While some US employers, including Brown-Forman, Ford, and Lowe’s, have signaled a retreat from DE&I in recent weeks, Amazon appears to be quietly pushing ahead with its commitments.
The company released an equity audit the Friday before Labor Day, two years after it commissioned the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison (Paul, Weiss) to conduct it, without a formal press announcement or accompanying social media posts.
In 2023, 69% of Amazon’s 1.5 million US workers were BIPOC. Last year, the company also combined its disparate DE&I teams—each responsible for different business developments such as promotions, inclusion, and participation—into one group, known as the inclusive experiences and technology (IXT) team, which is now responsible for all global DE&I efforts.
The audit examined the policies, programs, and benefits of Amazon’s more than 750,000 US hourly associates and conducted employee listening sessions to uncover where the company is succeeding, has room for improvement, and might be open to potential legal risks.
The findings. Amazon’s 13 employee-led affinity groups are key to helping employees feel like they are included and belong, the audit found. Workers said they participate in local affinity group-sponsored events, and feel they provide them with access to company leaders. While Paul, Weiss found that Amazon could do more to promote affinity groups to its hourly workers, it noted that affinity group information available on the employee app, known as A to Z, has helped increase participation.
The audit also highlighted how Amazon works with vendors and organizations to help diversify its workforce, recruiting veteran, justice-involved, refugee, and disabled workers. It claimed that Amazon doesn’t specifically target minority populations, attributing the diversity of its workforce to how it recruits employees.
Although the company appears to be doing some things well, the law firm found several opportunities for improvement. It noted, for example, that Amazon should expand the language options for its hiring process beyond only English and Spanish.
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Paul, Weiss also recommended that the company monitor its complaint and performance management data to ensure outcomes are fair across groups, and have employees undergo unconscious bias training.
Zoom out. The company has continued to support DE&I-related causes, including Pride Month and events hosted by its Black Employee Network. It has also promoted career advancement opportunities and product offerings for disabled people. These examples, coupled with its latest workforce data released in June, which stated that “we know that diversity helps us build better teams that obsess over and better represent our global customer base,” signal that DE&I is still part of Amazon’s corporate culture.
The June analysis broke down Amazon’s workforce by gender and race, and then by title, distinguishing between senior leaders, managers, and corporate employees. By the end of 2023, men accounted for 73% of senior leaders in the US, down slightly from 77% in 2020. The company appears to have made more progress in terms of ethnic representation among this group, as 63% of senior leaders identified as white in 2023, down from 70% in 2020.
“We remain committed to our vision to build inclusive and equitable experiences for our global base of employees, customers, and the communities we serve,” the company said in an Aug. 30 blog post. “We believe that our employees should reflect the diversity of the customers we serve, and that each person should be valued for their unique experiences and perspectives.”
In response to a request for comment, Amazon pointed HR Brew to the blog post in which it announced the report’s release.
Correction 09/09/2024: This piece has been corrected to note that Amazon did respond before publication to note that they had no further comment beyond its already published statement.
