Sabrina Saunders Mosby, Vibrant Pittsburgh. (JIM HARRIS/PBT)

By Mitra Nourbakhsh, Pittsburgh Business Times

Business leaders and decision-makers gathered in the Union Trust Building Theatre Tuesday to hear about the state of diversity, equity and inclusion in Pittsburgh companies during Vibrant Pittsburgh’s annual Report to the Region, where the results of this year’s Vibrant Index were revealed.

The report compares 100 businesses’ DEI standards to the nine pillars that make up best practices. At the event, Vibrant Pittsburgh presented the latest data with commentary from three panelists, who emphasized the economic incentives for businesses to upgrade their DEI practices and discussed how data can be used to make that happen.

Vibrant Pittsburgh also highlighted the DEI efforts of 15 “Vibrant Champions,” a label awarded to companies that score at least 95% in each of the pillars. The Vibrant Champions were UPMC, PNC Financial Services Group Inc., Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc., Ansys Inc., the Pittsburgh Promise, Hugh Lane Wellness Foundation, the Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, People’s Natural Gas Co. and the Community College of Allegheny County, all of which made it last year, as well as newcomers to the category Giant Eagle Inc., United States Steel Corp., BNY, Schell Games, YWCA Greater Pittsburgh and Aires.

Sabrina Saunders Mosby, president and CEO of Vibrant Pittsburgh, said one key takeaway is the importance of having a DEI pledge signed by executive leadership. Those that did so scored 15 points higher overall than those without executive signatories.

In addition to signing a pledge, Mosby asked leaders to consider three action items: Making a quantifiable strategic plan, establishing a DEI team that reports directly to leadership and utilizing ERGs to understand workplace culture dynamics.

The action items come from areas of improvement identified by the report. For example, just 62% of respondents said their organization tracks spending with diverse suppliers. Panelist Gus Faucher, senior vice president and chief economist of PNC, discussed the strategic importance of doing so.

“Thinking about DEI issues in terms of suppliers really gives businesses a big advantage,” he said. “It gives them alternatives; it gives them opportunities to bring in less expensive suppliers.”

Panelists also emphasized how DEI can help expand Pittsburgh’s workforce and shrink the surplus of available jobs.

Majestic Lane, chief equity officer at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, said the solution comes down to creating a welcoming environment where people want to stay after graduation by helping them feel a sense of belonging both at work and in the broader community.

Faucher broadened the scope to another identified area of improvement: The report found that only 39% of surveyed businesses provide employment sponsorship to foreign nationals.

“We need to have a more welcoming, diverse economy to bring in the people who are, quite frankly, going to be the source of growth in the United States over the longer run,” Faucher said. “We are not doing that right now, and we’re going to lag behind the rest of the country and the rest of the world until we can figure that out.”

Vibrant Pittsburgh will provide all participating companies with individual reports starting the week of July 22. Derrick Shoffner, Vibrant Pittsburgh’s senior director of programs and services, said he hopes the individual reports will provide tangible ways for companies to improve their DEI practices and become more competitive for next year.

“Knowledge is key, but application unlocks it,” Schoffner said. “That is our word of encouragement for each of you today.”

Mitra Nourbakhsh is a student at Northwestern University and one of 10 Pittsburgh Media Partnership summer interns. Mitra is interning with the Pittsburgh Business Times.