United States: large retailers still slow to integrate diversity and inclusion into their HR policies

Only 9% of the 50 largest retailers in the US integrate diversity, equity and inclusion into their human resources policies, according to management consulting group Korn Ferry. While the proportion is low, the figure represents progress compared to two years ago, when essentially none of the largest retailers focused on DEI as part of their HR policies. Having been criticised for their lack of openness towards minorities (women, black people, people of Latino origin, those with disabilities, LGBT people, obese people, etc.), several companies have decided to boost their HR policies on these issues. One example is Target, one of the largest discount retailers in the United States, which has announced that it is to link the remuneration of its 300 top executives to progress on diversity objectives, such as reflecting multicultural diversity in recruitment practices. Meanwhile, in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, the clothing retailer Tommy Hilfiger launched the so-called “People’s Place” programme, with which it is committing $5 million per year over 3 years to advance the representation of minorities. The company does not hesitate to use statistics to identify the “cognitive biases” that lead its managers to unconsciously underestimate the lack of diversity – in terms of gender, origin, culture – within its teams. On the other hand, although Google and Apple have been committed to equal opportunities since 2014, the results are far from satisfactory. At Apple, the proportion of technology jobs held by women rose from 20% to 23% in 2018, while the percentage of African-American employees remained stable at 6%.