- In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady talks to Glassdoor CEO Christian Sutherland-Wong.
- The big story: China strikes back.
- The markets: Quietly unhappy.
- Analyst notes from UBS, JP Morgan, and Apollo.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. In my experience, here’s what most CEOs believe to be true: a diverse and engaged workforce is good for business; talking about DEI externally is not.
That belief predates the current administration, which has rocketed the war on DEI to one of its top agenda items. Though plenty of companies have publicly disavowed their DEI initiatives other leaders are wondering how to quietly continue building a workforce that reflects their values in this climate. The Heritage Foundation recently reported that 486 of the Fortune 500 mention DEI in some capacity on their websites—which it criticized but workers and customers may actually applaud.
Workers are watching. I recently met with Glassdoor CEO Christian Sutherland-Wong, who has more insight into what workers want from their bosses than most other business leaders in the world. (He was also director of product at LinkedIn earlier in his career.) While leaders may be loath to talk about DEI in this climate, he notes, workers are tracking it and talking about it themselves on platforms like Glassdoor. “Every generation wants more transparency than the one before,” he says. “With Gen Z, there’s greater demand for equity and accountability; they want their companies involved in talking about social issues.”
Glassdoor recently brought on author Adam Grant as a “chief worklife expert.” Sutherland-Wong wants to expand the platform from ratings and salary-sharing to be a village green where people talk about making their work lives and companies better. That includes leaders who are struggling for the right message in this climate.
Rather than speak, Sutherland-Wong’s advice to leaders is that they listen to what’s being said about them in the office and on sites like his. Companies that create paths for all people to succeed, he says, tend to win high scores from workers. “If your career is on the ascent, you feel differently than if your career is stalled and you're looking for a scapegoat to explain why.” The companies that rank high on Glassdoor’s “Best Places to Work” index also outperform when it comes to stock price, too, he notes.
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Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady, diane.brady@fortune.com, LinkedIn.
