Sodexo Named as One of the Best Companies for Multicultural Women for 10 Consecutive Years

GAITHERSBURG, Md., May 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sodexo, a food and facilities management company committed to improving Quality of Life, announced today that it has been recognized for 10 consecutive years by Working Mother as one of the 2018 Best Companies for Multicultural Women-- an honor that recognizes U.S. companies that create and use best practices in hiring, retaining and promoting women of color.

"We are thrilled to be recognized again by Working Mother for our initiatives focused on multicultural women," said Rohini Anand, PhD, SVP, Corporate Responsibility & Global Chief Diversity Officer, Sodexo. "Over the past five years, we have seen significant improvements in representation within leadership roles at Sodexo. We are proud of our success and look forward to continuing to make progress in this area." 

From 2012–2017, the number of women of color in executive roles at Sodexo increased 27 percent. Currently in the United States, women represent 40 percent of Sodexo's 20-member executive team, of which, 20 percent are women of color. In addition, out of the total number of women on the executive team, 50 percent are women of color. Sodexo's focus on supporting and advancing multicultural women is reflected in their programs and initiatives—for example their Women of Color Initiative, which launched in 2015 to promote the development, engagement, and visibility of high-potential women of color globally.

Sodexo's leadership and commitment to diversity and inclusion has been consistently recognized by external organizations and notable diversity publications. Most recently, Sodexo was named to Bloomberg's 2018 Gender-Equality Index (GEI) — its first sector-neutral list of 104 global companies, and recognized on three of FORTUNE Magazine lists in 2017, including World's Most Admired Companies, Change the World and the FORTUNE 500.

Key findings of the Working Mother Multicultural Women data report include:

• The 2018 Best Companies employ more than 2.7 million workers at 25,000 worksites in 10 industries across 50 states.
• Multicultural women make up 23% of the total workforce at the Best Companies, increasing one percentage point over last year.
• A total of 88% of all women participated in career counseling programs at the Best Companies, including white women (88%), black women (83%), Latinas (84%) and Asian women (78%).
• Leadership development is gaining traction at the Best Companies with 68% offering sponsorship programs and 72% offering business development programs to women.

The Working Mother Best Companies for Multicultural Women application is only available to companies that have at least 500 U.S. employees. The winners were selected based on their answers to an extensive questionnaire covering representation; hiring, attrition and promotion rates; recruitment, retention and advancement programs; and company culture. The Working Mother Research Institute created a scoring algorithm based on the previous year's benchmark results to determine the winners.

About Working Mother

Working Mother Media (WMM), a division of Bonnier Corporation (bonniercorp.com), publishes Working Mother magazine and its companion website, workingmother.com. The Working Mother Research Institute (workingmother.com/wmri), the National Association for Female Executives (nafe.com) and Diversity Best Practices (diversitybestpractices.com) are also units within WMM. WMM's mission is to serve as a champion of culture change. Working Mother magazine is the only national magazine for career-committed mothers. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

About Sodexo North America

Sodexo North America is part of a global, Fortune 500 company with a presence in 80 countries. Sodexo is a leading provider of integrated food, facilities management and other services that enhance organizational performance, contribute to local communities and improve quality of life of 15 million customers in corporate, education, healthcare, senior living, sports and leisure, government and other environments daily.  The company employs 133,000 people at 13,000 sites in all 50 U.S. states and Canada and indirectly supports tens of thousands of additional jobs through its annual purchases of $9.2 billion in goods and services from small to large American businesses. In support of local communities across the U.S., the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation has contributed close to $30 million over the past 20 years to help feed children in America impacted by hunger.  To learn more about Sodexo, visit SodexoInsights.com and connect with us on Facebook and @SodexoUSA on Twitter.

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SOURCE Sodexo