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Last year impacted the way we live and work in ways that we never could have anticipated. People around the world rallied together to face a pandemic and to stand against racism. Guided by our principles, it was important that AT&T respond to the crisis and rise to the occasion.

I’m proud to showcase the progress on our commitments in this seventh edition of the AT&T Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Annual Report. You may notice we’ve embraced equity as a pillar of our efforts. This is because diversity, equity and inclusion are needed to achieve equality for all.

The theme of this year’s report is “Loud and Clear.” In 2020, in order to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of our employees and customers’ experiences, we made active listening across multiple touchpoints a priority. Their input and feedback, coupled with expertise from inside and outside of the business, gave us the knowledge to formulate our actions. Our efforts, summarized in this report, reflect their input.

You’ll see our clearly communicated pledge to provide transparency within AT&T’s workforce. Our global workforce is comprised of 34% women, and our U.S. workforce is 46% people of color. At a senior level, our Board of Directors is made up of 21% people of color, which exceeds the average for our industry in the Fortune 500. Women comprise 21% of our Board, on par with the industry average. Our employee demographic numbers are among the best in the technology, media and telecommunications industry. To drill down on the workforce data, you can (and should) read the AT&T 2020 EEO-1 report. The annual filing is a mandatory data collection submitted to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and looks at our race/ethnicity, sex and job categories.

Diversity is core to who we are at AT&T.  Our diverse employee base helps us understand how we meet the needs of our communities and customers.  With the pandemic hitting Black and other underserved communities the hardest, we worked to provide solutions like our $10 million Economic Empowerment initiative.

And when our stakeholders told us that equality, justice, diversity, representation and inclusion are top priorities, we listened and took action. We increased our efforts to effect policy change on systemic injustices and continue to support leading civil rights organizations. In 2020, we spent $13.2 billion with diverse suppliers, including $3.1 billion with Black-owned suppliers, surpassing a $3 billion two-year commitment to advance economic equality across our businesses and communities. We also continued our work to better represent our diverse audiences in our advertising.  

We listened and heard our customers and employees loud and clear and we will continue to do so no matter what comes next. I invite you to read the AT&T Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Annual Report in its entirety. Within, you’ll discover the full, global scope of the work our teams are doing and come to better understand our deep commitment to creating a culture of inclusion at AT&T and in our communities.