Company announces long-term sustained actions that will increase minority opportunities, align executive compensation with measurable diversity goals and further support the Black community
Lincoln Financial Group shared its plan to amplify the company’s ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion and drive meaningful, measurable change. Designed to ensure long-term, sustained action that supports racial equity, the plan focuses on the company’s business and talent practices, leadership compensation approach, and support for its communities.
The plans were developed by the company’s board of directors and senior management, with input from Lincoln’s 11,000+ employees who have shared feedback and ideas through a variety of town halls, surveys and discussion forums on race.
“This action plan is a critical next step for Diversity and Inclusion at Lincoln Financial, and every member of the Lincoln community is a part of it – our board, management, and all of our people,” said Dennis R. Glass, president and chief executive officer, Lincoln Financial Group. “It’s our responsibility as an organization to advance racial equity – we are committed to driving measurable change, and importantly, we are accountable for it to our board of directors.”
Racial Equity… Lincoln’s planned commitments and actions include the following:
- Implement sustainable and integrated practices in recruiting, retention and development to increase Black populations at Lincoln, such as bringing in dedicated diversity-focused recruiters.
- Focus on increasing minority leadership – grow minority representation at the Officer level (Assistant Vice President and above) by 50% over the course of three years, with a special focus on the Black Officer population.
- Explore how to formally tie leadership compensation to Diversity and Inclusion objectives – embed Diversity & Inclusion into the compensation process for senior leadership.
- Expand the Diversity & Inclusion function at Lincoln, which will continue to support enterprise-wide and business-specific efforts.
- Continue to grow Lincoln’s professional network of Black financial advisors and planners to support advisor recruiting and development efforts, and to help define new strategies for supporting Black clients.
- Continue conversations about race across the organization. Since May, Lincoln has hosted numerous meaningful conversations with employees about racism and discrimination, and these discussions have involved many employees sharing their own experiences with racism or taking the opportunity to ask questions and learn from one another.
- Combat racism and bias in today’s society by preserving the history of the Black experience and its relationship to American culture and progress, via a $1-million contribution to The HistoryMakers over a period of time. The HistoryMakers is the nation’s largest African American oral history video archive. Many of the contributions and accomplishments of the Black community have largely been untold and unrecorded – Lincoln will help address this injustice by investing in the preservation of Black history in America for the purposes of education, marketplace and community engagement.
- Leverage the Lincoln Financial Foundation to further support Black communities, by giving to nonprofits with demonstrated success in advancing Black communities, and by engaging with leading philanthropic membership organizations that focus on equity-based grantmaking.
“Diversity and Inclusion is an intrinsic part of our culture at Lincoln. It ensures that every employee comes to work every day feeling safe, respected and valued. Since the tragic killing of George Floyd and other horrific racist acts, our employees have come together to show support and care for one another in an astounding way. Many have courageously shared their own experiences with racism or have asked questions about how we can all be better allies,” said Lisa M. Buckingham, executive vice president and chief people, place and brand officer at Lincoln Financial. “We call ourselves ‘Team Lincoln’ – because that’s what we are – a team. And together this team is committed to making an impact.”
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Rod is a blogger, writer, filmmaker, photographer, daydreamer who likes to cook. Rod produces and directs the web series, CUPIC: Diary of an Investigator. He is also the editor, producer and administrator of STM Daily News, a part of the TNC Network.
