12 Companies Ramping Up Their Diversity & Inclusion Efforts - and How You Can Too - Glassdoor for Employers

12 Companies Ramping Up Their Diversity & Inclusion Efforts - and How You Can Too

While more diverse than in the past, it's no secret that corporate America suffers from a lack of diversity and inclusion. Nowadays, companies are being more intentional about ramping up their diversity and inclusion efforts to show solidarity and support to their underrepresented employees. Thankfully, many companies are now realizing that increasing diversity and inclusion within the company is not only good for society, it's also good for business. Here are 12 companies that are pushing the envelope with their diversity initiatives. These companies are actively paving the way for others. Be inspired by their approaches and apply what's right for your company to internal diversity & inclusion initiatives sooner than later.

[Read more: How to Build a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Program]

Invitae

As part of Invitae's D&I efforts in 2020, they created activities to support community and allyship, including launching seven employee resource groups (ERGs) within in six months and spearheading community table talks which are a series of informal conversations hosted by ERGs to foster community and allyship among employees and discuss relevant issues.

Invitae's newly launched ERGs:

  • Woman in Tech
  • Latinx
  • Pride (Rainbow Connection)
  • Peer Soul Support (Mental wellness)
  • Black Genetics
  • Veterans In Genetics
  • Aznpac & Friends (Asian and Pacific Islander)

What Employees Say: "The remote-friendly structure and unlimited PTO make work/life balance possible and reduces a lot of stress. A company with a great culture, work/life balance, benefits, people, and bright future." - Current Employee

Related: Employee Resource Groups at Glassdoor

General Motors

At General Motors, they recognize that the world and their company must evolve toward a more equitable future. They believe that their company stands for more than just the products they build and sell, and are focusing on standing for the dignity of people, justice, tolerance, and inclusion. Over the past few months, they took action to publicly condemn police brutality, racism, bigotry, discrimination, intolerance and intimidation. General Motors Chairman and CEO, Mary Barra, also joined nine other corporate and community leaders at Detroit City Hall to declare uncompromising support for equal justice for every American.

GM also pledged $10 million to support organizations promoting racial justice and inclusion. The initial $1 million has been allocated for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the remaining $9 million will be donated to organizations guided by our Employee Resource Groups. They also commissioned an Inclusion Advisory Board, bringing both internal and external leaders together to address the systemic barriers hindering inclusivity, and to identify the resources and funds our company will donate to fighting social injustices until the issues are fully unrooted within our society. On June 19, 2020, they recognized and celebrated Juneteenth, by observing 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence to honor George Floyd's memory, as well as other Black Americans who lost their lives for nothing more than the color of their skin.

What Employees Say: "The leadership at General Motors both locally and company-wide are very progressive, supportive, and proactive. Benefits are great and the company is true to their values in every way." - Current Employee

Related: How to Conduct Effective Diversity & Inclusion Training Online

Genentech

"At Genentech, we embrace the increasingly diverse world around us. Our mission is to deliver scientific innovations that drive better outcomes for our people, patients, business, and communities by advancing and boldly championing diversity, equity, and inclusion." Quita Beeler Highsmith, Chief Diversity Officer, Genentech.

Genentech knows diversity and inclusion (D&I) are critical to the success of their company and our impact on society. Embracing D&I within and beyond their walls drives innovation across our business, improves scientific and clinical outcomes, and helps contribute to equitable healthcare access. They are taking a broad approach to D&I at Genentech, centered around three core pillars: fostering belonging for our people, advancing inclusive research and health equity for all patients, and investing in transformative partnerships that strengthen D&I across healthcare, education and within all communities.

What Employees Say: "Great benefits for compensation and health." - Current Employee

Related: Glassdoor's Diversity & Inclusion Transparency Report 2020

Salesforce

At Salesforce, they believe that business is a powerful platform for change and are guided by core values of trust, customer success, innovation, and equality. As they continue to navigate both the global health and economic crises that have amplified inequalities, their values become even more important. They are taking action to stand with the Black community to seek equality and justice and against racism, violence, and hate.

