Forbes has ranked Duke University in the top ten of its “America’s Best Employers for Diversity” list in 2020. The private university nabbed the No. 8 spot — the only North Carolina company in the top tier — with German software producer SAP from Pennsylvania coming in first place, ahead of Henry Ford Health System from Michigan (2) and Procter & Gamble from Ohio (3).
SAS Institute was the second highest ranked company from the Old North State, coming in at No. 31.
“SAS’ culture blends our different backgrounds, experiences, perspectives and cultures from our 59 countries around the world,” said Danielle Pavliv, SAS Senior Diversity and Inclusion Manager in a statement. “We want everyone to feel confident in expressing their diverse thoughts and ideas and know that they will be respected for their unique contributions and abilities. We believe cultivating diversity in our workforce helps bring a variety of qualities together, inspiring innovative solutions that serve our global customers’ business needs.”
Among other North Carolina companies that featured on the list: Bank of America (37), Novant Health (127), Compass Group (215), Blue Cross & Blue Shield of North Carolina (218), RTI International (277), Volvo Group (360), Duke Energy (367) and Utilities and Ingersoll Rand (483).
The Best Employers for Diversity 2020 were chosen based on an independent survey from a representative sample of 60,000 employees working for companies employing at least 1,000 people in their US operations. Respondents were asked questions regarding the topics of age, gender equality, ethnicity, disability, LGBTQA+ and general diversity concerning their own employer.
