To BlackRock, diversity, equity and inclusion stays at the heart of the business. Read below to find out more about their philosophy and approach.
Philosophy
Our philosophy of working as One BlackRock is at the core of our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across every level of our firm and within every region and country we operate – across gender, race, ethnicity, disability and veteran status, among others. At BlackRock, DEI is a business imperative. We know that a diverse workforce is indispensable to our creativity and success. It’s how we answer the biggest questions and solve the toughest problems. An inclusive, equitable environment makes us thrive. It enables us to draw on expertise and unique experiences from across the firm and bring out the best in each other.
Approach
BlackRock has different initiatives and programs in place to make sure that diversity and inclusion stays at the forefront of the business.
Our approach to hiring
We seek to hire diverse teams because we believe they lead to better decision-making, especially in complex, changing environments. To do that, we regularly review job postings for biased language, champion diverse candidate slates and use a competency-based approach to interviewing.
Employee Networks
Our global networks are dynamic communities built on shared experiences, intersectionality and allyship. They are culture carriers for the firm, offering employees and allies the opportunity to enhance and shape the inclusive culture to which we aspire. Employee networks are sponsored by senior leaders and are proudly designed by employees, for employees.
Our first network, the Women’s Initiative & Allies Network (WIN), was established in 2006. Today, we have 15 employee, professional, and impact networks which come together in a forum called Mosaic – to identify and explore shared interests and common challenges across all networks and the firm. We continue to add new networks to support our employees.
Talent and Culture
Our One BlackRock Principle recognizes that a diverse workforce as indispensable to our success, and that an inclusive, equitable environment makes us thrive.
Transparency and accountability are critical in creating a more diverse workforce with an inclusive and equitable work environment. Senior business leaders make it a priority to ensure that all employees in their groups understand why diversity is important for success and equip them with tools and knowledge to foster inclusion.
We hold our businesses accountable for progress in diversity, equity, and inclusion. We implement business-specific DEI goals, establish clear action plans and review business-specific progress with each of our businesses and functions at mid and end of year. We also report our progress against our DEI initiatives regularly to our Board of Directors.
Our 2023 DEI priorities focus on:
Representation and advancement
- Design and deploy a retention strategy for underrepresented professionals
- Partner with Talent Acquisition to support the hiring and onboarding of underrepresented professionals across a number of diversity dimensions and enhance hiring manager training and bias mitigation techniques
Inclusive and equitable experience
- Deliver a firm-wide inclusion initiative with tangible actions for employees to demonstrate allyship
- Continue to invest in people manager skill-building that enables diverse teams and inclusive leadership skills
- Continue to invest in our networks through tailored experiences (e.g., global summits and leadership development opportunities)
Accountability
- Improve individual and People Manager DEI accountability at BlackRock through performance management processes
- Further evolve business-specific DEI goals beyond representation and include measures related to employee inclusion sentiment and equity
Partnerships across BlackRock
- Develop an implementation plan for selected key initiatives as a result of the U.S. Racial Equity Assessment
- Continue to execute on supplier diversity strategy in the Americas
- Scale global client conversations through our DEI Client Ambassador program
- Continue to support the activities of our Diverse Manager and Broker programs
DEI governance models
- Continue to leverage the Global DEI Steering Committee and DEI ExCo Leads as key DEI governance bodies to accelerate the pace of progress against our strategy and hold us accountable to our priorities
- Continue to localize our DEI strategy by investing in country level DEI Steering Committees
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