A year after George Floyd: UP’s Fritz reflects on diversity, equity and inclusion
5/29/2021
By Julie Sneider, Senior Associate Editor
The May 25, 2020, murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and the events that followed have served as a “wakeup call” for Union Pacific Railroad, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Lance Fritz wrote in a letter posted on the Class I’s website.
In a letter dated May 25, 2021, Fritz said UP over the past year has undergone “an intense and rapid audit” to determine what it was doing right, what needed improvement and what was missing from its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
Things UP was getting right, according to Fritz: a zero tolerance for harassment or intimidation; over 40 years of organizing “employee resource groups,” which now number nine; diversity and code of conduct training; and equity policies around pay and affirmative action.
In terms of DEI improvement, UP increased its voice in communities to support those fighting racism and injustice; learned it needed to “create allies” for those early in their understanding of diversity and justice issues; and realized a need to provide a stronger channel for employees to speak directly to leadership on cultural issues, Fritz said.
In response to the audit: UP added to its DEI approach the following:
- bimonthly listening sessions where employees can talk about person experiences of “assimilation, microaggressions and belonging”;
- committing to doubling the workforce’s female representation to 11% and growing the minority workforce to 40% by 2030; and
- breaking down the “employee life cycle by department” to find under-representation gaps and remove unconscious bias.
On April 20, demonstrators gathered outside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder in the May 2020 death of George Floyd. Credit: Ben Von Klemperer / Shutterstock.comRegarding its targets for increasing diversity in the ranks, UP provided an update on those goals when it released its 2020 sustainability report, “Building America,” earlier this month. As of Dec. 31, 2020, 29.8% of UP’s workforce consisted of minorities and 5.7% were female.
Breaking down the 2020 demographics further, UP reported that 33% of board directors, 19% of executives, 24% of people managers, 31% of agreement employees and 24% of non-agreement employees were minorities.
In addition, 17% of board directors, 22% of executives, 16% of people managers, 3% of agreement and 21% of non-agreement employees in 2020 were female. In 2019, 5.5% of UP’s employees were female, up from 5% in 2018.
The UP report further breaks down the diversity of its 2020 workforce compared with 2019 and 2018:
- 70% Caucasian, down from 71% in both 2019 and 2018;
- 14% Hispanic, the same as in 2019 and 2018;
- 12% Black, no change from 2019 and 2018;
- Asian: 2% in 2020, no change from 2019 and 2018; and
- 2% Native American, up from 1% in both 2019 and 2018.
In the Building America report, the company includes the demographic makeup of its workforce as one of its key performance indicators.
“We are a company built by UP family from all walks of life, from all ethnicities and of all colors who connect our communities to the rest of America and to the world,” Fritz concluded in his May 25th letter. “The strength and value created by diversity is seen throughout our history. Our duty, building off the 160 years of work done before us, is to create true equity and inclusion for all our employees and help do the same in the communities we serve.”