2022 Moving-to-Equity Report - Flipbook - Page 4
MOVING TO EQUITY
FRAMEWORK
After this period of self-reflection and assessing
what we heard and learned, we began to act.
Our focus areas
To make our vision of equity a reality, we enacted
a framework to guide our business through this
process. The framework helps ensure a continued
and coordinated focus and also details our work
to achieve these goals through five commitment
areas: talent; work environment; supplier inclusion
(formerly supplier diversity); civic engagement
(formerly political engagement); and community
investment and social justice.
W
here we started and where we
are going
In 2020, Southern Company started
a journey we call Moving to Equity
to build on years of work around diversity and
inclusion. We deployed resources both across our
company and in our communities to advance
equity and social justice. We wanted to create a
workplace and a world where all feel welcomed,
valued, respected and engaged.
To that end, we formalized commitments and
actions to advance equity and have made this work
an enduring part of the values we live every day.
Listening, learning and understanding
We started this work simply by listening and
engaging employees in candid conversations that
acknowledged the cumulative and compounded
effects of racism, discrimination, bias and barriers
across institutions and society. Focus was placed
on listening, learning and understanding the
reality of these barriers, raising awareness and
creating opportunities for improvement.
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| 2022 Moving to Equity Report
A team of employees continually oversees
our ongoing efforts, including senior leaders,
representatives from each business unit and
subject matter experts. All employees are expected
to embrace our equity ideas and hold each other
accountable for our success. We have purposefully
chosen this structure, rather than a separate
diversity, equity and inclusion team, to ensure the
work we are aiming to accomplish has leaders and
buy-in throughout the Southern Company system.
Holding ourselves accountable
For each of the five commitment areas, we
developed key performance indicators to track
our progress, highlight key results and ultimately
hold ourselves accountable. We also implemented
controls and governance processes to help ensure
the data we report is complete and accurate. We
plan to continue to report additional benchmarks
in 2023 and beyond as we implement further data
process enhancements.
We also launched the Boldy Forward website in
2022 to provide more frequent updates on our
Moving to Equity work and diversity, equity and
inclusion initiatives.
