WJR Business Beat with Jeff Sloan: Eskalera Technology Helps Create a More Diverse Workforce (Episode 80)

Good morning, Paul, as we know all too well, many U.S. companies have pledged funds and issued statements in support of racial diversity among protests that erupted since George Floyd, a black man, died on May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes.

As we also know, there have been a series of initiatives underway and underfoot to address the problem of more racial diversity needed within the corporate ranks of business.

To put this in some kind of simple perspective, further than 1 percent of fortune 500 CEOs are black, according to a 2019 study by the Center for Talent Innovation.

While around 13 percent of Americans identify as black or African American, according to federal data. That really does put the problem into proper perspective.

Now, as reported by Thomson Reuters, Eskalera, a technology startup led by Goldman Sachs’ former human resources head, Dane Holmes, has launched an index to measure corporate diversity and inclusiveness.

Eskalera software collects information on employee sentiment and company culture and combines it with HR data to generate a score for an inclusivity that can be measured against others.

The goal is to help give companies actionable software to help corporations hire and retain a more diverse staff. Clients already include the likes of Charles Schwab and Cornell University, just to name a couple.

So, now while the issue of racial diversity is such a hot button item in today’s society for all of us, there are now technology solutions emerging to help us address the problem.

This demonstrates again, the power of innovation and creative thinking to address and solve problems in society as diverse and as difficult as even this one is.

I’m Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of StartupNation.com and that’s today’s Business Beat on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes, WJR.