Household spending for living expenses can be purposefully directed to reward large businesses who employ the largest number of managers from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and create an incentive for other businesses to diversify their management.
LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft, might provide a viable tool to identify employers who have goods and services purchased by American households, and who are more adept at administering their workforce diversity programs. As an indicator for effective diversity programs – and more specifically, measuring the ability to engage talent from economically disadvantaged backgrounds – this study sought evidence of the ability for employers to successfully hire managers who report on LinkedIn of having attended any of the largest 10 HBCU’s.
These 10 schools are being used in the search as a barometer for workforce diversity, and to work towards alleviating the 5x (400%) disparity in Federal student loan defaults by race among college graduates.
Here’s a different link to a list (not used in this study) with about 36 HBCU schools on LinkedIn.
Can do a deeper dive into the data, to assess who are the largest local employers in your nearest metropolitan area to support their business if your household needs their products or services.
Identify who are the largest private sector employers among your alumni. Coordinate campaigns to encourage your entire alumni association to support those businesses, when products and services are needed for living expenses for their households.
Help the managers to reach their goals, and boast publicly about how your entire association has driven revenue to those businesses.
For now, review some of the national data.
Top Businesses with Diverse Management
Listed below are:
- the industry or industries from LinkedIn,
- an estimate of the relative size of diverse leadership within each industry (in the parentheses),
- the employer of the largest number of graduates from the largest HBCU’s as managers or other exec’s within the specified industry, and
- other top employers of graduates from the largest HBCU’s as managers and other exec’s within the specified industry.
Bottom line up front: When a small local business with economically disadvantaged ownership isn’t available to offer the same product or service, consider buying from these businesses.
Companies with Notable Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Products and Services
Hospital & Health Care Mental Health Care (9,048) —UnitedHealth Group HCA Healthcare Kaiser Permanente MD Anderson Cancer Center Texas Children’s Hospital
Financial Services Banking (5,544) — Wells Fargo Bank of America JPMorgan Chase & Co. SunTrust Citi
Information Technology and Services (5,687) — IBM Accenture Cisco Microsoft Verizon
Higher Education (4,924) — North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Howard University Jackson State University Morgan State University Florida A&M University
Non-profit Organization Management (3,939)– American Red Cross American Chemical Society Boys & Girls Clubs of America AARP Year Up
Retail (3,487) — Walmart Walgreens Lowe’s Companies, Inc. The Home Depot Macy’s
Real estate (2,605) — Keller Williams Realty, Inc. Long & Foster Companies Greystar Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Coldwell Banker
Insurance (2,464) — State Farm ® Allstate Blue Cross NC Travelers GEICO
Pharmaceuticals (2,229) — CVS Health Walgreens Merck Pfizer Walmart
Hospitality Restaurants (2,137) — Marriott International Hilton McDonald’s Waffle House, Inc. InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG®) — more commonly found in Washington D.C. Metro Area Greater Atlanta Area Houston, Texas Area Greater Nashville Area, TN. (Ideas for where to host your next big conference?)
Telecommunications (2,041) — AT&T Verizon Wireless Verizon Sprint Comcast
Automotive (1,513) — General Motors Enterprise Rent-A-Car Ford Motor Company Nissan Motor Corporation FCA Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
Oil & Energy (1,513) — Shell ExxonMobil Chevron BP Baker Hughes, a GE company
Food & Beverages Food Production Farming (1,484) — PepsiCo The Coca-Cola Company MillerCoors Sysco Tyson Foods
Computer Software (1,284) — Microsoft IBM Oracle Sage Red Hat
Medical Practice (1,131) — Memorial Hermann Health System Novant Health Vanderbilt University Medical Center Signature Healthcare Wake Forest Baptist Health — To note, the search terms on LinkedIn were adjusted to include more clinical occupations.
Consumer Goods (949) — Procter & Gamble PepsiCo Altria The Coca-Cola Company Kellogg Company
Writing & Editing Newspapers Publishing (863) — The New York Times Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Houston ISD Cox Media Group Houston Chronicle
Sports Sporting Goods (832) — Nike National Football League (NFL) YMCA of Greater Houston i9 Sports Houston ISD
Apparel & Fashion (713) — Ralph Lauren VF Corporation Tory Burch Coach Forever 21
Utilities (644) — Duke Energy Corporation WSSC (Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission) Baltimore Gas & Electric Entergy Dominion Energy
Arts & Crafts Fine Art Performing Arts (568) — The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Howard University Walmart Princess Mhoon Dance Institute Houston ISD
Internet (554)– Amazon Google Facebook Lyft Wayfair
To note, AMZN’s market cap is 80 times bigger than RL’s, but apparel and fashion industry has more measurable workforce diversity (per the HBCU alum metric) among management than the internet industry. The same disparity applies to several other industries. Tons of opportunity for improvement – this alone should compel Americans from economically disadvantaged families to independently use an optimized curriculum nightly.
