The group contends those kinds of inclusion efforts mean “the company places more value on whether an employee is a woman or a traditionally underrepresented minority than whether that individual has an objective amount of experience or educational qualifications,” Sarah Rehberg, a program coordinator for the Free Enterprise Project, said at Citigroup’s meeting.
More often, the financial industry fields criticism over its dominance by White men and the impact that has on its workplaces, as well as its treatment of non-White communities and minority-owned businesses. In recent years, all of the biggest U.S. lenders have announced initiatives totaling billions of dollars to help address racial injustice while also promising to make more progress toward cultivating workforces that better reflect the country’s diversity.
Free Enterprise Project director Scott Shepard told Bank of America that the audit the group proposed should draw on a range of viewpoints, “including those of the center right representing the majority of Americans and almost certainly the majority of both Bank of America’s shareholders and employees.”
Both proposals failed, drawing less than 5% support in shareholder votes.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.