Hispanic inclusion in corporate America lagged last yr, particularly in three key areas — C-suite representation, talent development and supplier procurement — in line with the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility’s 2023 Corporate Inclusion Index.
While Hispanics make up 18% of the U.S. workforce, in line with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they’re overrepresented in nonexempt positions, which represent 73% of the Hispanic workforce in line with HACR’s research.
Nonexempt positions often offer fewer advantages, limited autonomy and fewer advancement opportunities, which may stifle the flexibility of Hispanic staff to advance inside corporations.
“There is no precise option to define success within the case of these items,” said Lisette Garcia, HACR chief research officer. “It’s more about ensuring that folks feel engaged and committed and valued and that their voice matters, but that is where benchmarking and doing these surveys matter.”
The company advocacy group’s annual report, which measures Hispanic inclusion in employment, procurement, governance and philanthropy, was provided exclusively to CNBC ahead of its wider release.
It includes data from 92 corporations — many throughout the Fortune 500 — collected between January and April.
A key finding from HACR: The dearth of representation typically begins right firstly of the pipeline.
While all corporations that participated within the survey reported offering internship programs, only 13% of interns in 2022 identified as Hispanic.
Garcia clarified that number may in point of fact be higher since demographic data collection around interns is not all the time conducted.
While the overwhelming majority of corporations say they prioritize “mentorship” and “succession planning initiatives,” at 91% and 97% of respondents, respectively, almost one-third of corporations said they wouldn’t have clearly defined goals or metrics to guage the success of internal talent development and program success.
“A technique of combatting issues related to Hispanic inclusion in corporate America is investments in internship programs as a way of attracting latest employees,” HACR noted in its report.
Hispanic representation on corporate boards was much more troubling, in line with the findings. Just 7% of board seats at respondent corporations were held by Hispanics in line with HACR, and only 2% of seats were held by Latinas.
Almost half the businesses surveyed had no Hispanic board directors.
As for supplier diversity, HACR found fewer than 1% of corporations supplying to survey respondents were Hispanic in 2022, and just barely greater than 1% of total spend was with Hispanic-owned businesses.
Garcia also noted those results amount to best estimates, not perfect numbers, since corporations aren’t required to gather demographic information for his or her supplier pool. She also shared in her research that the businesses collecting this data and sharing their results are sometimes those committed to leading the charge.
“Corporations who really understand the worth of this work for his or her business bottom line are going to be those that keep moving forward,” she said. “The sheer numbers of population growth and buying power tell us that corporations aren’t going to essentially have a alternative.”
While Hispanic inclusion lagged, HACR noted survey participation was up 12%, offering hope for future improvement.
“Regardless of the whole lot that is happening in society at large with attacks on DEI work and attacks on marginalized people in america, we’re seeing corporations be thinking about benchmarking,” said Garcia.
“There’s this renewed interest in saying, ‘Hey, where am I? What do I want to do to recuperate,’ and for me, that is all I want to listen to.”
Disclosure: CNBC’s parent company Comcast is amongst the businesses that participated in HACR’s annual survey.
