In late October last year, Mosaic released their 2016 Top Inclusive Workplace Cultures rankings. Mosaic, as described by Executive Director Denise Reid, is “the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s diversity business council.” When Mosaic relaunched in 2010, they began coordinating their efforts to “educate, lead and influence businesses on creating diverse and inclusive workforce cultures to enhance their competitive advantage.”
Their annual Top Inclusive Workplace Cultures ranking breaks down top businesses in the Tulsa area into five-, four- and three-star institutions, as well as noting Star Allies and Rising Stars. In 2016, 149 were collected from 90 large and 59 businesses in Tulsa. 78 organizations were recognized, including a three-star ranking for The University of Tulsa.
Each year, an online survey is sent out to organizations across northeast Oklahoma and the results received (from almost 150 companies this year) are compiled and released in Mosaic’s Inclusive Workplace Cultures Survey Executive Summary. The process of determining what ranking a company receives is largely informed by Mosaic’s five pillars, developed after their relaunch: CEO Commitment, People, Internal Policy, Community Outreach, and Diverse Suppliers. Companies that fulfill more of the requirements outlined in each pillar receive a better ranking.
Despite TU’s three-star ranking, Reid says the University qualified for a five-star ranking in three of the five pillars: People, Internal Policy and Community Outreach. A five-star rating in the People category means that TU has succeeded in “recruiting, hiring, developing, promoting and retaining diverse candidates or employees,” as well as evaluating disability accessibility in their locations and operations. In terms of Internal Policy, a five-star rating means that TU has sufficient “policy on sexual orientation, policy on gender identity” and policies that exceed minimum requirements for Equal Opportunity Employment. Last, in the field of Community Outreach, TU has managed to sufficiently track its philanthropic giving and provides “events, programs or services that support diversity” on a wide variety of topics.
However, there are two categories that TU didn’t receive a five-star rating in: the University qualified for a four-star rating on CEO Commitment and a three-star rating on Diverse Suppliers. For CEO Commitment, a five-star rating would mean that the CEO of a business is “visually and vocally supporting D[iversity]&I[nclusivity] initiatives and work” both internally and externally.
To receive a five-star rating, Reid says TU would have had to provide another example of CEO Commitment to diversity efforts. These ratings were released last October, before President Clancy stepped into office.
For the last category, Diverse Suppliers, a five-star ranking means that the company tracks their spending to diverse suppliers and has a policy on the topic on their website. TU doesn’t have any policy readily available on their website, which led to the three-star ranking.
TU may not have received a five- or four-star ranking, only 55 companies received a star ranking, just over a third of the total amount of responses. Reid notes that “Diversity and inclusion work is a journey and not a destination.” She also notes that the rankings “help [an] organization or company assess where they are” and that “the more companies or organizations that are open to improving their workplace culture the stronger the opportunities are for our community.”
