Every year, several “top lists” come out declaring the best companies for Diversity and Inclusion. While each of them has its own distinct criteria for ranking organizations, how do they each compare?
Let’s first dive in and see how each of the websites chooses which companies land in their top spots.
DiversityInc List
The list is made up of companies whose data indicate they are top players in the field of Diversity and Inclusion. Each company is judged based on the same criteria. The DiversityInc software looks at the following:
- Talent Pipeline (workforce breakdown, recruitment, diameter of existing talent)
- Talent Development (employee resource groups, mentoring, philanthropy, movement, fairness)
- Leadership Accountability (responsible for results, communications, visibility)
- Supplier Diversity (Percent of Tier I and Tier II spend with minority-, women-, LGBT-, disability- and veteran-owned businesses)
Diversity MBA List
The methodology behind Diversity MBA’s list consists of a few different factors:
- Scores from a survey distributed to organizations that register to participate
- Board diversity
- Recruitment practices
- Workplace inclusion
- Employee retention
- Succession planning and accountability
Also, new in 2017, Diversity MBA takes into account companies and institutions that make a strategic effort to implement intentional strategies for women and managers of diverse backgrounds to gain access to leadership roles.
Black Enterprise List
Black Enterprise looks at companies’ commitment to diversifying in four areas:
- Employee base
- Senior Management
- Suppliers
- Board of directors
Black Enterprise also looks at companies that create programs to nurture and maintain a diverse professional workplace. Despite its name, their survey does not just focus on the Black population, but other diverse population groups as well.
Fortune List
For the Fortune list, their methodology is simple. They partner with Great Place to Work and got survey responses from 448,456 employees. The survey consists of questions relating to:
- Workplace fairness
- Morale
- Inclusion
Who made the cut?
Now that we know the methodology behind each list, let’s take a look at which companies made multiple lists.
Companies on All Four Lists:
- AT&T
- Comcast
Companies on Three Out of Four Lists
- Marriott
- Nielsen
- Southern Company
- Aramark
The main takeaway after looking at the above lists is that while these companies are notable examples of diversity, none are a perfect blueprint for how you should model your company. The best place to start is to look within your own company and the culture to find ways to incorporate diversity and inclusion organically.