To that end, they launched their Racial Equality and Justice Task Force to help drive systemic change within the workplace and community. They invited employees from across the business as well as leaders of Black employee resource group to help them forge their vision. Here are the actions they are taking across these four pillars:

PEOPLE:
New Leadership Representation Goals: Because representation matters at every level - especially in leadership - they are making a new commitment to double the U.S representation of Black employees in leadership (VP+) by the end of 2023
New Overall Representation Goals: In addition to their existing goal, they are making a new commitment to increase their U.S. representation of Black employees by 50% by the end of 2023.

PURCHASING
Procurement:
They will spend $100 million with Black-owned businesses over the next three years and commit to a 25% year-over-year growth in spending with minority-owned businesses. Salesforce will review their supplier onboarding process to mitigate any bias and provide better payment terms for Black-owned and minority-owned businesses where appropriate.
Investments: They will commit to investing $100 million of intentional capital through Salesforce Ventures to empower companies led by Black and underrepresented minority founders. Salesforce this with a goal of building a more diverse ecosystem and collectively increasing their overall number of Black and underrepresented minority founders by more than 3X by the end of 2023.

PHILANTHROPY
Nonprofits and Education:
Over the next five years, Salesforce will invest a total of $200 million and 1 million volunteer hours globally with organizations working to advance racial equality and justice at the global, national, and local level. Nearly half of the funds will support public education and close the achievement gap for Black and underrepresented minority students.
Technology: They will commit $10M in software, training, certifications, and donations through Tableau to empower local changemakers to use data to directly address the inequality and injustice Black communities face across the U.S.

POLICY
Economic Empowerment:
They will advocate at federal, state, and local levels for policies to address the equity gap, exacerbated by COVID-19, including housing, homelessness, health care, education, paid-time off, transportation policy, workforce development, and environmental justice.
Police Reform: They will advocate at federal, state, and local levels for meaningful police reform, such as: data collection and transparency about law enforcement, accountability, use of force standards, training, and community-oriented policing.
Hate Crimes: Salesforce will work with urgency to advance laws that protect against racism or discrimination. As a recent example, they are proud to be part of the Georgia business and advocacy organizations that supported the passage of a strong state hate crimes law.
Technology: Their Ethical and Humane Use team is working to ensure Salesforce technology isn't used in a way that could cause harm or racially discriminate, including their decision not to offer facial recognition. Salesforce continues to mitigate bias in AI and in their products as well as empower others to do the same through Trailhead.

What Employees Say: "Worked here during hyper-growth and I had many opportunities to advance within the recruiting department. Solid pay, great benefits." - Previous Employee

Related: What Job Seekers Really Think of Your Diversity Stats

Asana

At Asana they strive to be the change, they want to see in the workplace. And the workplace they want to see in this world is radically inclusive. Asana strives to create an empowering and welcoming workplace culture. Building diverse teams and an inclusive product means creating a more inclusive environment for both our current and future employees, and they believe a diverse and inclusive company contributes to greater business success. Asana's D&I program works to create a culture of diversity and inclusion across three key areas: Thriving Now, Recruiting for the Future, Building on the Past. Asana also publishes all race/ethnicity data by the department on their careers site and have long-established ERGs, which more than half of employees belong to.

What Employees Say: "I feel incredibly lucky to work at Asana. I've never worked at a company like it before - it is truly unique in how it runs its business and how a phrase like "people-first" manifests into something extraordinary. I've been at Asana for less than 2 years and huge growth opportunities have been presented to me numerous times to a point where my role today looks completely different than what it did when I started. I've also raised my hand when I've seen something that needs to be changed and been given the trust and responsibility to drive the change and solve it in a holistic, forward-thinking way." - Current Employee

Related: Diversity & Inclusion Research Roundup: Top Studies You Need to Know

Banner Health

At Banner Health, they value and celebrate equity, diversity, and inclusion by promoting and cultivating a culturally-rich workforce honored to serve, support and provide services to diverse communities. With a strong focus on our talent, culture and community, they provide opportunities internally and externally through:

  • Programs focusing on talent pipelines such as Veteran Fellowships, Administrative Fellowships, and internships including partnerships like Project SEARCH.
  • Team Member Resource Groups that offer team member development, community outreach, and resources for well-being.
  • Diversity, equity and inclusion education available through facilitator-led virtual platforms
  • Engaging our team through virtual webinars focused on leading through COVID-19, mental health conversations, and civil unrest.
  • Collaborating with community partners to bring accurate health information and resources to our underserved communities.
  • Focusing on health disparities and social determinants of health.

