Diversity Research Audit Coca Cola Company

Diversity Research Audit Coca Cola Company

Diversity Research Audit

Coca-Cola Company

Abstract

 For many years the Coca-Cola Company found themselves consistently in DiversityInc’s top 10. In recent years Coca-Cola has fallen from the top 10 overall, but remains a strong competitor in terms of diversity. Coca-Cola is still ranked as #6 in The DiversityInc Top 10 companies for Blacks, and Latino’s.  Recent drop in overall rankings is said to be attributed to its merger with Coca-Cola Enterprises. Coca-Cola Enterprises is a much larger U.S. Entity with less developed diversity management initiatives. In a statement Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent said, “The company has spent the last year integrating Coca-Cola Enterprises and is arduously working to integrate its diverse strategies.  It is my goal to examine how Coca-Cola can regain its Top 10 Diversityinc. position, and determine if there is anything more that can be added to the Diversity Program to further foster equality with Coca-Cola, its partners and the communities they are involved with and represent. Coca-Cola acknowledges that their employees and customers are diverse as the thousands of products they represent. I will work to measure the diversity of Coca-Cola using the following measures:

• Quantitave measures- aligned with the basic principles of traditional affirmative action.
• Qualitative measures- outcome oriented or activity based.
• Recruitment Strategy- ways to attract a diverse pool of applicants
• Retention- ways to keep a diverse pool of employees
• Training- providing – offering training programs in diversity issues
• Diversity Commitment- diversity a common thread within the organization. Is it strived for?

Literature Review

Why is diversity so important to businesses? In conducting my research I came across a quote that I feel sums it up beautifully. “All employees bring their own unique capabilities, experiences, and characteristics to their work. And as an employee it is your responsibility to treat co-workers, stakeholders, and customers with respect and dignity. We must strive to create and foster a supportive and understanding environment in which each employee can realize maximum potential regardless of differences.” (usgs.gov/ohr/diversityinclusion).

 Let’s take a closer look at how Coca-Cola measures up. Coca-Cola has 33 companywide resource groups that are available to each and every employee. Some of the resource groups represented: African American, Latino, Asian, Women, and LGBT, to name a few. Coca-Cola uses these groups to their benefit by having their members be active participants of recruiting events, help select experts to speak on panels and partner with customers on events impacting the community. The importance of Diversity is handled as a “top down” philosophy, starting with the CEO and moving right down to front line workers. (Kent, 2012) Diversity is of such importance that annually Coca-Cola conducts and publishes results of a diversity audit. I was able to review the entire contents of the Coca-Cola Diversity Audit for 2011 directly on their website. The audit allows insight into “diversity and business stories from directly inside the business”.  An important theme is a constant drive to improve diversity, inclusion and fairness for all internally and externally.  (Bucherati, 2011)  Per the Diversity report, in 2011 over 5,200 employees were members of one of 33 business groups created by Coca-Cola to remain on the cutting edge with regard to their diversity mission. 42% of Coca-Cola’s workforce was multicultural. In 2011 Coca-Cola hired 101 employees that considered themselves as disabled or disabled Veterans. Company associates volunteered 16,000 hours with multicultural and underserved organizations. For 2012 Coca-Cola scored 100% in the Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality and Human Rights Campaign. With Coca-Cola receiving all of these positive accolades for their diversity program it is easy to see they are doing a great job. However with the acquisition of Coca-Cola Enterprises they must now find ways to expand their program to include the addition of these employees. It is important the Coca-Cola stays diligent in their fight for equality and diversity within their organization, and to do this all sections of the company must be on the same page.

Statistics regarding Coca-Cola’s U.S. Diversity Demographics are published on their website and can be viewed on several diversity sights on the web. These statistics breakdown their workforce into categories (African American, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian/Pacific Islander, Caucasian, Hispanic, Two or more races, Other, Men and Women). This for me was the first time I have seen a company provide a category that allows people to identify with more than one race, therefore providing a better statistical evaluation of their overall work force. The data provides specific data in the following areas: Total U.S. Workforce, Total U.S. Hourly Workforce, Total U.S. Salary Workforce, and Diversification of Senior Leadership. I found this to be a very upfront measure to demonstrate company diversity. In black and white every aspect of their business is represented in an easy to comprehend bar graph form. Viewing the information provided it is easy to see that Coca-Cola has more male staff than female in most areas, could this be a diversity issue? Could it be that the type of work being done on the front lines is more attractive to men (machine worker, truck drivers), resulting in less female applicants, thus less female hires? I will dig a bit deeper into this issue as I go evaluate the 10 criteria I have chosen. I feel it is important though to consider such things when making an overall evaluation.

10 Questions

How do the percentages and numbers of the workforce align with workforces on the state and federal level? Which groups are underrepresented? In 2000 Coca-Cola lost a lawsuit that sited that they discriminated based on race. “Coca-Cola’s 2000 race-discrimination settlement promised similar improvements. Under its consent decree, Coca-Cola agreed to pay $192.5 million, $35 million of which was to fund half a dozen major diversity programs. In

2005, Coca-Cola reported to the court that women and minorities held 64 percent of salaried jobs, up from 61 percent in 2000” (Diversity Management in Corporate America 2007). Coca-Cola walked the walk following the lawsuit. They now exceed diversity standards in many areas and are continually working to improve their diversity statistics, and diversity programs within the organization. As of December 31, 2011 42% of their U.S. workforce was multicultural.