Last Updated:
3/13/21 8:09 AM
overall rating:
do better
Southwest Airlines
Internal Representation & Support
34%
Public Commitment
53%
External Communication
57%
To evaluate this pillar, we take into consideration a range of factors, including but not limited to:
- Employee representation
- Diversity, equity, & inclusion (DEI)
We weigh a company’s degree of public commitment primarily on their monetary contributions to DEI matters or organizations fighting racial injustice.
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Forms of monetary support we look for:
One-off donations
Recurring donations
Grant initiatives
Employee donation matching
Highlights
Southwest donated funds directly to the National Urban League and 100 Black Men of America. This is a stark contrast to other major US airlines, most of whom either indirectly donated airfare, points, or travel funds, or made no donations at all.
Lowlights
While the company eventually donated to organizations supporting racial equity, they were criticized for their slow response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Their executive leadership team is also completely devoid of BIPOC; they have outlined diversity goals to address this, but they goals and calls-to-action lack specificity.
We scour the company’s website and official social media channels to determine what message they are sending around racial injustice, how they are communicating it, and whether their communications are perceived as genuine or performative.
Public statement: We verify that companies have made a formal statement regarding racial injustice.
Social media: We consider how a company uses their platform(s) beyond performative allyship.
Representation: For companies that have the opportunity to showcase diversity in their feed, we consider whether they have adequate Black representation and BIPOC representation across their models.
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Deep Dive
I. Internal Representation & Support:
Board of Directors:
8% - 9% Black, 6% - 10% BIPOC, 26% - 30% Women
Executive Leadership:
0% (none) Black, 0% (none) BIPOC, 11% - 20% Women
41% - 45% Women
Workforce:
An appointed DEI senior leader and/or a dedicated DEI organization
DEI Support:
II. Public Commitment
Southwest Airlines has pledged a donation of 0.001% - 0.009% of annual revenue towards racial injustice, specifically for Black lives. Additionally, Southwest Airlines has engaged in actions that advance racial justice and/or uplift BIPOC communities, such as partnerships with nonprofits or mission-based organizations. Southwest Airlines is also an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants, people living with disabilities, and Indigienous populations.
III. External Communications
Southwest Airlines has issued a public statement, both on social media and in a public memo, addressing racial injustice The public statement acknowledged that they can be doing better to combat racial inequality within their company and included specific calls to action, but did not explicitly state "Black Lives Matter." Since June 2020, 0.1% - 9% of the brand's social media content has been centered around racial injustice with posts seeming performative in nature. While the brand does not regularly feature models in their social media posts, there is little to no evidence of additional actions the brand takes to show support of the LGBTQ+ community (beyond posting for Pride) or other marginalized communities.
