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NEW REPORT:
2023 Racial Equity Dividends Index Report - Private Sector
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The movement to build a racially equitable economy remains as urgent as ever.
The Racial Equity Dividends Index is a comprehensive tool that businesses opt into to measure their progress toward building inclusive workplaces in Minnesota.
Building workplaces and economies that leverage the full talents, efforts, and innovations of Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, Asian, and White communities is good for all of us.
Yet achieving this objective requires sustained effort within organizations and across sectors to dismantle the many barriers to opportunity that currently exist in our inequitable status quo. This work requires leadership champions, accountability mechanisms, and sustained commitment.
The 2023 Racial Equity Dividends Index affirms that the important work to build racially equitable and inclusive workplaces is well underway. Twenty-two companies participated in the 2023 Index, taking the opportunity to evaluate their existing practices across seven dimensions, compare their progress to peers, and consider the next steps in their journey. Collectively, these companies employed more than 95,000 full-time, part-time, and contingent workers in Minnesota and more than 414,000 workers globally.
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Companies participating in the 2023 Index showed strong progress in implementing racial equity standards:
Ninety-five percent of companies have analyzed employee pay by race and taken action to close pay gaps
More than 80 percent intentionally recruit from racially diverse talent pools
50 percent set enterprise-wide goals for hiring, retaining, and advancing Black and Brown workers and hold leadership accountable for reaching these goals
>> See what Minnesota businesses achieved high-scores in 2023
Yet the Index also finds that there is more opportunity for progress. Just 14 percent of companies pay all employees a family-sustaining wage, and none have senior leadership teams that reflect the racial diversity of the region in which they are located.
Businesses working to build racially equitable workplaces have been under duress in recent months due to macroeconomic conditions. Corporate leaders committed to advancing diversity, racial equity, and inclusion also found themselves in political crosshairs. Amid broader layoffs in the private sector, corporate DEI professionals, many hired in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, were far more likely to be laid off than other workers.
CEOs, board directors, and executives are facing a test of leadership. While pressures to abandon racial equity and inclusion efforts are loud and sometimes vicious, the case for accelerating efforts is even more compelling when considering the opportunity that inclusion presents businesses and our broader economy.
The movement to build a racially equitable economy has always, and will always, face headwinds. Leaders who understand the opportunity to benefit from the dividends of racial equity, including those whose companies participated in the 2023 Racial Equity Dividends Index, continue to forge ahead.
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The Racial Equity Dividends Index for the Private Sector helps companies evaluate their progress on 43 racial equity standards across seven dimensions: Leadership; Hiring; Culture, Retention, and Advancement; Procurement; Philanthropy and Investment; Products and Services; and Public Policy. The Index is designed to offer businesses the opportunity to examine their workplace policies, practices, and culture and equips them to catalyze systemic actions to transform the workplace and economy.