Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Brands Made Countless Diversity Promises in 2020. Very Few Have Delivered on Them

A new survey measures the gap between intent and action

five people standing behind a table — 85% of respondents said their employers have failed to invest in more racially diverse hiring.Eugenio Marongiu/Getty Images

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If you can recall the tumultuous summer of 2020, you’ll probably want to forget it just as quickly. Deaths from Covid-19 had already reached an average of 1,000 per day by May. An increasingly ugly presidential campaign had some pundits predicting the collapse of democracy come the election.

And then there was the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer, leading to weeks of demonstrations and marches that appeared, at least in some places, to awaken white America to the systemic injustices suffered daily by African Americans and other communities of color.

For