In 2023, workplace diversity matters. And it’s not just about meeting quotas to make everyone feel nice – it’s about transparently ensuring that all areas of the workforce include a mix of perspectives. This is good business.

Global Hiring Trends reported by LinkedIn show that 78% of companies prioritize diversity to improve culture, while 62% prioritize it to boost financial performance. And it’s important to note that when we talk about ‘diversity and inclusion’ we’re not just talking about gender diversity, but also:

  • Diversity of race and color
  • Diversity of physical ability and neurodiversity
  • Diversity of sexual orientation
  • Diversity of age and experience.

In this article, we’ll feature a few of the companies around the world that are getting diversity and inclusion right. Companies we can all learn from, and aspire to work with.

1. Accenture

Global IT consultancy Accenture features on quite a few lists of ‘best companies for diversity and inclusion’, including achieving the #1 spot on the Refinitiv Index of World’s Most Diverse and Inclusive Companies – 3 times!

The proof is in the stats (provided by Fortune):

51% of the workforce are minorities
41.6% of executives are minorities
37.8% of the workforce is women
31.9% of executives are women
4.2% of the workforce is self-identified as disabled.

Head to the careers page and you’ll see a rotating banner featuring diverse faces, or go to the about page and begin to scroll down to come face-to-face with female CEO and Chair Julia Sweet. The company website also features its diversity and inclusion objectives and initiatives openly on its website.

Glassdoor rates Accenture 4.3 / 5 for diversity and inclusion, based on real employee experiences.

2. Marriott International

It’s not too surprising that this big international resort and hotel chain is highly rated for its diversity and experience. With the key focus of the business being on creating a wonderful, welcoming experience for guests, this seems to extend to its employees too.

A quarter of its workforce is of the Baby Boomer generation or older, and 37% of its executive team is female.

10% of Marriott’s supply chain is comprised of women-owned business enterprises, and the company is also recognized for its inclusivity toward the LGBT community. In 2016 it won ‘Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality’ after earning a perfect score on the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, a widely recognised benchmark for diversity and inclusion.

Marriott talks openly about its diversity and inclusion practices on its website, and is rated 4.2 / 5 for diversity and inclusion on Glassdoor.

3. Mastercard

In 2019, female workers at Mastercard earned $1.00 for every $1.00 men earned. And in the US, racial and ethnic minorities earned $1.005 compared to every $1.00 earned by white employees. That clearly demonstrates a commitment to leveling out the gender and minority pay gaps.

The organization has invested in a Chief Inclusion Officer, and on its DEI webpage includes a quote from him saying: “An inclusive workplace that champions positive social impact inside and outside of its walls is not a nice-to-have — it’s a necessity.”

Initiatives include:

Running a mentoring program that partners millennials with older employees to help get them more engaged on social media.
Investing $500 million into black communities over 2020-2025 to help close the racial wealth gap.

On Glassdoor, Mastercard has gathered an impressive 4.5 / 5 star ranking for diversity and inclusion. Internally, it also boasts of 33% minority executives and 34% female executives, according to Fortune data from 2019.

4. LinkedIn

A 4.5 / 5 star rating for diversity and inclusion on Glassdoor is also what led us to include LinkedIn on this list. Real employee reviews include comments like:

“LinkedIn has transparent leadership, great benefits, flexible workplace, and a strong emphasis on diversity, inclusion, and belonging.”

And:

“Care a lot about diversity and have a coaching culture.”

LinkedIn uses the word ‘belonging’ a lot when talking about its approach to diversity and inclusion, and backs up this commitment through its Employee Resources Groups (ERGs) available to help team members connect.

We also love the resources and insights that LinkedIn provides to help business owners achieve their own DEI objectives, making it a thought leader in the space. The organization is very transparent about the ethnic and gender makeup of its workforce, releasing a detailed yearly Workforce Diversity Report. In 2022, the report outlined key insights like:

47% of the workforce is female
3.3% of the workforce has a disability
Women hold 45.1% of leadership positions
27.8% of technical roles are held by women
7.2% of the workforce is Black, while 7.4% is Latino.

