The JUST Report: How Corporations Are Actually Doing on DEI
(PeopleImages/Getty Images)
Recent JUST polling shows that 92% of Americans, including majorities across the political spectrum, believe it is important for companies to promote racial equity in the workplace. Our 2022 Corporate Racial Equity Tracker, launched last week, tracks how the country’s largest 100 employers are measuring up to these expectations on a range of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues from workforce demographic disclosure to community investments.
The results are mixed. A total of 91% of companies report workforce diversity data, including 55% sharing an EEO-1 Report (up from 20% in 2021), for example. Yet only 11% of companies report re-entry or second chance policies. As I explained to Fortune’s Ellen McGirt, our Tracker was built to help corporate leaders navigate how to embed equity in all aspects of their businesses and benchmark their performance. Such a comprehensive approach to corporate action on DEI is currently lacking.
Some notable leaders include Accenture, Intel, JPMorgan Chase, and Target, which each disclose 15 or more out of the 23 metrics we track. We take a deeper look at their DEI data disclosures this week on our site. As Intel’s Dawn Jones told us, “we believe disclosure and action are not only important for our own advancement and accountability, but for creating change across the industry.”
On Monday, we’ll be unpacking key findings from the Tracker and diving into C-suite and investor strategies with leaders from State Street Global Advisors, the NYC Comptroller’s Office and Natixis, and Lisa Osborne Ross, CEO of Edelman U.S. I hope you’ll join us (register here).
Be well,
Martin
This Week in Stakeholder Capitalism
Ford announces it will add 6,000 jobs and invest $3.7 billion in Midwest facilities to advance its electric vehicle goals.
Microsoft declares an open stance toward unions in contrast to other tech companies. It also announces it will include salary ranges for all U.S. job postings by January 2023 and that it will not enforce non-compete clauses.
Tesla says it will cut salaried staff headcount by 10%, but that cuts will not impact anyone “building cars, battery packs or installing solar.” Forbes reports the company continues to lead the U.S. car market in safety violations.
Walmart announces it will add 4,000 new jobs with four new U.S. fulfillment centers over the next two years.
What’s Happening at JUST
Martin spoke with influential business strategists Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini about moving the vision of stakeholder capitalism from rhetoric to reality in the New Human Movement video series by Fast Company.
JUST Director of Corporate Equity Ashley Marchand Orme joined the “Diversity: Beyond the Checkbox” podcast to talk about the growing focus on how companies are treating their workers (the “S” of ESG) along with some of the most important tools JUST has created over the years to incentivize transparency in corporate America.
We’re proud to join more than 80 companies in signing Thrive and SHRM’s pledge to continue prioritizing employee mental health and well-being through the challenging times that lie ahead. Join us in taking the #MentalHealthPledge today and read the latest from our board memberArianna Huffington in Fast Company.
The Forum
(David Gelles)
“The point that I’m trying to make is that if one does happen to work for a highly profitable company with, you know, millions or hundreds of millions or billions of dollars in annual profits, then I would like to believe that they could reasonably able to support themselves. And so my beef is with companies like Disney, which are flush with profits and yet still somehow have theme park workers sleeping in their cars. And that’s the point that I’m trying to drive home.”
- David Gelles, author of The Man Who Broke Capitalism, in conversation with Felix Salmon on the Slate Money Podcast. For more on the book, read our interview with Gelles.
“We urge the Senate to take immediate action. Gun violence can be prevented. Our families, our communities, and our places of business are depending on you. Stand with us and the American public. Put the safety of your constituents and their children first. Transcend partisanship and work together to pass bold legislation to address gun violence in our country.”
- CEOs of more than 220 U.S. companies calling on the Senate to “take immediate action” to reduce gun violence.
“What we’re also seeing is sort of this evolution around the expectations of what it means to show up for work, right? There was a time where you show up, you do your work, you go home, you kind of, you almost were expected to be this different kind of being at work. Versus now, the trend is more towards allowing people to be themselves fully at work, really emphasizing that we are whole people that it’s not just about showing up at work, but it’s also realizing that workers have all of these expectations that they have to deal with outside of work that do impact the way that we show up.”
- Ashley Marchand Orme, our director of corporate equity, speaking on the rise of the “S of ESG” in her conversation with Diversity: Beyond The Checkbox.
Must-Reads of the Week
A CNBC/Momentive Workforce Survey finds that a majority of Americans support unionization efforts at Starbucks, Amazon, and Apple. Explore additional insights relating to inflation and CEOs taking a stand on political issues.
New research from The Harris Poll, Carol Cone ON PURPOSE, and Allison+Partners reveals how American workers’ priorities have shifted over the course of the pandemic – with 66% of employees citing employers’ positive impact as more important and 84% saying they will ONLY work at a purpose-driven company.
The Financial Times chronicles “how ESG came to a reckoning,” unpacking the rapidly growing partisan pushback and why the DWS/Deutsche Bank “greenwashing” raid and the war in Ukraine should be a wake up call to the industry to increase clarity, standardization, and accountability.
Chart of the Week
When it comes to what issues Americans want companies to prioritize, the country is not as divided as you might think. There is strong agreement among Republicans (69%), Democrats (84%), and Independents (76%) that a living wage is critical to achieving racial equity. Explore what else Americans want companies to prioritize when it comes to advancing racial equity in the workplace in our latest survey analysis.
Get to Know JUST
Ursula Burns
Chairwoman, Teneo
JUST Capital Advisor
Ursula Burns is the Chairwoman of Teneo and Former Chairwoman and CEO of Xerox. She serves on the Boards of several large corporations including Exxon Mobil, Uber Technologies, Inc., and Endeavor Group Holdings. Ursula was also the first Black woman to hold the position of CEO in the Fortune 500.
Earlier this year, Ursula spoke on Bloomberg Television about the importance of companies setting hard diversity, equity, and inclusion targets for board and workforce representation. “I don’t believe that we can go backwards on this,” she said. “Boards that are more diverse than ever before and increasing in their diversity – not only gender diversity, but race and ethnicity diversity – those boards are starting to have a bigger and bigger presence and a louder and louder voice. And I think that’s good for business across the board.”
