CEO: Frederick W. Smith
The 50 companies on this year’s Best Companies for Diversity list represent brands that recognize the value in cultivating an inclusive environment, driven by company leadership through senior management and the board of directors, as shown in the BE Registry of Corporate Directors
. Some are taking a step further to engage employees during turbulent and confusing socio-political times.Here, we’d like to highlight FedEx Express, the Tennessee-based courier delivery company, and what it’s doing to push forward and nurture diversity and inclusion.
FedEx’s diversity statement reads:
“Our vision of a diverse and inclusive environment is a workplace where differences are embraced and leveraged as strengths, woven throughout our entire organization. Diversity in our workforce and our suppliers makes us more responsive to customers’ challenges, sparks more creative solutions, and helps us adapt to change.â€
Of the ethnic minorities in senior management positions, nearly half of them are black. Additionally, two black board members, JC Penney CEO Marvin R. Ellison and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Shirley Ann Jackson, share the roundtable with 10 others. In FedEx’s U.S. workforce, the number of African Americans employed during fiscal year 2015 increased by nearly 10% from the previous year.