Top 50 Companies for Diversity:Frequently Asked Questions


By the Editors of DiversityInc
2006 DiversityInc.com

April 14, 2006

Q. How can my company apply for next year and what are the criteria?
A. Your company must be U.S.-based (or a U.S. subsidiary) and have a minimum of 1,000 employees to participate. You then must fill out our detailed (more than 200-question) survey. If you meet the criteria and would like to receive the invitation to participate next year, please send contact information (name, title of contact person, mailing address, telephone number and e-mail) to editor@DiversityInc.com.

Q. When will the next Top 50 survey go out and be due?
A. It will go out on Oct. 16, 2006, and be due by Feb. 12, 2007. Results will be announced in April 2007.

Q. Is there a sponsor for the list? Can you pay to get on the list? Do advertisers receive any special breaks?
A. No, no and no. Companies that advertise with DiversityInc or have business relationships with the company get no special treatment. The list is completely unbiased and many of the companies on the list have no business relationship with DiversityInc.

Q. How many companies participated?
A. This year, the sixth for the survey, 256 companies participated, up 100 percent from 2003 and up 26 percent from last year.

Q. What criteria did you use for ranking?
A. The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list is derived exclusively from corporate survey submissions. The survey is organized in four areas: CEO commitment, human capital, corporate communications and supplier diversity. This year, a far heavier emphasis was given to the most important aspect of diversity managementCEO commitmentand each company was evaluated within its own industry and employee skill sets. For the first time, DiversityInc required companies in the Top 50 to have demonstrated consistent strength in all four areas, as a national diversity leader cannot be deficient in any of the core components. Also for the first time, companies were evaluated within the context of their industries and their skill sets.

Q. Why do some companies fall off the list?
A. With the change in methodology, it is unfair to compare companies' positions on the list from one year to another. This year, the improved methodology caused companies that do not excel consistently in all four areas measured to decline in ranking. Also, the emphasis on CEO commitment impacted certain companies. In addition, with more competition and 48 percent of participants were first-timersthe playing field changed substantially. There were seven first-timers on the Top 50 list as well as 14 companies that were past participants but did not make the 2005 list.

Q. What makes The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity different from other companies?
A. Their recognition, which starts with the CEO, that diversity is integral to their business success. The Top 10, for example, have unbiased promotion rates (equal to work-force representation) for all races. The bottom quarter of the survey respondents, by comparison, have 22 percent fewer people of color in their work-forces and promote in a biased manner whites are promoted at 110 percent of representation rates while people of color are promoted at only 72 percent of their representation rates.

The bottom-line results support the commitment to diversity. Examined over a 10-year period, The 2006 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity Index outperformed the Nasdaq by 28.2 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 by 24.8 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 22.4 percent. Results for one-, three- and five-year performance were competitive as well.