What Employees Say: "I have worked for Banner for 8 years. I can say I have always been happy with my company. There is ample opportunity for growth and have always had the resources needed to provide safe patient care." -Current Employee

Slack

Diversity, Engagement, and Belonging are core to Slack's values. Not only are they focused on hiring diverse talent but they are also ensuring that once people join Slack, they treat them with respect and support. They seek to embrace diversity and create conditions that provide everyone with an equal opportunity to thrive. Here are a number of programs and initiatives that foster these values.

The ​Diversity, Engagement, and Belonging​ (DEB) program is focused on unlocking the potential of all employees by investing in an inclusive community centered on education, introspection, opportunity, and growth.

Rising Tides​ is a program focused on investing in future leaders who can have a positive impact on Slack. Rising Tides is a six-month sponsorship program for a talented and diverse group of high performers and emerging leaders at Slack who have historically lacked access to this support. Program participants receive career development training, executive coaching, and one-on-one sponsorship with a Slack executive team member, with a focus on building a supportive community of peers.

Employee Resource Groups​ (ERGs) are designed to support, promote, and celebrate groups of employees who have come together based on shared characteristics or life experiences.

Another example of Slack's commitment to DEB is our collaboration with ​The Next Chapter​, an apprenticeship program for formerly incarcerated individuals-in partnership with ​The Last Mile​-which trains and hires "​returning citizens​" into Slack's engineering teams.

What Employees Say: "Smart, engaged, hardworking and (most of all) empathetic colleagues." - Current Employee

Learn more: Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

Citi

At Citi, they are actively seeking out diverse perspectives at all levels of our organization because we know that it will improve performance and boost innovation and engagement. Over the last two years, they have elevated the conversation around race, gender, and equal pay for equal work. Their increased transparency, which in turn breeds accountability and credibility, is a force for change both inside and outside the company. While they recognize that they have much more to do, they are proud of where we are headed. They are focused on optimizing, pay equity, Citi Affinity groups, LGBTQ+ equality and rights, disability inclusion, along with targeted recruiting and promotion paths.

Pay Equity: In 2019, they disclosed that, on an adjusted basis, women globally are paid on average more than 99 percent of what men are paid at Citi, and there was no statistically significant difference in adjusted compensation for U.S. minorities and nonminorities. Following our review, we once again made appropriate pay adjustments as part of our annual compensation cycle.

Citi Affinity Groups: Their Affinity model, built as a complement to our global, grassroots Employee Network program that has been in existence for 18 years, is their enterprise approach to setting and reinforcing the company's diversity priorities and goals. Their 10 Affinities - Asian Heritage, Black Heritage, Citi Salutes, Citi Women, Disability, Generations, Hispanic/Latino Heritage, Multicultural, Families Matter, and Pride - are designed to ensure that we understand, appreciate and respond to the needs of their entire employee base. The Affinities contribute to our efforts to hire, promote and retain diverse talent while also advocating for and engaging employees and supporting our communities. Citi also supports our Military Veterans through Citi Salutes.

LGBT+ Equality & Rights: They recruit the best talent and give them opportunities for success and mobility. This explicitly includes ensuring that LGBT+ candidates and employees have access to a safe, inclusive, and diverse workplace. In order to do that, we must confront unconscious biases and make certain that our policies are inclusive for all.

Disability Inclusion: At Citi, their commitment to disability inclusion is central to building a workplace where all of their colleagues feel welcome and can reach their full potential. Disability inclusion is top of mind at the highest levels of our company, and, in early 2020, their CEO signed on to The Valuable 500, a global movement to put disability on the business leadership agenda.

