March 2022
US Research Report





Through this important study, we are working to make US businesses understand exactly what the barriers in the way of diversity are, what they can do about it, and hold them accountable to change.
The McKenzie-Delis Review is a groundbreaking report on diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the US workplace. While the D&I agenda has long been a high priority in the US, until this point there has not been a comprehensive review of how the country’s largest employers are addressing and prioritizing their efforts across the ten facets of workplace D&I – ethnicity, gender, age, nationality, mental health, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, disability, religion, and parenthood.
01
Gender

02
Race And Ethnicity

03
Sexual Orientation

04
Disability

05
Age And Generation

06
Religion or Belief

07
Nationality

08
Socio-Economic Status

09
Mental Health

10
Parenthood

The McKenzie-Delis Review on D&I is the most comprehensive review of corporate practices against the ten facets of workplace D&I.
Key Findings from Participating Organizations are:
Index Scores of Facets - US
Ethnicity
Nationality
Parenthood
Mental Health
Gender
Disability
Sexual Orientation
Religion
Age
Socio-economics Status
Note: See Appendix in the US Report for index score calculation.
01
Gender
Four in five (85%)
participating US companies say they specify gender diversity in leadership succession planning and a similar number track progress towards it. Yet less than one in ten (8%) have at least 50% female representation on their senior leadership team.
02
Race And Ethnicity
Nine in ten (89%)
participating US companies say they have at least one member from a Black, Hispanic / Latino, South or East Asian, or another ethnic minority on their leadership team. And many companies include ethnic diversity in leadership succession planning (86%), with three-quarters (78%) having stated initiatives towards this.
03
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
Half (49%)
of participating US companies have LGBTQ+., representation on their leadership team and 70% have approved an LGBTQ+. strategy in the past 12 months.
04
DISABILITY
Half (49%)
of participating US companies are actively looking to increase the number of staff with disabilities. Almost all offer workplace adjustments and four in five (81%) have dedicated employee assistance lines.
05
AGE AND GENERATION
Seven in ten (70%)
have specific measures in place to reduce age bias in recruitment, but only 14% have training geared toward older workers and a further 11% have a peer support network.
06
RELIGION OR BELIEF
Near-universal agreement (97%)
that companies allow employees to take time off for religious holidays and holy days, and most allowing employees to wear religious symbols and clothing (92%), and freely discussing religion and belief in the workplace (76%).
07
NATIONALITY
Three-quarters (73%)
Almost all companies we surveyed say they promote the benefits of a culturally diverse workforce (95%) and three-quarters (73%) offer inclusivity training on how to work in a culturally diverse workplace.
08
SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS
Seven in ten (70%)
participating companies say they have specific outreach programs to target candidates from lower performing schools or socio-economic backgrounds. However, only 11% collect and monitor data on the socio-economic background of their workforce.
09
MENTAL HEALTH
Three in four (76%)
have a mental health strategy in place, which always includes access to quality health care (100%) and often mental health training (62%).
10
PARENTHOOD
Almost all (97%)
companies offer an uplift on statutory maternity pay, dropping to 86% for paternity and 70% for adoption pay. Just under half (46%) say their line managers get training on how to support expecting or new parents, and slightly more (49%) have formal support programs for employees returning from parental leave.

Recommendations
There are many solutions to tackle the issues; however to succeed they need to be applied broadly and driven through with passion, process and persistence. For each facet, we have collated best practice actions from our participating organizations, research partners and our review committee on how organizations can continue to move the dial on D&I.
Our Experts

LEILA MCKENZIE-DELIS
CEO of Dial Global, Founder of the McKenzie-Delis Foundation

TAMI ERWIN
Co-Chair of the McKenzie-Delis
Review and CEO of Verizon Business

John Standley
Co-Chair of the Mckenzie-Delis Review and Executive Vice President WBA & President, Walgreens
To Get the Full Picture




PLEASE HELP US TO MOVE THE DIAL ON DIVERSITY
As a US charity and non-profit, we rely on the support and donations of forward-thinking individuals to fund this critical research into the ten facets of diversity.
*Donations are tax-deductible
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