5. Netflix

Netflix’s online inclusion and diversity webpage inspiringly states this:

“Better representation on-screen starts with representation in the office. Our work has to be internal first, so it can impact what we do externally. We believe we’ll do that better if our employees come from different backgrounds, and if we create an environment of inclusion and belonging for them.”

The company releases a regular Inclusion Report, with the last one finding that women made up 51.7% of its total workforce. Female representation at director level also remained high, at 51.5%. Black employees made up 10.7% of all employees, while 4.4% were Latino.

Another great initiative from Netflix is that it offers employees 16 ERGs to help them connect with like-minded colleagues.

Glassdoor reviews reveal that diversity and inclusion have become increasingly important at the organization over recent years, and the total rating in that area is 4.3 / 5.

Ways for companies to improve diversity and inclusion

Tech workers are increasingly becoming attracted to companies that prioritize DEI, so it makes sense that organizations are more and more turning to strategies that can not only help them secure better talent, but achieve great profitability and innovation outcomes. Here are a few ways that organizations can improve diversity and inclusion measures to become an eye-catching company to work for.

Unlearn bias

We all carry inherent biases towards certain types of people, and it can be difficult to shake the way we’ve been conditioned. This is especially so in organizations resistant to change.

Thankfully, technology can help.

Here are 3 great tools to help combat bias in the workplace:

  • Unbiasify Chrome Extension – a free Google Chrome extension that can remove visibility of names and photos from sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, to mitigate any unconscious bias.
  • Textio – An AI writing platform that helps companies create more inclusive job descriptions.
  • Gender Decoder: A free site that can screen your job descriptions for gendered language.
  • Weed out ‘bad eggs’

One Forbes article shares a story from Bahamas-based entrepreneur and attorney Barry N. Griffin:

“A senior manager who happened to be a white woman was known for her questionable attitudes on race and socio-economic issues that made many black employees uncomfortable. Because of her senior position, no one felt empowered to speak out. So while the company prided itself on diversity and inclusiveness, the experience of employees on the ground level was quite different.”

This highlights how it can take one bad manager or employee to spoil your diversity and inclusion goals. Keep an eye out for employees that may have certain biases, and make it easy and safe for all workers to share their feedback.

It can be useful to invest in a dedicated DEI Officer, or even a neutral contracted mediator, to make the feedback process even safer.

Get buy-in from the wider team

It’s also important to be transparent with your team about why diversity and inclusion matters. DEI training can be useful, or it may be as simple as sharing the benefits of a diverse workforce so the team understands. Producing a yearly inclusion report can help you track your goals and initiatives to keep the team engaged.

Make holiday and paid leave policies more inclusive

While most companies offer public holidays for traditional holidays like Easter and Christmas, this overlooks the many cultural holidays and events that occur over a year. You could create a more inclusive environment by helping your employees celebrate what matters to them:

Offer flexible public holiday leave, so your employees can opt to work over Christmas and instead take leave over Chinese New Year, for example.

Provide floating holidays, separate from sick leave and annual leave, which can be used for cultural or religious holidays, or even for mental health days. Observe celebration months such as Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and LGBT Month, and run events or talks to recognize them as a company.

Improve diversity measures in the hiring process

Research from talent acquisition company Lever lists the top ways that organizations are adjusting their hiring practices to boost diversity:

  • Making sure job postings are worded to eliminate bias (43%).
  • Posting jobs in non-traditional outlets (37%).
  • Replacing educational requirements with relevant skills or core competencies (36%).
  • Standardizing interview questions and rubrics.
  • Using data and insights to uncover and address potential biases in the process (31%).

Whether you’re looking for work at an inclusive company, or looking to transform your company to make it more diverse, we hope this article has given you some tips and inspiration to make it happen!

Remember to check out the Girls in Tech Jobs Board for opportunities at top companies that highly value female tech talent.