Aspirants have been talking about diversity for some time and are aware of the issues, perhaps out of necessity. She defined sideliners as companies that tiptoe around the conversation while not making any real changes or setting any substantive policies. The subsequent call to end systemic racism is reverberating throughout boardrooms and breakrooms alike.Ĭreary has created three categories for companies based on their diversity and inclusion efforts: the veterans the aspirants and the sideliners. “And I think much of this had to do with the leadership – so, with Michel.”Īs part of a new Knowledge at Wharton podcast series titled Leading Diversity at Work, Anand recently spoke with Wharton management professor Stephanie Creary, who is an identity and diversity scholar, about some of the race-related issues that persist across industries large and small.Īlthough the struggle for equality in the workplace is nothing new, the fight has been invigorated by worldwide protests sparked by the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis, Minnesota, who died after a white police officer pressed his knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes. But it was also a time of incredible learning, incredible growth,” she said. “That certainly was a very painful time in the company’s history. His friendship with Ollie Lawrence, an African American man he hired to be his North America chief human resources officer, helped Landel navigate that curve. Landel, who is French and born in Morocco, didn’t have a keen understanding of race relations in the United States, so he had a steep learning curve. Anand, who worked directly under then-CEO Michel Landel, was key in that process and remembered it as a period of great transformation for both the company and her boss. In 2005, the company agreed to an $80 million settlement and worked hard to revise its internal practices and build a culture of diversity and inclusion. It posts about $24 billion in revenue yearly. Based in France, Sodexo is the 19 th-largest employer in the world with 460,000 workers in about 80 countries. In 2002, Rohini Anand was settling into her new position as senior vice president of corporate responsibility and global chief diversity officer for Sodexo when the food services company was hit with one of the largest racial bias lawsuits in American corporate history.įiled a year earlier, the lawsuit was certified as class action after thousands of mid-level black managers claimed they had been denied promotions while less qualified colleagues rose through the ranks of the massive company. Wharton’s Stephanie Creary and global diversity expert Rohini Anand discuss what it takes to create a culture of inclusiveness.
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