June 30, 2021 (New York, NY)— Unilever North America has been named one of the 2021 Best Companies for Multicultural Women by Seramount (formerly Working Mother Media)—an honor recognizing companies that create and use best practices in hiring, retaining and promoting multicultural women in the United States. The full list can be found on Seramount.com.
Since 2003, Seramount’s Best Companies for Multicultural Women has tracked corporations’ progress in creating cultures that encourage multicultural women to join and rise through the ranks.
Participation in this initiative is up 19 percent year over year, and over the last five years, it has increased by 358 percent. Seramount’s Insights team attributes the uptick to increased interest in hiring and promoting women of color as well as improvement in the types of questions asked, especially the specific evaluation of women at each level by individual race and ethnicity, and the introduction of questions on anti-racism efforts.
“We are proud of the progress we’ve made at Unilever North America to be named one of the top 10 best companies for multicultural women,” said Tish Archie-Oliver, head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for Unilever North America. “Evaluations like the one from Seramount help highlight the areas where we are getting things right, but also help us acknowledge where there is more progress to be made so we can focus our efforts. Our work continues as we look to improve further.”
Key findings of the 2021 Seramount report include:
- Formal sponsorship with senior leaders is one of the most essential ways to advance multicultural women. Sixty-eight percent of the 2021 winners offer formal sponsorship (versus 18 percent of nonwinners), and 61 percent offer cultural competence training for sponsors and/or proteges (versus 14 percent of nonwinners). Mentoring with a DE&I lens is crucial as well.
- We found that 75 percent of the 2021 winning companies have specific anti-racism training (versus 45 percent of nonwinners); CEOs have led organized discussions on racism at 65 percent of the 2021 winners (versus 45 percent of nonwinners); and 89 percent have specific programs to address racial trauma (versus 57 percent of nonwinners).
- Accountability and leadership involvement are critical in advancing DE&I goals. Ninety-five percent of the 2021 winning companies hold managers accountable for DE&I as part of their annual performance reviews (versus 43 percent of nonwinners), and CEOs oversee or approve management compensation tied to diversity goals at 75 percent of the winning companies (versus 20 percent of nonwinners).
Best Companies Workforce Composition
The 2021 Best Companies for Multicultural Women employ about 2 million people at 29,000 work sites in every state across 17 industries: chemical, consumer products, financial or property and casualty insurance, financial services, health insurance, hospitality, hospitals/healthcare, legal, manufacturing, media, internet and advertising, nonprofit/not-for-profit, pharmaceuticals, professional services/management consulting/accounting, retail and apparel, science/technology/engineering/aerospace/medical devices, telecommunications and utilities.
Methodology
The Best Companies for Multicultural Women application includes more than 250 questions on representation; hiring, attrition and promotion rates; recruitment, retention and advancement programs; and company culture. Our scoring algorithm is based on the previous year’s benchmark results, which then determines the winners.
About Seramount
Seramount is a strategic professional services firm dedicated to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. Over four decades, partnering with some of the most iconic companies in the world, we’ve built a deep data-driven understanding of the employee experience which lays the groundwork for everything we do. Our comprehensive DE&I toolkit includes actionable research and insights, membership, strategic guidance and consulting, and inspiring events, meeting each client’s needs no matter where they are on their journey, and guiding them along an ever-changing landscape. Seramount has empowered over 450 organizations to realize the business benefits of diversity, equity and inclusion. Learn more at seramount.com.