Set up in 2020, the ”Creating Lasting Change Now” program defined goals for enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion within the global Adidas company, while encouraging business ownership, accountability and transparency among its employees. The brand has now provided an update on those commitments, focusing on greater diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the company, in talent processes and in communities.
The factsheet (available for download here) includes comprehensive data on the brand’s hiring and representation aspirations and talent-pipeline initiatives. It reports major progress on the diversity of the U.S. team: In 2020, Adidas announced the ambition to increase the representation of Black and Latinx employees in the U.S. by 2025, ranging from 20-23 percent of qualified talent in corporate roles and 12 percent of talent in leadership positions (director level and above). At that time, Black and Latinx employees represented 12 percent in corporate roles and 7 percent in leadership positions. As of the end of Q1 2022, the share of Black and Latinx employees progressed to 16 percent (+4 percent) in corporate roles and to 10 percent (+3 percent) in leadership roles.
More efforts are also planned in leadership (director level and above) for women, who represented 37 percent of Adidas managers by the end of 2021. The company aims to increase this share to more than 40 percent by 2025. Over the past two years, to ensure fair and equitable hiring, Adidas has launched several new projects, such as an anonymous data-collection initiative to set the baseline for a future DEI strategy.
