2010 Best-in-Class Senior Management Diversity For Profit
With minority individuals in C-level positions across the company, KeyCorp has reaped the benefits of a well-executed comprehensive strategy to build a diverse senior management team. These leaders are found in administrative services, community banking, corporate banking, finance, and risk management divisions of the bank. Fifteen percent of the top two levels of the organization are racially diverse (12 of 81 individuals). This percentage compares to an 8.6 percent average for the overall for-profit reference group. Effective strategies include:
- Requiring interview slates to be diverse for all senior management opportunities. In 2010, 25 percent of KeyCorp’s minority senior managers were external new hires or promoted into the position.
- Including “engage a talented and diverse workforce” as one of five KeyCorp enterprise strategic priorities and as a specific measure on senior-management performance scorecards. Quarterly diversity performance scorecards, which include metrics on hiring, turnover, and workforce representation at management levels of the enterprise, are distributed to all senior managers as well as to diversity human capital stakeholders.
- Diversity performance, including human capital, is factored into incentive compensation rewards for the CEO and direct reports.
- Emerging minority leaders are identified by line-of-business leaders and human resources partners to be named to enterprise-wide critical project teams, as well as to participate in leadership and talent development programs. As part of the succession planning process, minority individuals who have demonstrated strong performance/potential are identified as succession candidates.
- Thirty percent of leadership positions (executive sponsors, group champions, and project managers) for KeyCorp’s nine employee resource groups, known as Key Business Networking Groups, are held by minorities. These leadership opportunities provide for frequent interactions with senior management and the development of cross-organizational relationships. Minorities comprise 25 percent of KeyCorp’s analyst programs, which offer talent pipelines for revenue-generating lines of business in the community bank and corporate bank, as well as in the finance support line of business.
- KeyCorp conducts comprehensive bi-annual employee engagement surveys to assess organizational culture and employee satisfaction. In addition to measuring overall levels of engagement, the survey includes specific questions regarding how diverse employees at Key are valued, respected, and provided equal opportunity. All Employee Engagement Survey results are categorized by race/ethnicity, gender, and manager status to pinpoint areas of diversity opportunity.
“We are recruiting and developing leaders and a workforce that reflects our clients and communities, which are as diverse as the cities and towns across America where Key operates. Our goal: A diverse, engaged and empowered organization that bridges our workplace and our marketplace.”
Henry L. Meyer III
Chairman and CEO
KeyCorp