We are committed to making sure our colleagues are as diverse as our customers and communities. We value and embrace differences and believe unique perspectives, backgrounds and experiences are critical to our success. By fostering an inclusive culture, we maintain an environment where all colleagues are engaged, have a voice and can thrive. We want to ensure that American Express continues to be a global leader in inclusivity and a company where being yourself matters.
“At American Express we win as a team. We work together to build a culture that respects every individual for who they are, values their contributions and gives them opportunities to succeed. I don’t believe our company – or any company – can succeed over time unless they commit to getting this right.”
Stephen J. Squeri, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
“Inclusion and diversity are at the heart of the American Express culture. Providing an environment where every colleague can be themselves, embrace differences and truly feel included is something we’re very proud of and continue to work on every day as the world continues to evolve. When our colleagues feel supported and thrive, we all win.”
Sonia Cargan, Chief Colleague Inclusion & Diversity Officer
We are pleased to launch our inaugural Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Report. This comes one year after the unveiling of our $1B Action Plan to advance racial, ethnic, and gender equity. The report reaffirms our commitment to drive lasting change toward a more sustainable and equitable future, showcases the many initiatives and investments already underway, and offers an in-depth exploration of our journey. We encourage you to read the full report to discover all of the ways we are supporting our colleagues, customers and communities, and driving progress towards a more globally equitable world.
For more, click the image below to watch a video from our colleagues about how they found their place at Amex and what inclusion and belonging means to them.
We offer inclusive leadership training to our colleagues across the globe highlighting the role inclusive leadership plays in advancing our ability to attract, select, develop and retain a diverse workforce. Supported by external research, the training is organized around the four pillars of inclusive leadership: belonging, voice, fairness and growth.
Beyond raising awareness about inclusivity and unconscious bias, the training motivates and educates our colleagues to build inclusive, high-performing teams.
Colleague Networks
Since 1987, our Colleague Networks have provided opportunities to support personal and professional development, skill building and career growth. These organizations play a huge role in creating an inclusive culture where all colleagues can thrive. Today, we have 14 Colleague Networks with more than 100 chapters globally.
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Investing in Underrepresented Talent
In addition to focusing on the inclusion of all colleagues, we’ve committed to attract and develop underrepresented talent through targeted recruiting efforts and training programs. We also host bi-annual forums to bring together our Black/African American and Hispanic/Latinx senior leaders for discussions and networking.
Women at American Express
We are committed to supporting the advancement of women at American Express and are proud of the fact that women make up more than half of our global workforce. We actively work to ensure our female colleagues have the tools, resources and sponsorship needed to succeed. For example, we have invested in our senior women’s community in a number of ways, including our bi-annual Global Women’s Conference. In 2018, this event brought nearly 200 senior women and male allies from around the world together with our Chairman and CEO Steve Squeri, and members of our Executive Committee, to discuss leadership, ambition and culture and ways we can continue to elevate and empower women at across the company.
Supporting the LGBTQ+ Community
For the past 16 years, American Express has scored 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. The ranking is based on our policies and practices that support LGBTQ+ inclusion. We are also a member of Open For Business, a coalition of global companies making the economic and business case for LGBTQ+ inclusion around the world.
Mentorship
We offer a year-long, multi-faceted mentorship program to our high-performing multicultural colleagues in the U.S. The program matches colleagues with executives to provide them with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in our organization. It also enables a safe, encouraging environment for colleagues to have open conversations about career advancement. News and Recognition American Express has been recognized globally as an employer of choice.
Here is just a sampling of our recent recognition:
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In October 2020, we announced our $1 billion multi-year DE&I Action Plan, which includes a series of internal and external initiatives through 2024 to advance racial, ethnic and gener equity for our colleagues, customers, and communities. For more information on the plan, view the official announcement.
Our 2020-2021 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report outlines the company’s approach to responsibly back its colleagues, customers and communities. The report is an evolution of American Express’ Corporate Social Responsibility report and includes updated and enhanced disclosures on a number of key topics, including the diversity of the company’s workforce, its efforts to support its various stakeholders through the COVID-19 pandemic, continued progress toward its environmental sustainability goals and philanthropic initiatives. Explore the ESG report for more on our Global Inclusion and Diversity Strategy.
Earlier this year, we shared our 2021 Interim ESG Update: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Progress Report, highlighting strong progress toward our $1 billion action plan that outlined a series of initiatives and commitments through year-end 2024 to advance DEI priorities. Key actions outlined in the report include more than $250 million spent since October 2020 to fund a range of initiatives such as spending with diverse suppliers, financial assistance for Black-owned businesses, colleague education and training, pay equity and philanthropic contributions, and it also provides further disclosures around diversity representation of our workforce, including the company’s 2020 U.S. EEO-1 report.
The powerful backing of American Express starts with our people. We take pride in our commitment to providing fair and equitable pay for all colleagues across the globe, through a periodically and independently reviewed pay structure that is equitable, transparent and free from bias.