List of Top Firms for Blacks Has No California Names : Workplace: Black Enterprise magazine’s omission may reflect the fact that other minority groups in the state are larger or faster-growing than blacks.
A list of the 25 best U.S. companies for black employees compiled by Black Enterprise magazine does not include a California-based company. In fact, no company headquartered west of Minneapolis found its way on to the list.
The companies awarded the honor, among the nation’s largest industrial and service concerns, were chosen for maintaining strong affirmative action programs for blacks despite the recession and the widespread corporate cuts it has caused.
The magazine’s executive editor was at a loss to explain why California companies were not among the leaders in programs for blacks.
“I would like to know,” said Sheryl Hilliard Tucker, who is also editorial vice president of the New York-based monthly, which will publish the list in its February issue.
But she and others interviewed Wednesday have some theories. Chief among them: a tug of war between minority groups that is making it hard for blacks to get ahead, even at companies where affirmative action is a priority. California is home to other minority groups--notably Latinos and Asians--that are larger or faster-growing than blacks.
“There is a tug of war going on” for minority advancement, said Barbara Sullivan, vice chairwoman of the Black Business Assn. of Los Angeles and owner of Sullivan & Associates, a management consulting firm in Pasadena. “That may have some influence on what’s happening in California as it relates to blacks.”
In addition, Hilliard Tucker said, several industries dominant in California, such as aerospace, engineering, oil, banking, entertainment and the media, “don’t have a long-term tradition for getting blacks into management. They’re moving there but haven’t gotten there yet.”
Few companies in those industries, regardless of their home base, were among the top 25 cited by Black Enterprise.
Many of the companies that made the list provide consumer goods or services, which did not surprise Tilford Patterson, a minority-business consultant to Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles). “They are the ones that have to react to their environment, to their market, and therefore would probably change their corporate culture to make it more conducive to the African-American worker,” he said.
Black Enterprise compiled its list this way: From Fortune magazine’s lists of the 500 largest industrial and 500 largest service companies, it identified 270 “that have demonstrated a sustained interest” in helping minorities--particularly blacks--and sent them surveys. (Of the Fortune 1,000, 94 companies are based in California.)
The companies were asked for the number of blacks in their organizations and in senior management. They also were asked about minority recruitment, blacks in their management-training programs and the amount of business they do with black suppliers.
Black Enterprise then talked to the companies’ executives, management consultants and affirmative action experts to derive the final list.
Although it didn’t make it into the top 25, Wells Fargo Bank, based in San Francisco, was named one of five other “companies to watch” in the area of black advancement.
Hewlett-Packard Co. in Palo Alto, which had been among the top companies in Black Enterprise’s previous surveys in 1982, 1986 and 1989, was not on the list. H-P had no immediate comment.
Most observers rejected the theory that California’s regulatory and political environment is more of a stumbling block to black advancement than other states’. California’s black politicians “have created a better environment than most places,” said Earl G. Graves, Black Enterprise’s publisher.
“The fundamental problem” for black professionals at California companies “is that the whole role of African-Americans in California demographics is different than anywhere in the country,” said Lew Butler, chairman of California Tomorrow, a San Francisco group that studies state demographic issues.
California companies, particularly those providing retail goods and services, are hiring and promoting Latino, Asian and other minority workers because those populations are their fastest-growing markets, he said. And that slows black advancement.
For example, he noted that Pacific Bell has been hiring service representatives who can speak Spanish or Asian languages in addition to English because some of the telephone company’s fastest growth is in those communities.
“If you’re trying to diversify your work force, the natural inclination will be to try to reach out to growing minority groups to expand your market share, and the growing groups in California are Hispanic and Asian,” Butler said.
Top Places for Black Employees
Here is a list of the top 25 U.S. companies for black employees, according to the latest survey by Black Enterprise magazine in New York. The companies were cited for maintaining a commitment to advancement despite economic pressures that are causing widespread corporate cutbacks.
Company Headquarters AT&T; New York Ameritech Chicago Avon New York Chrysler Highland Park, Mich. Coca-Cola Atlanta Corning Corning, N.Y. DuPont Wilmington, Del. Equitable Life New York Federal Express Memphis, Tenn. Ford Motor Dearborn, Mich. Gannett Arlington, Va. General Mills Minneapolis General Motors Detroit IBM Armonk, N.Y. Johnson & Johnson New Brunswick, N.J. Kellogg Battle Creek, Mich. Marriott Washington McDonald’s Oak Brook, Ill. Merck Rahway, N.J. Nynex New York Pepsi-Cola (a) Somers, N.Y. Philip Morris New York TIAA-CREF (b) New York UAL (c) Chicago Xerox Stamford, Conn.
(a) Unit of Pepsico Inc. (b) Teachers Insurance & Annuity Assn.-College Retirement Equities Fund (c) Parent of United Airlines
An Employer Score Card The companies earning a place on Black Enterprise’s list of the best U.S. companies for blacks scored relatively high in the following areas, which African-Americans use to evaluate potential employers:
What percentage of the company’s work force is black, and how many blacks does it have in middle and senior management?
Is there a strong affirmative action program in place that includes minority recruitment?
Does the company have management training programs and, if so, what percentage of the program’s participants are black?
Is there a black employees association at the company?
Does the company use black-owned suppliers or otherwise have programs to service or employ small, minority-owned firms?
Does the company offer educational scholarships for blacks?
Source: Black Enterprise
