It’s Monday, so let’s tackle the big stuff: Do you feel welcome at work? Do your colleagues trust management to chart an inclusive path for everyone? Do you collectively have a sense of pride in the work you’re able to do?
If you’re not sure, or even if you are, check out Fortune’s 100 Best Places to Work for Diversity list, an annual collaboration with Great Place To Work. The list is based in large part on candid feedback from employees themselves as part of a 60 question survey which measures responses from women, people of color of all genders, LGBTQ+ employees, Boomers, and people with disabilities.
All of it is fodder for the inclusion-seeking soul.
The survey aims to take a pulse on inclusion by measuring, among other things, the trust, pride, and camaraderie that non-majority culture employees report feeling at work, by comparing those responses with the reports of their majority culture peers.
As always, questions are more interesting than answers, right? So here’s two more for you. Is your company on the list? If not, why not?
In addition to offering a compelling framing, the list reveals some fundamental truths about how business works and who gets what jobs and why.
For example, ranked number one overall is Hilton, a global customer-facing hospitality leviathan for whom a lack of diversity would be a form of professional self-sabotage.
But the company on the list with the highest number of people of color is 24 Hour HomeCare, an elder care services company, and the company with the highest number of women is Bright Horizons Family Solutions, a child care and early education outfit. Both represent important, vital work, undervalued in society, and a huge opportunity for companies who can provide safe, dignified jobs for all caregiving professionals.
These are also the people who enable other people to work executive jobs. (More on this, below.)
The truth is, we are only now getting some of the data we need to fully understand the demographic makeup of the workforce and the experiences that people from non-majority cultures have within them. It’s why lists like these are so important.
Insufficient data is also why it’s important that we keep asking questions.
How did we get here? What works? What’s not working? What do people need to feel welcome? How can companies turn a vague business imperative into actual systemic change—one that will change the culture at large?
I’m traveling today to the West Coast to the fifth Fortune MPW Next Gen Summit in Laguna Niguel, and these questions are woven throughout the program.
There will be super-stars everywhere you turn. Here is just a smattering of main stage happenings: Anita Hill, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Backstage Capital Founder Arlan Hamilton, Microsoft SVP Peggy Johnson, Tesla’s new Head of Diversity & Inclusion Felicia Mayo, Target CHRO Stephanie Lundquist, Facebook Head of Global Policy Monika Bickert, Focus Brands President & COO Kat Cole, Chase Consumer Banking CEO Thasunda Duckett, Starbucks VP of Global Social Impact Virginia Tenpenny, and a closing interview and performance by singer-songwriter Elle King.
The agenda is here. Check out Fortune.com to catch the livestream.
If you can tune in, don’t miss the Town Hall session on Wednesday, December 12th, at 3:50pm Pacific Time, when we will attempt to crowdsource real tactics to help people, teams, and enterprises remove the blind spots that prevent us from seeing the true humanity of the people we work with.
Our experts include Katrina Jones, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Twitch; Karla Monterroso, Chief Executive Officer, Code2040; and Leyla Seka, Executive Vice President, Salesforce Mobile.
But, I’ve learned, every participant is a powerhouse in her own right. I can’t wait to hear what we have to say.