An outpouring of companies has publicly embraced anti-racism and reinforced the Black Lives Matter movement in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd and subsequent weeks-long national protests. According to a new survey released Tuesday by global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., 85.3% of companies discussed the death of George Floyd with their teams and 57.7% of those firms said they are scheduling ongoing discussions on race.
The survey was conducted online between June 11th and June 20th among 150 Human Resources executives at companies of various sizes and industries nationwide.
“The current laser-focus on racial injustice is long overdue, and many companies have no choice but to address the situation with their workforces. Bias in hiring has contributed to the disparity facing our country and kept people of color out of the talent pipeline,” said Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
Indeed, only four Black CEOs run Fortune 500 companies. Only 10% of board directors on the Russell 3000 currently belong to an ethnic minority, according to a 2019 ISS Analytics study, and 15% of new directors are ethnically diverse.
