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Amid a flurry of recent backlash to corporate DEI programs, Verizon is still touting the importance of inclusion. The words used to support these efforts don’t matter so much to Hans Vestberg, chairman and CEO, but focusing on diversity is “common sense” as a business decision.
“If I serve the largest consumer business in the United States, I serve all communities and all diversity,” Vestberg said Tuesday during a panel discussion hosted by Fast Company at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “I also need the people that can serve them and understand them.”
Nearly 60% of Verizon’s U.S. workforce are women or people of color—a share that’s held fairly steady since at least 2016, when the mobile carrier devoted a section of its website to the company’s diversity and inclusion efforts. Meanwhile, some companies have quietly altered their programs as diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts have come under fire.
Even if some companies are backing away from the words they use around inclusion, the sentiment continues to prevail, argues Robert F. Smith, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, a private equity fund. “I still see business leaders understanding that more diverse workforces give you better outcomes—lower risk, higher revenues, lower challenges, I’ll call it, in reaching your consumer markets because your teams understand them better.”
And certainly don’t expect Verizon to drop its mention of “inclusion” anytime soon. Verizon is part of the Edison Alliance, a global coalition that launched in 2021 with the goal of improving the lives of one billion people worldwide by 2025 by providing digital access to healthcare, finance, and education.
“My dream has always been that it shouldn’t matter where you’re born, where you come from, or where you live—you should be part of our society,” Vestberg said. “And in my world, I believe digital inclusion is that.”
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