Image: Delta 767-400ER. Source: Delta Air Lines

• The carrier has increased its representation of women and underrepresented racial and ethnic groups over the past year.
• Greatest acceleration seen among women in vice president and higher roles.
• Providing internal and external career pathways to senior leadership roles is top of mind.

Delta Air Lines has increased representation of women, Black talent and other underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in roles across the company, according to its second annual Close the Gap report, a pivotal step in fulfilling its commitment to grow diversity in its leadership.

The report tracks the gap between the diversity of frontline talent and leadership within the company. By producing this report, Delta holds itself accountable to the commitments it made in 2020 to accelerate the closure of diversity representation gaps between the frontline and leadership in the three most underrepresented areas.

“Our concentrated efforts are building a strong pipeline as we work toward our long-term goals,” said Keyra Lynn Johnson, Delta’s V.P. and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer. “The deliberate steps we’ve taken, like introducing a skills-first hiring approach, reinforcing the importance of diverse hiring panels and creating apprenticeship opportunities, are components that continue delivering results. We know that the path to a more equitable business is a journey, but years later, these results are showing us we are moving in the right direction.”

Delta’s Close the Gap progress over the past year is a result of a concerted effort across the enterprise to ensure the senior leadership team becomes more reflective of the diversity of its frontline workforce:

• As of Q2 2022, about 27% of hourly-wage employees identify as Black, 22% as another underrepresented racial and ethnic group and 42% as women.
• From frontline hourly employees to director-level roles, we have generally seen an increase in representation from Q2 2021 to Q2 2022. This strong talent pipeline will help us achieve our talent goals in future years and continue to close the diversity gaps in senior management.
  • We’ve seen the most acceleration in the category of vice president and above for women talent, increasing from 29% to 34% from Q1 2022 to Q2 2022. The increase was largely fed by the managing director-level talent pipeline, which saw a decrease from 31% to 30%. Still, there remains a strong pipeline that will support achieving  Close the Gap goals.
  • For both Black employees and other underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, our mid-year snapshot, from Q2 2021 to Q2 2022, shows decreases at the senior levels:
    • For Black talent we saw a decrease at the managing director  level from 7% to 6%; at the vice president level it shifted from 7% to 5%.
    • For other underrepresented racial and ethnic group talent, the managing director level decreased from 18% to 16%, and at the vice president level decreased from 16% to 15%.

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Delta began a more intense focus on tracking equity gaps in 2020, with a goal to achieve stronger diversity representation at every level of the organization.

The report shows the hiring progress Delta has made among Black employees, women and other underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. It also underscores that much work remains to be done, and the company will continue to be transparent about its progress.

“As we’ve grown our diverse talent pipeline over the past year, we know our diversity, equity and inclusion opportunities remain at the most senior levels of our company,” Johnson said. “Providing internal and external career pathways to senior leadership roles is top of mind. We are strengthening our strategies, partnerships and actions in this area to bridge these gaps.”

Source: Delta