Transportation/Trucking/Railroad in Houston, Texas Area Greater Atlanta Area Washington D.C. Metro Area (375) — Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) UPS Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County Union Pacific Railroad Amtrak
Investment Management (262) — T. Rowe Price Merrill Lynch Invesco US Goldman Sachs Prudential Capital Group
Supermarkets (56) — Harris Teeter Whole Foods Market INROADS Food Lion Winn-Dixie
Companies with Business-to-Business (B2B) Products and Services
Marketing & Advertising Entertainment Broadcast Media Media Production Online Media (7,073) — Radio One Howard University Comcast BET (BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc.) iHeartMedia
Management Consulting (2,302) — Deloitte Booz Allen Hamilton Accenture PwC Self-Employed Contractor
Human Resources (2,220) — ADP Paychex ACT-1 Personnel Services Cisco Insperity
Accounting (2,059) — EY PwC KPMG US Deloitte RSM US LLP
Construction (1,917) — Turner Construction Company HENSEL PHELPS Skanska The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company Lendlease
Mechanical Or Industrial Engineering Electrical & Electronic Manufacturing Industrial Automation (1,276) — Eaton ABB GE Rockwell Automation North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
Logistics & Supply Chain (1,238) — UPS Amazon CEVA Logistics XPO Logistics, Inc. US Army
Consumer Services (1,093) — Sodexo TruGreen American Home Shield United States Postal Service DISA Global Solutions, Inc.
Architecture & Planning (1,068) — HOK McKissack & McKissack Gensler Architects Lewis + Whitlock, PA Perkins+Will
Professional Training & Coaching (1,052) — Center for Creative Leadership Mary Kay Cosmetics The John Maxwell Team National Speakers Association Houston ISD
Security & Investigations Law Enforcement (1,032) — G4S Allied Universal Securitas Security Services USA, Inc. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) U.S. Department of Justice
Defense & Space (883) — Lockheed Martin Northrop Grumman Raytheon United States Air Force United States Department of Defense
Research (878) — RTI International The National Institutes of Health Howard University IQVIA PRA Health Sciences
Staffing and Recruiting (731) — Aerotek Kelly Services Workforce Solutions Randstad USA ResCare Workforce Services
Medical Devices (541) — Medtronic Abbott Stryker Teleflex Incorporated Boston Scientific
Chemicals (527) — BASF The Dow Chemical Company Chevron Phillips Chemical Company Sherwin-Williams DuPont
Law Practice (313) — Holland & Knight LLP Venable LLP Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP Locke Lord LLP Taylor English Duma LLP — To note, the LinkedIn search was modified to only identify profiles with word “Partner” on it.
Commercial Real Estate (209) — JLL CBRE Cushman & Wakefield ARVO REALTY ADVISORS Regus
Government
Education Management Primary/Secondary Education (7,929) — Houston ISD Metro Nashville Public Schools Prince George’s County Public Schools Guilford County Schools District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) — To note, where to live if people wish to direct their local tax dollars to a school system with diverse management.
Government Administration Government Affairs (5,243) — State of Tennessee U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs City of Houston United States Postal Service DC Government
Military (2,466) — US Army US Navy United States Air Force United States Department of Defense United States Army Reserve
Can’t ‘buy’ anything from government, so there’s little value for adding government as a employer on this list — which is mainly intended to point households where to shop. Paying more in taxes won’t convince an agency who is not listed, to hire more economically disadvantaged managers than the State of Tennessee has employed.
Still, this might be useful information for people seeking employment or contracts from buyers who are welcoming to people from economically disadvantaged families.
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
These businesses each have a visible commitment to workforce diversity among their management. There’s also a higher likelihood of economically disadvantaged people finding employment and attaining contracts at these large business employer organizations.
Getting the whole family out of the economically disadvantaged status and category isn’t difficult. Simply, work any full time job that pays above minimum wage, live minimally with supportive parents or a supportive spouse, no debt, and invest in above average companies for about a decade.
When prices are comparable, obviously aim to buy household goods from small and local businesses with disadvantaged ownership. But all products simply can’t be sourced through small and local businesses with disadvantaged ownership.
Since minimal living expenses will be needed – e.g., for food, housing, and transportation – and will be needed through businesses that aren’t small and local with disadvantaged ownership, aim to acquire products/services needed by your household from companies who choose to hire managers from families more likely to be economically disadvantaged.
SUPPORT These Businesses
This study may highlight just one methodology to identify large employers who excel in not just workforce “diversity”, but more specifically in the ability to cultivate a productive workforce of managers from economically disadvantaged communities, and this study examines nearly every industry of the U.S. economy.
Reward good corporate behavior by promoting, celebrating, and applauding these employers to your online and offline communities. Drive dollars to their organization and tell the executives WHY you’re buying needed goods and services for your household from their business.
Over the next year, expect the businesses (per each industry) who are not highlighted in the lists above to shift their hiring practices to attract dollars from U.S. consumers who want to use their household and organizational dollars to support hiring managers and promoting workers from economically disadvantaged American communities.