Diversity of Our Workforce and Leadership
Improving Diversity of our Workforce and Leadership
Diversity is not just a metric. A diverse workforce and leadership team offers various backgrounds and perspectives that allow us to be more innovative and mindful in how we create strategies and solutions to serve our customers and communities.Targeted Diversity Sourcing and Recruiting
Duke Energy was one of the first companies to sign the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) partnership challenge. We actively recruit from HBCUs to expand the diversity of our workforce. Our 2020 Virtual Diversity Recruiting Conference included 78 students from HBCUs and other universities.Diversity sourcing does not stop there. A team is in place dedicated to building awareness of our jobs and seeking out diverse candidates from colleges, military bases, professional and industry-based organizations.
Our people make us great and we look for the most qualified talent to bring expertise and diverse perspectives to our work. We connect with talent through our Talent Community to stay engaged and share opportunities to join our team.
Addressing barriers
We look closely at the hiring life cycle to understand and mitigate any potential barriers including applicant screening, pre-employment testing and interviewing processes.Partnerships with community colleges to provide curriculum that aligns to high volume hiring – such as line worker roles – expands our reach and ability to connect with diverse populations.
Advancing & Supporting Diverse Leaders
Diverse leadership at the table when setting strategies and creating solutions is stronger when diverse perspectives are represented. A foundation for creating a strong pipeline of diverse leaders includes creating career paths for advancement, exposure to leadership, and active mentorship and sponsorship. Our Accelerated Pathways Program, which targets diverse leaders, is built on that foundation. This program has proven to be very successful in building a diverse pipeline and ultimately advancing leaders.It is important for our employees to feel they have an equal opportunity to advance to their highest potential. A D&I survey was shared with leaders in 2020 to more deeply understand where we can make continuous improvements in how we grow and support diverse leadership.