Four Companies That Are Getting Diversity & Inclusion Right - And How They're Doing It
November 5, 2018
Companies are realizing (some more quickly than others) that focusing on total societal impact is fundamental to driving long-term financial success. One approach to measure total societal impact has come from Thomson Reuters, who recently released its 2018 list of the Top 100 Most Diverse and Inclusive Organizations Globally.
The team behind the annual D&I list looks at more than 7,000 companies across the globe and ranks them according to how they’re doing based on environmental, social and governance data spread across four key pillars: Diversity, Inclusion, People Development and News Controversy. Companies that score the highest across all measures are awarded a spot on the list.
Many companies who have invested in D&I practices over the years have seen significant growth and financial gains as a result. Here are four of the top leaders in D&I, as well as an overview of what they’ve been doing right over the past few years to help them gain this ranking.
- Accenture PLC: In 2017 alone, Accenture added 1,800 employees of diverse backgrounds, up from approximately 1,000 in 2016, and increased the number of women in their workforce from 36 to 37%, with a goal of hitting 40% by 2020. The company also hired 750 veterans and military spouses, bringing them halfway to their goal of hiring 5,000 by 2020.
- Medtronic PLC: Medtronic has made an effort to develop a series of robust diversity networks and employee resource groups for their employees across the globe. Their networks include the African Descent Network, Asian Descent Network Hispanic Descent Network and the Medtronic Women’s Network. They also have 12 Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), which are built to engage employees around shared interests and affinities.
Diageo PLC: They’ve launched Plan W, a program that’s part of Diageo’s 2020 sustainability and responsibility targets which aims to build thriving communities by empowering women. As of 2017, Plan W has empowered over 315,000 women through learning, and indirectly impacted more than 1,700,000 people and is building thriving communities across 17 countries.
Gap Inc: In addition to business resource groups and advisory boards designed to provide opportunities for cross-cultural learning, mentoring and relationship building among employees, they’ve also launched ASCEND, a program devoted to developing an inclusive, diverse workforce and a pipeline of future leaders. ASCEND is designed to help minority leaders realize their potential and achieve their career aspirations through mentorship, building opportunity and individual capability building.
Read more: on website forbes.com (EN)
