Supplier Diversity: The Key to Sustaining Your DE&I Efforts

BY CHRISTINE PROFFITT

While more companies are investing internally in DE&I, they also need to prioritize diversity in their external business relationships.

In the last year, corporate attention toward diversity, equity and inclusion has skyrocketed alongside the national reckoning on racial inequality. Organizations rolled out new C-suite positions focused on DE&I, created aggressive diversity hiring goals, and made significant strides toward diversifying the talent pipeline. In fact, according to a recent survey of HR executives by Future Workplace, DE&I is now considered their second most important priority—after the topic didn’t even break the top five list in the first half of 2020.

While many companies are making impressive progress toward raising the profile of DE&I among the C-suite and business leaders, the ensuing strategies often focus on employees—ensuring diversity is top of mind when hiring new talent, promoting existing employees into leadership positions, and cultivating tomorrow’s leaders. All are essential elements of a successful DE&I program but there is one important population of stakeholders that also needs to be considered: suppliers.

The vendors a company works with are often an integral part of what drives business success. They can make the difference between a project that’s completed on time and one that fails, or be the driver behind getting a product from point A to point B. Even though suppliers may not be as visible as the employees in your workplaces, in today’s ever-expanding and increasingly distributed ecosystem of contributors, these external partners are undoubtedly key to your success. And, if your company is truly committed to a DE&I agenda that advances diversity among your stakeholders, shouldn’t who these businesses are be just as important as what they do for your bottom line?

That’s where supplier diversity programs come in. A business that is at least half owned and operated by one or more individuals from a traditionally underrepresented minority—such as people of color, women, or LGBTQ people—can earn certification as a diverse supplier, making it a potentially attractive partner for companies looking to work with more diverse businesses.

There is a multitude of benefits associated with doing so. For companies looking to solidify their commitment to DE&I, supplier diversity can send a strong message—to employees, candidates, investors, and the wider communities they serve. New DE&I training or listening sessions on the topic are valuable tools to show your internal stakeholders that you value diversity—but putting those words into action by elevating diverse businesses demonstrates that the company is ready to do more than pay lip service to DE&I.

It’s also a means of staying competitive. Diversity and business success are inextricably linked. A 2019 McKinsey study found that the more gender and racial diversity companies built into their ranks, the more likely they were to experience above-average profitability. When an organization partners with businesses led by those of differing backgrounds, experiences, skill sets, viewpoints and more, they are inviting innovation into the future of their company. It’s a reality recognized by nearly all leading businesses today: About 97 percent of Fortune 500 companies have a supplier diversity initiative in place.

About 97 percent of Fortune 500 companies have a supplier diversity initiative in place.

As employees around the globe become more attuned to the realities of issues like systemic racism and unconscious bias, they are expecting more from their employers when it comes to DE&I. Couple that with the labor market conditions—the “Great Resignation” that is causing so many business leaders to lose sleep over recruiting and retention and fueling an increased emphasis on employer branding—and employers have a clear mandate: Investing in supplier diversity is a business imperative that can propel companies through to a brighter future.

Christine Proffitt is vice president of sales and operations of Integrity Staffing Solutions, a LGBTBEcertified national staffing agency specializing in serving large, highvolume fulfillment facilities of leading online and traditional retailers.