel. “That has just been who we are.”
Babbel’s products teach new languages, which is inseparable from exploring new cultures and diverse points of view. “Our entire purpose is creating mutual understanding through language. I think that says quite a lot about who we are as a company,” Barnard said. “If you are going to bring people together… you have to have DE&I at your core.”
Babbel’s DE&I work is visible from day one. “When people join, we have a DE&I onboarding. So everyone knows where we stand. We talk about it,” Barnard explained. “We have DE&I guidelines that are internal, but we have shared externally as well… with freelancers, other organizations. We’ve been very open about that.”
The company has maintained a DE&I ambassador program for years, and at one point there were around 40 “Babbelonians” volunteering in the program. “These are people within the organization who really live our DE&I values and really are there to kind of support people in encouraging people to feel like they belong,” Barnard said. “It’s kind of a joint internal effort. It’s not just me… it’s something that we’ve really sort of encouraged people to live and to share.”
In a time of political backlash and shifting corporate priorities, Babbel’s consistency sets it apart. “We’ve seen companies in the U.S. who’ve made this decision to drop their DE&I programs… lose out in ways that companies who’ve stuck to their guns are not losing out,” Barnard said. “So for us, the consistency is there. We said this, we did this, we continue to say it and we continue to do it.”
She believes that commitment pays off in hiring and retention. “People who don’t feel like they belong are not going to be motivated,” she said. “They’re not going to want to do the thing that they’re here for.”
That message is especially relevant as companies recalibrate DE&I efforts in response to legal and political pressure. “People haven’t changed, right?” Barnard said. “So, if you felt that way before, you still probably feel that way. If you felt this way before, you still feel that way… you need that sense of community. You need to go and work somewhere… where you feel safe.”
Safety, Barnard emphasized, is more than physical security. “If you go to work every day and you don’t feel safe, you are not going to want to stay… your entire focus is going to be on how do I get through the day rather than I have to go to this meeting and do the strategic thing.”
Babbel regularly measures the results of their DE&I efforts. “We’ve got a couple of things. We have our employee engagement survey that we do every two weeks. We have a DE&I part in that,” said Barnard. “Then having conversations with people… looking at sort of who we’re hiring, where… and monitoring that.”
In Germany, strict privacy laws limit how much demographic data employers can gather, but Babbel still finds ways to learn. “Just knowing who works for you is super important,” she said. “And then checking—going back and checking and keeping checking over time.”
That kind of feedback loop, Barnard says, is critical to building effective, meaningful programs. “Being very transparent about it and having continual conversations… and asking people does this still work? Reviewing—building reviews into what you’re doing—is really, really important.”
Despite the backlash against DE&I programs, Babbel still views it as core. “If you want to be a company who sticks to their values, you will continue to do so,” she said. “If you wanted a way out, you probably took it pretty quickly.”
And for those wondering whether the effort is still worth it, her advice is simple: “Keep going. Really keep going. You’re going to see things change and things happen and it’s going to feel very scary, but there’s enough of us to keep going.”
