Three of Toyota North America’s U.S. plants are run by women or people of color.
The makeup of its nearly 4,000-employee headquarters in Plano closely mirrors the demographics of Dallas-Fort Worth.
And the Japanese company’s discrimination policy goes well beyond standard equal opportunity protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
Those are among the reasons Toyota checks in as the highest-rated locally-based company in Diversity Inc.’s annual ranking of the top 50 companies for diversity. It came in fourth, behind only Accenture, Mastercard and Abbott.
Diversity Inc. recognizes the nation’s top companies for diversity and inclusion management based on company-submitted data in six areas: leadership accountability, worker diversity metrics, talent programs, workforce practices, supplier diversity and philanthropy. Toyota has made the top 50 ranking for 15 consecutive years, rising from seventh last year.
Toyota chief diversity officer Sandra Phillips Rogers said mentoring has been a big driver in the company’s ranking this year. In March, Toyota announced a $110 million initiative to prepare youth from pre-kindergarten through high school for future careers in STEM.
Phillips Rogers also credited the company’s reverse mentoring program for employees.
“In traditional mentoring, the advice and wisdom flows from the senior leader to the junior employee,” Phillips Rogers said. “But reverse mentoring is set up to allow cultural insight and lived experience to flow up.”
If every employees feels like they belong, she said, they will give their all and not hesitate to share good insights.
“That’s why we see diversity and inclusion as more than just doing the right thing,” Phillips Rogers said. “We see it as a business imperative and an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage.”
Other companies with significant operations in North Texas to make Diversity Inc.’s list are Capital One Financial and Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association.
Virginia-based Capital One, which has about 5,000 employees in its auto loan division in Plano, came in at No. 22. Theresita Richard, Capital One’s managing vice president for diversity, inclusion and belonging, said the financial firm continues to invest in diversity efforts so employees feel a sense of belonging.
“When associates feel that they belong, they can thrive, finding meaning, purpose and connection in their work,” Richard said.
In 2021, women and people of color accounted for 54% of Capital One’s board of directors. In leadership roles of vice presidents and above, women held 32.8% of the jobs — a 28.6% jump in the last seven years.
Capital One also regularly reviews employee pay for gender and racial inequities, Richard said.
“We review groups of associates in similar roles, accounting for factors that appropriately explain differences in pay such as job location and experience,” Richard said. “Based on this analysis, our most recent aggregated adjusted pay gap results show that we pay women globally 100% of what men are paid and we pay people of color in the U.S. 100% of what white associates are paid.”
New York-based Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, one of the country’s largest pension funds and financial advisers, ranked No. 8. TIAA last month announced it was moving 2,000 jobs to a new office tower at The Star in Frisco. It has about 670 employees in D-FW now.
Kristin Dunsky, TIAA’s senior director of inclusion, diversity and equity, said the company raised the bar this year with the support of its new CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett, who joined in May 2021.
The company launched a diverse supplier scholarship program in 2020 that provides full tuition to Dartmouth University’s Tuck Diversity Business Program, she said. So far, 35 scholarships have been awarded.
Top-ranked Accenture, a consulting firm with over 2,000 employees in D-FW, became the first professional services company to publish comprehensive data about its U.S. workforce in 2016, said spokeswoman Aimee Ertley.
“Accenture strives to support our people at every turn, not just because we believe it’s good for business, but because we simply believe giving everyone equal opportunity is the right thing to do,” Ertley said.
Ertley said 60% of Accenture’s board of directors members are racially and ethnically diverse, and half are women, including chair and CEO Julie Sweet.
Other companies in this year’s ranking with a large presence in North Texas include KPMG, Boeing, Cigna, Wells Fargo, General Motors, Raytheon, PepsiCo, Walmart, Target, Walgreens and CVS.
