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U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) released the results of his 2014 Corporate Diversity Survey today which reflects a decline in the representation of minorities and women on executive teams.
The 2014 survey marks the third year it has been given to Fortune 100 companies. Of the 100 companies, 69 participated in the survey. Participating companies included Morgan Stanley, New York Life Insurance Company, UPS, and Wells Fargo.
The creation of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) and growing implementation of supplier diversity offices within companies nationwide has cultivated an atmosphere for increased opportunities for women and minorities. The survey seeks to shine a light on the progress of such supplier diversity offices.
Despite growing initiatives, the survey exposed a serious lack of women and minorities and in some cases, decreases in diversity from previous years.
For example, executive teams were found to be comprised of 20.9 percent women with two companies reporting zero women. Conversely, women represented 21.46 percent of executive team members in 2011.
Likewise, procurement dollars spent on minority- and women-owned suppliers decreased in 2014 compared to 2011. However, it must be noted that in 2011, 17 fewer companies disclosed their procurement statistics for the survey.
Nevertheless, Fortune 100 companies last year spent an average of 7.9 percent of total procurement dollars on minority- and women-owned suppliers compared to the 9.99 percent that was spent in 2011.
Although OMWI is working hard to establish diversity among the government and regulated agencies in terms of management, employment and business activities, it is clear that companies nationwide must adopt more stringent policies to improve diversity. To read the full survey results, click here.