50
2006
50
Top
Met ho dolo g y
DiversityInc has leveled the playing field
for companies competing for The
DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for
Diversity list. We have allocated far heav-
ier emphasis to the most important
aspect of diversity management—CEO commit-
ment—and we have evaluated each company
within its own industry and employee skill sets.
These improvements, enabling an increasingly
precise and contextual assess-
ment of the diversity strengths
and weaknesses of the partici-
pants, create volatility in the
list from year to year. This
year, the sixth for the survey,
256 companies participated,
a 100 percent increase over
the last three years and a 26
percent increase from last
year. Company rankings
should not be compared
from year to year because
both the participants and the
methodology have changed.
Improvements
in 2006
To thoroughly evaluate these
companies in their correct
contexts, this year for the first
time we separated them dur-
ing the evaluation process by skill sets and
industries, measuring each company’s sub-
mission against others with similar demo-
graphics. We examined the work force’s edu-
cation levels as well as the percentages of part-
and full-time employees to determine skill sets.
Most importantly, for the first time we
required companies in the Top 50 to have
demonstrated consistent strength in all four
areas, as a national diversity leader cannot be
deficient in any of the core components. We
also changed the weightings given to the four
areas we measure—human capital, CEO com-
mitment, corporate communications and sup-
plier diversity. It clearly is easier to obtain data
on human capital, so the survey always has had
far more questions in this area. In past surveys,
therefore, this sector counted considerably
more than the other three, just
by virtue of having more
responses. In our continuous
assessment of diversity man-
agement, however, we have
found that CEO commit-
ment is the most crucial area.
Without a strong diversity
champion at the top of a
company structure, no diver-
sity-management initiative can have long-term
success. Therefore, we weighted the questions to
give more emphasis to CEO commitment, fol-
lowed by human capital, corporate communica-
tions and supplier diversity.
Within the four areas, we also evolved both
the questions and the weightings. In human
capital, we evaluated retention across all
racial/ethnic/gender categories, looking for
consistency that proves a company has unbi-
ased retention, not favoring any one group. We
also clarified levels of management to encom-
pass all industries by creating three levels to
assess: CEO and direct reports; direct reports
to those direct reports; and all other managers.
In CEO commitment, we continued to focus
on the CEO’s direct involvement in diversity
management, from signing off on executive
compensation for diversity to chairing the
diversity council to having the chief diversity
officer be a direct report. In
corporate communications,
we elaborated on and refined
questions on diversity training,
employee-resource groups,
mentoring and multicultural
marketing. And in supplier
diversity, for the first time we
separated data on women- and
minority-owned businesses.
Throughout the survey we
added questions designed to measure commitment to the GLBT
and disability communities.
The DiversityInc Top 50
Companies for Diversity survey is
refined and improved each year,
which is vital to successful measurement of an emerging discipline. DI
BY BARBARA FRANKEL
ILLUSTRATION BY CATHY GENDRON
