Diverse and inclusive cultures are providing companies with a competitive edge over their peers, according to the Wall Street Journal’s research analysts in their first ranking of corporate sectors, as well as the individual companies in the S&P 500 index, based on how diverse and inclusive they are.
Analysts gave each company in the S&P 500 a diversity and inclusion score from 0 to 100. Scores were based on 10 metrics, including the age and ethnicity of the company’s workforce, the percentage of women in leadership roles, whether the firm has diversity and inclusion programs in place for employees and the makeup of the board.
Coming in at No. 1: Progressive Corp., with a score of 85. JPMorgan Chase followed closely behind, with a score of 80.
The financial industry overall was the best-performing sector in the study, with banks and insurers dominating the list of the 20 most diverse companies. The communications-services and consumer-staples industries came in a close second and third, while the energy and materials sectors brought up the rear.
Turns out the 20 most diverse companies in the research not only have better operating results on average than the lowest-scoring firms, but their shares generally outperform those of the least-diverse firms, the research shows. Check out the full story.
