Global Standards Boost Diversity at Alaska Air

Using a global diversity and inclusion benchmarking tool, Alaska Air Group created a diversity strategy, measured progress and fostered inclusion for bottom-line success.

One of the challenges many leaders face when setting and meeting diversity and inclusion goals is understanding how varied the results and paths to achieve them can be. Benchmarking, or studying what high-performing organizations are doing, is one way to gain this knowledge. However, benchmarking can be time-consuming and expensive.

Diversity leaders require comprehensive standards to guide organizational leaders in understanding what quality diversity and inclusion work looks like to help raise the bar. Alaska Air Group, which owns two airlines operating in the United States — Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air — addressed these challenges as it prepared to enhance its diversity and inclusion initiative. The company wanted to move to a more advanced stage to be a more diverse and inclusive place to work as well as a high-performing organization.

Alaska Air saw the potential of this work to enhance its business while operating in a manner consistent with strong inclusive values. To reach this goal, it used the global diversity and inclusion benchmarks (GDIB) tool, which was created to help organizations determine strategy and measure progress managing diversity and fostering inclusion.

The GDIB was developed by Julie O’Mara and Alan Richter with 79 panelists who specialize in worldwide diversity and inclusion work. It looks at global practices of how diversity and inclusion work is done through frameworks — such as social justice, multiculturalism, diversity management, compliance and representation, and social responsibility — for all types of organizations. Alaska Air selected a consultant familiar with the GDIB, and together they used it to help assess and guide the refreshed diversity and inclusion initiative. Some of Alaska Air’s experiences are reported below.

The GDIB evolved from a tool developed in the early 1990s by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) — a U.S. government-sponsored utility company. The tool’s diversity benchmarks were based on research of contemporary best practices. While useful in the short-term, they became outdated by the mid-1990s as the field evolved. The profession needed a tool with application beyond the public sector that could be applied globally.