Bridgestone announced the release of its 2022 DE&I annual report. The report includes a detailed scorecard on its diversity representation across the US and Latin America along with a breakdown of its DE&I commitments, strategy and efforts in the last year.
“The release of our second DE&I Annual Report further solidifies our focus on empowering our teammates and the communities where we live, move, work and play,” said Ebonee Davis Ifeobu, vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion at Bridgestone Americas. “Last year, we made a commitment to build upon the DE&I framework already in place and doubled down on our efforts to listen, learn and evolve. While this is an ongoing and intentional journey, I’m proud of the strides we’ve made thus far.”
The 2022 DE&I Annual Report outlines three DE&I focus areas:
- Workplace – Bridgestone is creating an equitable experience for underrepresented groups and an inclusive experience for all;
- Workforce – Bridgestone is focused on the retention, recruitment and advancement of underrepresented groups;
- Marketplace – Bridgestone is providing support to organizations that advance causes that support more equitable opportunities in the communities in which its customers, teammates and partners live and operate, and are doing meaningful business with underrepresented groups in its supplier network.
Bridgestone said it created an inclusive pathways empathy framework, trained more than 5,000 teammates in a foundational implicit bias course and found new ways to connect with teammates through its manager roundtable sessions and free-to-be programming.
Bridgestone says it engaged with organizations like the National Society of Black Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers to develop a pipeline for underrepresented groups in key engineering roles. In 2022, Bridgestone received a score of 90 out of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) and was named a top company for women to work for in transportation by Women in Trucking.
Bridgestone said it made progress in several areas including increasing its spending with minority and women-owned law firms from 6% to 10%, partnering with the Women in Trucking’s annual conference and teaming up with the Nashville Predators to provide funding for the Creating Opportunities for Racial Equity (CORE) program.
