Building a Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive Workplace is Key to our Shared Success
Reshma Mongia, Vice President – Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Moody’s
Over the past two years, our collective experiences have reminded us how interconnected we are, and how important diversity, equity and inclusivity in the workplace are to progress and innovation.
As a leading provider of global integrated perspectives on risk, and in the interest of furthering an inclusive and diverse workplace, Moody’s strives for insight-driven decision making that is principled, collaborative and forward-thinking.
Over the past two years, employers have been challenged in realizing this vision of our workplace due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this year, Moody’s published a report, Breaking the Bias, that looked at how gender equality would transform economies, finance and business. It showed how women bore the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic as disruptions to schooling and care-giving exacerbated the downturn in female-dominated industries.
We are committed to narrowing the gender gap and creating a more sustainable, inclusive workplace. Indeed, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) are an integral part of our culture. Our success rests on sustaining this culture so that our 13,000 employees can thrive.
Our global DE&I strategy focuses on four key areas: workforce, workplace, customers and communities. Last year, we made meaningful strides to integrate DE&I more deeply into our business strategy and define its importance by developing and tracking specific metrics.
Gender diversity is an essential part of our strategy. Here are a few examples of how we are making progress in this and other DE&I areas.
We launched our 2022 RISE program to address the unique challenges that women face in the workplace and accelerate their development at Moody’s. The program brings together senior female employees for mentoring, coaching, training and networking opportunities.
We have made a public commitment to diversity goals focused on increasing the number of women at officer and entry levels globally, and Black and Latino leaders at senior levels in the United States. We’re proud to have been recognized in the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index over the past two years for our investments in gender equality in the workplace and in the communities where we operate.
Across the company, our employee-led Business Resource Groups (BRGs) contribute to our goal of developing a more effective and inclusive work environment, in areas such as mental health, disability inclusion, veterans and multiculturalism. Our Moody’s Women’s BRG seeks to enhance the recruitment, retention, and professional development of female professionals.
We’ve also invested in RE-IGNITE, our 16-week paid return-to-work opportunity for mid-to-senior-level individuals who are restarting their careers after a minimum two-year hiatus.
In 2020, we launched a nine-month career-development program aimed at advancing the careers of women, LGBTQ+ employees, people of color, veterans and neuro-diverse employees.
It is not just about the progress we’re making inside our company. We are also deeply committed to our broader work in the wider community to support diversity and equity.
In June, Moody’s announced the launch of of Creating Opportunities for Racial Equality (CORE), expanding our commitment to bringing financial prosperity to multicultural communities. We are looking to broaden our impact by expanding the program under three strategic pillars: Engage more diverse businesses, empower diverse businesses with information and invest more capital and resources in this work.
Last year, we launched Moody’s HerCapital Program in partnership with Sponsors of Educational Opportunity (SEO) to build the confidence of women leaders entering finance, tech and economics.
We have made great progress, but we know there is more to be done, both at Moody’s and across society. Only by working together and by embedding diversity, equity and inclusion into everything we do, will we keep on the right path.