Forging Career Pathways for People from Marginalized Racial and Ethnic Groups (Practices)

How Uber and Ulta Beauty create equitable career opportunities for everyone.

Race and ethnicity are powerful social constructs. Across the world, a person’s race and ethnicity can predict access to societal resources, power, privilege, class, and opportunities for economic advancement. Workplaces are not immune to this reality.

For decades, Catalyst research has documented racial and ethnic gaps in senior leadership. Employees from marginalized racial and ethnic groups around the world encounter numerous structural and institutional barriers to inclusion in the workplace, including discrimination and biases in hiring, development opportunities, and performance assessments. It is especially important for these employees to see themselves reflected in leadership ranks since they experience high rates of emotional tax, affecting not only their health and well-being, but also their ability to thrive at work—in spite of their desire to do just that.

Companies that champion inclusion and commit to action have higher proportions of women in senior leadership roles compared to their peers. They drive equitable advancement by promoting women, particularly women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, at slightly higher proportions than men into senior leadership positions. Organizations that demonstrate a genuine commitment to racial equity not only enhance their brand and reputation but gain their employees’ trust and boast higher rates of retention.

The following companies shared their unique strategies for increasing career development opportunities for people from marginalized racial and ethnic groups and have seen strong results in employee engagement and career mobility. Doing the right thing for people not only benefits employees but organizations as well.

How to cite this product: Forging career pathways for people from marginalized racial and ethnic groups (Practices). (2022). Catalyst.