Dive Brief:
- Last month, Tennessee-based real estate investment firm CBL Properties joined the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion coalition of organizations, the company said in a statement.
- The coalition, co-founded by PwC CEO Tim Ryan in 2017, bills itself as the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance workplace D&I. After starting out with just over 150 members, the coalition has grown to encompass more than 2,000 signees.
- CBL's move follows its recent D&I initiatives, including a partnership with consulting firm Hinton & Company that began last year. "As shopping center owners and developers, our properties are a hub for community activity and that connection has always been a key ingredient to our success," CEO Stephen Lebovtiz said in the statement. "The tools and resources the CEO Action Pledge provides will allow us to deepen that connection with not only our team members but with our customers."
Dive Insight:
The CEO Action initiative began before the wave of protests that followed George Floyd's murder in 2020, but it experienced a surge in growth in the aftermath.
Member organizations can choose any number of actions to support diversity, equity and inclusion both internally and externally. PwC, for example, has instituted an LGBT advisory board that rotates meetings between the company's U.S. markets to share members' experiences with straight partners and staff. PwC also made donations to social justice organizations and nonprofits and created a D&I staff advisory council in 2020.
"CBL is proud to sign the CEO Action pledge to advance DEI," a company spokesperson told HR Dive in an email. "Among our commitments, we will provide a safe space for conversations about diversity and inclusion, implement and expand unconscious bias and inclusion training, share experiences with our peers and develop metric-based initiatives."
Overall, organizations still have work to do in terms of implementing D&I initiatives. A recent report by nonprofit Hue found that 40% of Black and Indigenous employees and workers of color said they experienced workplace discrimination related to their race or ethnicity, and one-third said they did not feel empowered to speak out against workplace discrimination they had either witnessed or experienced.
Progress has also been uneven within industries. For instance, a March report published by the Kapor Center and NAACP found that the proportion of Black professionals in technology roles at the largest U.S. tech companies increased by 1% between 2014 and 2021.
The past few years have been witness to a wide array of strategies. This year, PepsiCo launched a new business unit aimed at accelerating racial equity, while rival Coca-Cola announced that 10% of its executives 2022 annual incentives would be tied to DEI goals, Food Dive reported. Similarly, Chipotle said in February that it would link up to 15% of executives' annual incentive bonuses to D&I goals, according to Restaurant Dive.
Employers can look to external organizations that focus on underrepresented groups for support. One such organization, the Black Women's Health Imperative, has created an Anti-Racism Toolkit for Wellness designed to address microaggressions and the effects of structural racism.
