GlobeSt. Twitter Chat on DEI Reveals Both Progress and Goals Not Yet Reached

It was about a year ago that George Floyd was murdered, plunging the country into a crisis of conscience. A day of reckoning had arrived for the US, and then the world, on many levels—a reckoning that is still playing out today. This national trauma did not escape the corporate community. At the time, company after company pledged—or reiterated past promises—to focus on diversity, equality and inclusion. A turning point in the business community seemed to have arrived. 

So it is only natural we use the anniversary of Floyd’s death to look back to see what progress has been made. Have these corporate promises been fulfilled? At first glance it is tempting to say yes. It is no longer rare, for example, to see a chief diversity officer in the C-suite. And it is downright commonplace for companies to point to their diversity initiatives in hiring and human relations. To be sure, one could make the case that that progress has not been enough. It is difficult to find companies that actually measure the progress they are making with diversity, for instance. And few companies disclose actual numbers to the public, although some states are pushing for that and the Securities and Exchange Commission may take up that as well.

But few companies would be bold enough to claim that they have mastered DEI. It is, they might rather say, a work in progress.

To get a sense of where the commercial real estate industry is, GlobeSt.com and our sister site Law.com hosted a Twitter chat this week titled: Diversity, Inclusion and Equity: Where Are We One Year Later? Panelists for the chat included Tiffany English, president at CREW Network; Betsy Feigin Befus, senior vice president, general counsel and strategic initiatives at NMHC; Jenny Bean, chief human resources office at Duke Realty; Kent Elliott, principal at RETS Associates; and Leslie Branson, senior managing director, head of HR, multifamily capital markets at Newmark.

One takeaway from the chat is that diversity is very much a key component of the companies’ operations and has been, in some cases, for years. Bean, for example, noted that Duke Realty has focused on DEI for the past 20 years, specifically in the area of recruitment. “Our recruiting efforts involve requiring a diverse candidate slate for all open positions, along with diverse interview panels,” she said.

 At CREW, “We have engaged our partners, chapter leaders and members throughout our DEI efforts. Our focus is on ensuring that all CREW members embrace diversity as a core principle for member growth and engagement, and have the knowledge and tools to move DEI forward,” English said. And from Befus: “DEI is core to our business strategy in supporting the industry and running our internal ops.”

Elliott at RETS Associates’ view was particularly interesting given it is a recruiter. He reported that 65% of the candidates it has placed over the last three years are diverse by ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, and age. “Our goal is to provide our clients with a diverse panel; we have been achieving that.”

But the chat also revealed the limits of what the corporate world can do in this realm, at least at this point in time. None of the companies included political outreach or alignment with such organizations as Black Lives Matter as part of their activities. Perhaps more fittingly, on the other hand, most acknowledged that diversity was an important part of their ESG initiatives. Newmark is actively developing ESG initiatives to support Newmark values and how it puts those values into action, Branson said. And most have received inquiries about DEI from stakeholders. “Our stakeholders want us to show our commitment to DEI with action, not just words. Words matter but action matters more,” Befus said.

Perhaps the most surprising finding from the chat is that few of the companies were able to point to tangible bottom line results from their diversity initiatives—surprising because study after study has shown that diversity does improve corporate performance. But most of the participants are starting to measure progress, which is an important stepping stone to this goal.  NMHC, for instance, has begun tracking representation among its events speakers and is setting goals for speaker diversity, Befus said. It has also started to track representation in its membership to measure progress over time. Duke Realty measures success by viewing the progress its made in recruiting and retaining diverse associates, the utilization of diverse suppliers and its community work, Bean said. “We track our progress each year and implement strategies to affect change.”

And for some companies the bottom line is almost beside the point. “Doing well by doing good has always been our company philosophy. If it impacts the bottom line, that’s great, but we believe the value of our DEI efforts are immeasurable,” Branson said.