Dive Brief:
- The Association of Corporate Counsel has launched a new tool that allows organizations to benchmark their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts to those of their peers.
- The ACC Foundation DEI Maturity Assessment, which was created in partnership with Ethisphere, efficiently generates feedback about an organization’s DEI initiatives for internal review. The tool is free to use.
- Jennifer Chen, executive director of the ACC Foundation, called the new resource “a game-changer to quickly and easily assess current DEI programs and identify short- and long-term steps for improvement.”
Dive Insight:
ACC and Ethisphere’s collaboration on the new tool comes at a time when organizations and their legal departments are working to enhance the diversity of their employees.
For example, 41 legal departments were recently recognized for their work to boost diversity among their in-house leadership and outside counsel.
Additionally, the ACC’s global Board of Directors was recently named the winner of the 2022 National Association of Corporate Directors’ Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award in the nonprofit category.
The association’s new assessment resource builds on the ACC Foundation’s DEI Maturity Model, which defines what it means for a company to be in an early, intermediate, or advanced stage of maturity across three categories and 13 sub-categories.
The maturity assessment tool is said to offer practical insights into where DEI is being addressed in business operations, as well as internal and external processes.
“We all know that a diverse and inclusive workforce is central to long-term success of any organization, and a critical part of the ‘S’ in ESG,” said Erica Salmon Byrne, CEO of Ethisphere. “Bringing together Ethisphere’s expertise in enabling global leaders to measure and improve practices, with the ACC Foundation’s DEI Maturity Model, offers a truly efficient and impactful way to move forward on DEI.”
Veta T. Richardson, the ACC’s president and CEO, called the assessment module “a truly groundbreaking new resource.”
“I encourage all executives who are seeking to take their DEI efforts to the next level to sign on and take full advantage of this brand new resource,” she said.
Meanwhile, the winners of the NACD DE&I Awards were announced this week at a gala in New York City.
The awards recognize boards that have improved their governance and created long-term value for stakeholders by implementing forward-thinking DEI practices.
Mike Madden, 2022 ACC global board chair and general counsel at FutureFeed based in Australia, called the association’s NACD award “a testament to years of dedication by our current board members and those that came before us.”
“We are proud to have made significant strides to integrate a DE&I focus into our governance and recruitment policies to help ensure these practices become long-term, sustainable and institutionalized as part of how current and future boards operate,” he said.
