With Black Lives Matter protests shining a spotlight on systemic racism and police brutality, 2020 felt like a long-overdue reckoning on racial justice in the U.S. That spotlight showed that, sadly, there is still much work to be done in the nation's corporate sector: A recent report from McKinsey & Company found that not only are Black workers under-represented in higher-paying jobs, but they're also clustered in lower-paying industries. Moreover, McKinsey noted that at current rates of progress, it will take 95 years for Black employees to reach talent parity (equaling 12% representation) across all levels in the private sector. The report goes on to say, "If promotion, attrition, and external hiring rates were best-in-class at each level across the participating companies, it would take about 25 years for managerial jobs (managers, senior managers, VPs, SVPs, and executives) to reach 12% Black representation overall."
With an eye on nudging progress forward and faster, shareholder advocacy group As You Sow has released its two S&P 500 scorecards assessing companies on racial justice and workplace equity disclosures. The scorecards were intentionally released on March 4th, otherwise known as "March Forth," which the Urban Dictionary defines as a day in which "people make a special effort to improve their lives, improve themselves and 'March Forth' toward their dreams and highest aspirations."
As You Sow last published the scorecards in November 2020.
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Richard Binder
Richard Binder, based in New York, is part of the social media team at ALM. He is also a 2014 recipient of the ASPBE Award for Excellence in the Humorous/Fun Department.
