During the Great Place To Work Summit, Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano shared his sentiments regarding how the company he captains responded to the attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion unleashed by the Trump administration. Although he privately wondered if he had made the right call, he soon received confirmation from thousands of employees that he had, indeed, chosen the right path.
According to HR Grapevine, Capuano told the stakeholders at the summit, held April 8-10 in Las Vegas, that Marriott would not waver on its promise to create opportunity for everyone who walked through the company’s doors, regardless of political pressure from the White House.
“The winds blow, but there are some fundamental truths for those 98 years,” Capuano told the audience. “We welcome all to our hotels and we create opportunities for all—and fundamentally those will never change. The words might change, but that’s who we are as a company.”
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Within 24 hours of his remarks, he received a litany of emails from the company’s most important resource: its employees, and what’s more, the 40,000-plus messages thanked him for standing up for diversity, equity, and inclusion because those were values they believed in, too.
Marriott, which employs over 800,000 people globally, has consistently been ranked on Forbes’ “Best Companies to Work For” list, this year, the hotel chain took the eighth spot on the list and because of its strong commitment to its employees, carries a 90% employee retention rate in an industry that averages a 57% retention rate.
According to Forbes, Capuano’s remarks represent the position that diversity, equity, and inclusion are not a social program, the framing that the White House and other Republican states have championed for several years. Instead, it is part of a company’s operational infrastructure, and consistency between what a company says and does creates a culture of coherence.
