Diversity Equity and Inclusion statements (DEISs) are written declarations by businesses to create diverse and inclusive workplace environments, setting forth goals as well as accountability measures for reaching them.
An DEI statement helps communicate a company’s values to employees, customers, and potential hires while driving change by aligning its mission with diversity initiatives.
Adidas’s Statement
Culture is an integral component of business and must reflect the communities it serves, so it’s imperative that companies recognize and celebrate those whose stories and traditions their brand draws on – something Adidas often fails to do.
After Ye’s offensive remarks, Black employees working on his Yeezy sneaker line raised their concerns with management but were met with silence instead of receiving adequate response. Feeling neglected, these employees eventually left in droves.
Adidas made promises following these events to reform its practices and restore relationships with Black staffers, hiring 30% of new roles to people of color and providing 50 university scholarships annually for Black students. In addition, Adidas pledged its support of Black community organizations as well as activists fighting racism.
Adidas has made changes, yet some employees say it is insufficient. For instance, while the company hired several people of color into key leadership positions – Vicky Free was only in her role for two years while Amanda Rajkumar left in 2023 after only eight months on their global human resources team.
But the company failed to fulfill other promises, such as mandating anti-racism and unconscious bias training for all employees, leaving many US-based employees feeling left out and marginalized by their employer.
Adidas established a senior vice president for diversity and inclusion (DEI) position to rebuild trust among Black employees, Vanessa Abrahams-John, who joined in May 2022 and now oversees an DEI team with global responsibilities.
Her mission is to “inspire a diverse workforce that celebrates individuality and represents the communities we serve,” as this she believes it’s the only way to drive innovation and create an impactful product. Though her efforts may not bear fruit yet, they still could make an impactful difference by reaching out to their company’s Black community and taking steps to make sure they feel heard and accepted by management.
Spotify’s Statement
Spotify, the popular music-streaming service, prides itself on offering a diverse and inclusive workplace that recognizes and appreciates employee perspectives and contributions. Their Diversity Equality Inclusion statement (DEI statement) plays an essential role in their recruitment and retention strategies by setting clear goals with accountability measures connected to its mission and core values, making this statement strong and credible document.
Founded by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, Spotify combines streaming and customization technology, providing access to millions of songs and podcasts on any device. Their three founding pillars – accelerate diversity, infuse inclusion and amplified belonging – shape how users enjoy music. Internal initiatives help foster inclusion and belonging at Spotify including an employee network for underrepresented groups.
Geekdom’s diversity and inclusion initiatives include mentorship programs, training sessions and localized “pass the mic” events. Furthermore, the company employs diverse recruiters and prioritizes making its employees feel at ease being themselves. Furthermore, they have an on-board diversity and inclusion score which measures many culture dimensions – scoring highly for both CEO Rating and Perks & Benefits scores.
Are You Seeking Talent, or Building Inclusive Workplaces? A Diversity & Equality (DEI) Statement Is Essential! A DEI statement can serve as an invaluable asset when trying to attract and retain top talent or foster an inclusive workplace culture. DEI statements serve as powerful guides that help your organization’s actions while strengthening brand equity; yet should not be seen as legal requirements but as something which directs your decisions and defines public image.
At this age of social media, companies must take an honest approach to diversity and inclusion. A successful DEI statement should be an ongoing document that accurately represents your workforce diversity as well as real-life examples of how the company is making an impactful difference in people’s lives. Furthermore, such plans should include specific action steps, targets, metrics for accountability measures as well as be tied back into core company values such as caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility.
Salesforce’s Statement
The Salesforce Diversity Equity and Inclusion Statement serves as a stellar example of how companies can integrate DEI commitment into their corporate culture. The DEI statement provides a roadmap for achieving inclusion across all aspects of an organization – people, processes and products alike – with measures in place to monitor progress and hold leadership accountable.
At the core of this statement lies its emphasis on human-centric approaches. This innovative concept recognizes that DEI efforts must be founded upon empathy and an understanding of employees, communities, and consumers as part of its initiatives. Furthermore, all internal and external business practices must adhere to DEI principles.
Another standout aspect of Salesforce’s DEI Statement is its dedication to equality in business decisions, through analysis of data and providing feedback to leaders so that adjustments that benefit all stakeholders may be implemented. Furthermore, Salesforce pledges support for minority-led nonprofit organizations dedicated to social impact.
Diversifying their workforce is vitally important for technology companies as it allows them to better understand their customers. Studies have indicated that businesses that prioritize DEI tend to be more productive and competitive than their counterparts due to diverse teams bringing new perspectives and ideas to the table.
Salesforce doesn’t rank among the highest in their DEI efforts, yet their recent commitment to equality-driven initiatives, ambitious representation goals and hiring of an exclusive chief equality officer is certainly commendable.
Salesforce has not only engaged with Black-led organizations and startups through internal initiatives but also engaged with them philanthropically through their philanthropic efforts. In 2020 alone, they contributed over $23 million in philanthropic funding towards supporting racial justice and equality initiatives. They have also revamped their talent process to be more inclusive, launched Warplane as a workplace advocacy program specifically targeting Black and URM employees, established new hiring metrics with diversity considerations in mind, implemented unconscious bias training to staff as well as implemented unconscious bias training to staffers.
Nike’s Statement
Nike is a sports footwear and apparel company dedicated to equality and sustainability in all its operations. Their aim is to uphold their communities through both products as well as local programs; among their goals are encouraging kids to get active, training more coaches, providing locally relevant programs that address key barriers, increasing female athlete representation in particular within the US market, as well as increasing female athlete representation overall.
Recent years have seen major progress made towards diversity and inclusion efforts at Facebook, including expanding the definition of racial and ethnic minorities to all U.S. employees by 2021 and having 30% racial and ethnic minority women at director level or above by then. It has also collaborated with athletes from different backgrounds – such as Muslim athlete Ibtihaj Muhammad who designed a performance hijab tailored specifically to women who wear headscarves – in order to amplify their voices.
Nike still falls short in meeting investor expectations regarding DEI reporting. Although discussions of efforts are important, investors seek actionable data on DEI programs rather than simply lists of actions and hiring statistics.
Nike shareholders recently submitted a proposal that urges the company to release an annual report that assesses and explains how its DEI programs work, with support coming from American Express, TIAA CREF, International Business Machines Procter & Gamble and Union Pacific investors among others. This initiative received considerable backing.
Nike is one of the largest companies worldwide, and its success hinges on its ability to connect with consumers globally. To do this successfully, it must ensure its employees reflect the communities it serves – having an inclusive workplace can help attract and retain top talent, improve morale and productivity – as well as increasing brand recognition by upholding positive social values while creating an environment which welcomes all.