According to a Forbes report, women constitute the majority of the college-educated workforce.
Yet, most firms are still struggling to retain them, let alone offer promotions to leadership positions.
The report also found that 94% of women employees believe that requesting flexible work arrangements would negatively impact their chances of a promotion, and another 90% believe their workloads wouldn’t be adjusted if they were to seek flexible working arrangements.
Basically, employment for women is still a struggle, even if it’s been 53 years since the Equal Pay Act was implemented.
And things are even worse for Black women, who, according to Octavia Spencer, make far less than white women – Black and Hispanic women are paid 65 cents and 59 cents for every dollar a white man earns. White women earn 83 cents.
So, when you find a company that continually and actively strives to provide equal opportunities, benefits, and amenities to all their employees, including Black women, you have no choice but to laud it for its efforts and include it in a list of the “best companies for Black women to work and advance their careers at,” so your job-hunting best friend can send in her resume and land the job of everyone’s dreams.
Below, are the companies of every Black woman’s dreams!
The Best Companies For Black Women In 2023
Delta Airlines
Still holding the top spot for the “best companies for Black women to work at” is Delta Airlines.
Reviews of the airline company’s diversity and inclusion are incredibly positive, with a 4.2 average ranking for career opportunities.
As of July 2023, the airline’s demographic comprised 46% women (26% in executive positions). 21% are Black women employees, and 20% are Black women executives.
Through inclusive hiring processes, virtual anti-racism conferences, and business resource groups, the multinational airline has and continues to work towards fostering an environment of trust and support for their Black talent.
However, they still have much work to do regarding diversity hiring in top leadership positions.
Microsoft
Tech giant Microsoft received the second-highest diversity rating in Glassdoor’s recent DEI reports.
Diversity reviews filed before and after the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in 2020 also describe the company as having incredible perks, challenging tasks, flexibility, excellent culture, teamwork, diversity and inclusion, plus competitive salary career opportunities.
The firm offers numerous professional development opportunities for Black women employees and has committed to doubling the number of African-American, Hispanic, and Latinx managers, senior leaders, and senior individual contributors in the United States by 2025.
45% of Microsoft staff are women, 29.4% are Latino, and 47.2% are Black (with 15% of that being Black women).
Bank Of America
Bank Of America made it on both the Forbes and Fortune Best Companies list in terms of diversity and gender equality in the workplace.
And more specifically – for Black women – this firm made the top five on a recent Glassdoor report that focused on “Black women’s satisfaction” ratings and other insights directly linked to Black professionals.
With over 6000 branches across the country, Banks Of America is said to offer employees several perks and employee packages that include support for childcare, incredibly handsome retirement packages, and overall employee wellness.
On a scale of 1-5, Bank Of America has the second-highest “overall company” rating among Black women employees surveyed.
Apple
A year ago, the career services website Glassdoor published a report on Apple’s diversity rate and how Black Americans navigated their experiences at work.
Over 60% of participants in the research study ranked Apple as the best place to work overall and one of the top companies for Black women to work and advance in their specific positions. Over 55% of open global leadership roles are filled by women and 19% by Black women.
The technology company also provides benefits such as employee discounts on its products, gym credits, stock purchase programs, and tuition reimbursements.
Northrop Grumman
Aerospace & Defense Firm Northrup Grumman earned a 4.1 diversity score in the latest Glassdoor “Best Companies for Black Women and People of Color (POC) to Work at” report.
In its DEI reports, the multinational company reported that 35% of its employees are women, 36% are people of color, and 27% of its management is women and people of color.
Sandra Evers-Manly, Grumman’s VP of global corporate responsibility and a woman of color, told Essence in a statement that she’s proud of the firm’s diversity record.
“We are committed to building, sustaining, and leveraging the diversity each of us brings to Northrup Grumman. We are also committed to ensuring we have an inclusive workplace where everyone is valued for his or her ideas, experiences, and contributions.”