Promotion Paths: A critical part of guiding their employees' career progressions is working to better understand what works and what doesn't so we can not only retain but also promote our talent. Career development is an important priority, and we promote from within wherever possible. In 2019, 38 percent of open positions were filled internally. This focus is particularly important for their diverse talent as we work to increase representation at more senior levels of the company. For example, with immense focus and continued investment in development, more than 28 percent of our Citi Country Officers (our country business heads) are female, and our ultimate goal is to increase this to 50 percent.

What Employees Say: "Citi is an incredible place to grow your career. You will learn from some of the best in the business. In addition, you will be presented with challenging opportunities to push yourself to the next level." - Current Employee

RingCentral

RingCentral is committing itself to diversity by implementing an augmented writing platform (Textio) to improve all job descriptions and sourcing emails, with the goal being to ensure their open roles attract a truly diverse cross-section of talent. Additionally, they are implementing the following initiatives:

  • Employer brand campaigns that appeal specifically to female and underrepresented audiences.
  • Virtual internship program - this year they implemented our first entirely virtual internship program. Having the program virtual allowed us to tap into top, diverse talent regardless of location.
  • University recruiting, they are expanding our university and recent graduate program, called Rising Stars, by 300% over last year's hiring numbers. One of the reasons they are expanding this program is to ensure that they attract the top diverse university talent.
  • RingCentral recently won Top CEO for Diversity and Top CEO for Women awards from Comparably, recognizing their CEO's commitment to making RingCentral a highly inclusive environment.
  • Ringcentral recently expanded their Employees Resource Groups, adding groups for LGBTQ+ and military veteran employees. This is in addition to their ERGs for women and Black/African-American employees. With more ERGs to be launched in the near future!

What Employees Say: "I've been at RingCentral for a year and don't have one negative thing to say about this company. From day one, I have been welcomed and appreciated for my work (big or small) and the Team culture is unlike anything I've experienced before. They truly want you to thrive and be happy!" - Current Employee

Ochsner Health

"One of the big things COVID-19 has highlighted in the national conversations the health disparities that have been, and continue to be, a reality." -Deborah Grimes, Chief Diversity Officer

Within June 2020, Ochsner has formed a System Diversity and Inclusion Council which will influence policy, practices, improvements and education for the organization

On June 13th Ochsner partnered with the New Orleans District Nurses Association to pass out hand sanitizer and masks for the participants in the NODNA Action for Social Justice rally.

On Feb 2020 Ochsner hired their first-ever chief diversity officer to support the ongoing development of policies and practices that promote focused attention to diversity and inclusion matters

What Employees Say: "Coworkers are family, charge nurses look out for you. Generally good resources." -Current Employee

Albertsons Companies

At Albertsons Companies, they are working to ensure our management reflects the rich diversity of communities they serve. Everyone will be celebrated, have equal access to opportunities and resources, and be able to fully contribute to their and the company's success. The framework to achieve this is rooted in six key areas:

  1. A culture of inclusion & belonging for all associates.
  2. Diverse slates and interview panels for hiring management roles and an increased pool of qualified diverse candidates for promotions.
  3. Additional resources and opportunities for talent development of people of color and women.
  4. Impactful associate resource groups that are amplified through a National Diversity Council chaired by the CEO.
  5. Community engagement with groups committed to advancing racial/social justice, equality and economic opportunities in communities we serve.
  6. Metrics that track our progress in hiring and promoting women and people of color, and set targets for representation.

In June, they also announced a $5 million commitment to social justice organizations and those on the front line of the fight for equality, including the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and the National Urban League Inc. We formed a Racial Justice & Equity Advisory Group to help determine how best to invest those funds with local organizations working to support communities in the markets we serve.

What Employees Say: "Health insurance and good pay union" - Current Employee

Prologis

Prologis is ramping up diversity hiring by running a Company Spotlight Ad to increase the number of diverse audiences they reach. They are also committing $1million to fight against systemic racism with donations to organizations such as The National Urban League, Year Up, Legal Defense Fund.

What Employees Say: "Prologis is great at looking after it's employees. There is a large push by upper management to make sure Prologis employee voices are heard. Benefits are great and in my experience, Prologis makes sure compensation is fair and they are willing to pay for talent." - Current Employee

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