OREANDA-NEWS. May 08, 2014. Last week, Verizon was honored to be ranked among the DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity.

This is the 14th consecutive year that we’ve been honored on this list, and we’re one of only two companies to have been ranked No. 1 twice. In fact, every year Verizon has been recognized for its efforts in hiring, developing and retaining diverse talent. 

Even with this long-standing record of an inclusive culture, we never take it for granted. Verizon remains committed to a workforce that reflects the diversity of the customers we serve, the communities where we live and work, and the companies and entrepreneurs who make up our supply chain.

People of color make up 46 percent of our U.S.-based workforce, and we have one of the most diverse boards of directors in the country, with seven out of the ten independent members being women and/or people of color. We’ve invested more than USD 21 billion in the last five years alone in minority-, women-, and serviced-disabled veteran-owned businesses as part of our supplier diversity initiatives. And for the past two years, 60 percent of the Verizon Foundation’s company-directed charitable contributions have gone to diverse communities.

As our company Credo states, “We embrace diversity and personal development not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because it is smart business.” Our decades-long commitment to this philosophy has made diversity and inclusion a very natural part of the way we do business and a competitive advantage for us in the marketplace – an advantage we’ll continue to work hard on and rely on every day.