A slew of reviews also describes the aerospace firm with “great diversity and a lot of women in leadership positions.”
Adobe
Adobe is a computer software firm that Forbes ranked as the sixth-best American company in terms of diversity. The global tech company maintains offices throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and Latin America.
Adobe also practices inclusivity with efforts such as its partnership with General Assembly – the program enables people, especially women, to pivot into computer software and other tech-related careers. The firm also provides its employees with a summer and winter break.
American Civil Liberties Union
ACLU’s mission is always relevant. The organization strives to ensure equality for all, especially for Women Of Color.
Inhersight, a website that offers company-level insight for women in the job market, even ranked it highly across numerous key attributes such as support for equity in health care (ACLU aims to end the unconscionable maternal morbidity and mortality rates for Black women in the U.S), diversity in the workplace, a sense of belonging and women in leadership.
At the beginning of 2021, the organization appointed civil rights attorney Deborah Archer as its president, making her the first Black woman to lead the 101-year-old organization.
Cisco
Cisco was named one of the best companies for Black women to work at and advance in their careers by Fortune Magazine.
The tech company provides 33 days of PTO (and the staff gets a day off on their birthdays! (We know that’s trivial, but which other firm does this for their employees? Not many).
Plus, according to several employees, Cisco also provides benefits such as health coaching and virtual therapy.
The firm aims to achieve a 25% increase in representation of Black employees from entry-level to management and 75% in representation from director to vice president level by the end of 2023.
Ultimate Software
Ultimate Software is a top human resource software firm that prides itself on simplifying recruitment, onboarding self-service, and benefits administration. They make Mondays feel like Fridays, one solution at a time.
Ultimate Software has also received a slew of strong endorsements from Black women who work there, and 97% of its workforce admits to it being an excellent firm for anyone looking to advance in their careers.
“Being an African-American woman, it’s hard in a workplace. For me to come to this environment and feel so welcomed and have my ideas and thoughts heard and not stolen was huge for me,” Tina Brown, Director of Consulting Management for the Global Services Delivery Division At Ultimate Software, informed Essence in an interview about the multinational company.
Spectrum Health
Spectrum Health made the Forbes 2021 list of “America’s Top Employers By State” and landed on Seramount’s “Best Companies For Black Women/Multicultural Women” list.
The firm reportedly provides paid maternity and gender-neutral parental leave and catered to their workforce during COVID by providing the staff with childcare resources, support, and remote work options.
Spectrum Health also purportedly requires “cultural competency training, implicit bias education, and diversity during their interview process.”
Accenture
Accenture is a global professional services firm with leading digital, cloud, and security capabilities.
Combining unrivaled experience and specialized skills across over 40 industries, the firm offers incredible opportunities across all genders – 88% of Accenture employees have suggested it might be one of the best companies for Black women to work at.
Accenture also boasts of offering three initiatives aimed at Encouraging Female, Black Heritage, and Social Mobility candidates to discover Accenture and what they have to offer.
What To Look For In A Firm
Reports suggest that most people spend more than 90,000 hours at work. And given these numbers, you need to find a company where you feel seen, heard, confident, appreciated, and challenged intellectually.
So, when searching for employment, make sure to:
1. Prioritize firms that care about their employees’ mental health and wellness. It doesn’t have to be a company that takes you on lavish vacations or rewards the best employees with $$$$ rewards, but find one that is committed to a DEI initiative that encourages its employees to use their PTO (paid time off) and sick days and offers benefits such as childcare and even therapy.
2. Look for a firm committed to making their organization inclusive for people of all races and genders. One that ensures everyone has equal promotion opportunities and benefits. They should also be committed to creating a positive space for their staff to air their opinions, ideas, and experiences.
3. Find a company that is transparent in its undertakings and communicates with its employees about promotion opportunities, financial constraints, and everything else in between. Basically, if something is happening, they are talking to their employees about it.
