Sodexo named to the prestigious Seramount Inclusive Index for excellence in diversity, equity, and inclusion 

Gaithersburg, Md., August 12, 2021 – Sodexo, a leader in food services and facilities management, announced today that it was recognized as a Leading Inclusion Index Company by Seramount (formerly Working Mother Media). The Inclusion Index helps organizations understand trends and gaps in demographic representation, creates a road map to drive internal change, and identifies diversity, equity, and inclusion solutions to close the gaps. 
 
Sodexo remains committed to offering a culture of inclusion and belonging where all employees can thrive, said Tony Tenicela, Sodexo’s Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. We are honored to be named as a leading company on the 2021 Seramount Inclusion Index for the fifth consecutive year. Not only does this placement recognize Sodexo’s DE&I efforts, it allows us to address areas of opportunities through the benchmarking it provides.

Sodexo was among 27 organizations recognized as a Leading Inclusion Index Company, receiving a 70 percent or higher score. Sodexo’s work in creating and honoring a culture of inclusion and belonging is consistently recognized by notable organizations – like Seramount – and publications. In 2020, Sodexo was named to NAFE’s Top Companies for Executive Women by the National Association for Female Executives, Bloomberg’s Gender-Equality Index, and FORTUNE’s list of the World’s most Admired Companies. 

The need to address inclusion in the workplace continues to be a priority for corporate America, said Katie Oertli Mooney, Vice President of Diversity Best Practices at Seramount. Progress has been made, but we must remain steadfast in our efforts. We are proud to recognize our Inclusion Index companies for their dedication and for putting in the necessary work to effect real, sustainable change.

Key findings from the 2021 Seramount Inclusion Index are:  

  • Recruitment, retention, and advancement: Eighty-one percent of index companies require diverse interview slates (compared with 45 percent of companies on the 2020 index), and 66 percent require diverse panels of interviewers. Ninety-two percent provide training for recruiters in cultural competency in interviewing. Seventy-five percent of index companies consider gender, race, and ethnicity in succession planning (compared with 59 percent of the 2020 Index companies).  
  • Inclusive corporate culture: Ninety-five percent of companies conduct pay-equity audits (of those, 84 percent audit for both gender and race/ethnicity), and 88 percent set representation percentage goals (compared with 65 percent of the 2020 Index companies). Ninety-four percent hold managers accountable for DE&I during performance reviews. Fifty-seven percent of Inclusion Index companies compensate managers for DE&I results (compared with 42 percent of 2020 index companies). In the year since the murder of George Floyd, many companies across corporate America have pledged to address racism within their organization: Seventy-three percent of Index companies have conducted anti-racism training, 99 percent have had organized discussions on racism (and of those 99 percent, 97 percent involved senior leaders), and 86 percent held employee focus groups. 

 

About Seramount

Seramount is a strategic professional-services firm dedicated to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. Over four decades, partnering with some of the most iconic companies in the world, we’ve built a deep, data-driven understanding of the employee experience, which lays the groundwork for everything we do. Our comprehensive DE&I toolkit includes actionable research and insights, membership, strategic guidance and consulting, and inspiring events, meeting each client’s needs no matter where they are on their journey, and guiding them along an ever-changing landscape. Seramount has empowered more than 450 organizations to realize the business benefits of diversity, equity and inclusion.

 

About Sodexo North America

Sodexo North America is part of a global, Fortune 500 company with a presence in 64 countries. Sodexo is a leading provider of integrated food, facilities management and other services that enhance organizational performance, contribute to local communities and improve quality of life for millions of customers in corporate, education, healthcare, senior living, sports and leisure, government and other environments daily. Sodexo is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and safety, while upholding the highest standards of corporate responsibility and ethical business conduct. In support of local communities across the U.S., in 2020, the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation mobilized 10,000 Sodexo volunteers to distribute 4.1 million meals to help 5.9 million children and adults meet their immediate food needs. Since 1996, the Stop Hunger Foundation has contributed $36.7 million to help feed children in America impacted by hunger. To learn more about Sodexo, visit us.sodexo.com, and connect via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or YouTube.

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