The past year has shown that, sadly, there is still much work to be done in the nation's corporate sector to eliminate systemic racism and achieve full equity. Although the insurance industry is committed to making meaningful progress in diversity & inclusion, a recent report from McKinsey & Company found that not only are Black workers under-represented in higher-paying jobs, but they're also clustered in lower-paying industries. Moreover, McKinsey noted that at current rates of progress, it would take 95 years for Black employees to reach talent parity (equaling 12% representation) across all levels in the private sector. The report goes on to say, "If promotion, attrition, and external hiring rates were best-in-class at each level across the participating companies, it would take about 25 years for managerial jobs (managers, senior managers, VPs, SVPs, and executives) to reach 12% Black representation overall." With an eye on nudging progress forward and faster, shareholder advocacy group As You Sow has released its two S&P 500 scorecards assessing companies on racial justice and workplace equity disclosures. The scorecards were intentionally released on March 4th, otherwise known as "March Forth," which the Urban Dictionary defines as a day in which "people make a special effort to improve their lives, improve themselves and 'March Forth' toward their dreams and highest aspirations." As You Sow last published the scorecards in November 2020. To compile the data, As You Sow used several performance indicators. For diversity, inclusion and equity (DEI) disclosure specifically, the company partnered with Whistle Stop Capital to examine such "pillars" as workforce composition, pay equity data recording, recruitment, and explicit DEI goals. Here are the top 10 companies on the Racial Justice Scorecard: As You Sow found that of the S&P 500 companies, 66% made statements after George Floyd's murder. Of those, 50% were posted on their websites. Sixteen percent of companies said their CEOs accept responsibility for racial justice, and 14% publicly stated Black Lives Matter. Forty percent named victims of police violence. The report also found that the largest companies by market cap, and the largest employers by headcount, were most likely to release meaningful workplace diversity and inclusion data. In fact, almost half (46%) of the 100 largest companies by market cap in the S&P 500 release their consolidated Employment Information Report (EEO-1) forms. More than 1 in 4 of the 100 largest employers in the S&P 500 do so as well. However, disclosure rates of recruitment, retention, and promotion data by race and ethnicity are still catching up to gender data. See our slideshow above for the top 10 leaders in workplace DEI disclosures, and click here and here for the full studies. Related: |

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