How Bloomberg Supports Hispanic and Latino/a Professionals

Originally published on bloomberg.com

Hispanic and Latino/a professionals are an integral part of the workforce and deserve reciprocal support from their employers. Nearly one in five people – and one in four members of Gen Z – identify as Hispanic or Latino/a (H/L). By the end of this decade, H/L professionals will account for almost eight in 10 new workers.

At Bloomberg, we are committed to supporting our employees and creating a culture of inclusivity for all communities. From implementing fair hiring practices to developing and advancing our talent, we’re always working to promote and maintain equality and equity across the organization.

One example of our commitment is our long-standing partnership with Coqual, a leading D&I research organization. Most recently, we sponsored and hosted the launch of Coqual’s 2024 research report, More than a Monolith: The Advancement of Hispanic and Latino/a Talent.

The 2024 report, which members of various companies including Bloomberg’s Latinx Community participated in, identified critical areas for improvement and opportunities for employers to empower H/L professionals. This is how Bloomberg is doing its part.

Why H/L? We’re following Coqual’s approach by using “Hispanic and Latino/a” and the abbreviation “H/L” based on research respondents’ overall preferences in terminology.

Key findings on the H/L professional experience

Coqual’s 2024 report explores the unique challenges H/L professionals experience in the workplace. Here are a few key areas the report highlights:

• Career advancement. Nearly three in five H/L professionals (57%) say they are dissatisfied with their rate of promotion.
• Cultural assimilation. 35% of H/L professionals avoid discussing their H/L heritage at work.
• Immigration. Just over one in five H/L professionals (21%) say colleagues make negative comments to them about immigration or immigrants on a regular basis.
• Leadership representation. Within the US workforce, 10% of managers and just 5% of executives and senior officials are identified as H/L.
• Retention. More than one in three H/L professionals surveyed (35%) are actively looking for a new job – and nearly one in three (31%) plan to leave their current company within a year.

The data clearly shows that there’s a lot of work to do universally, and below are a few examples of how Bloomberg supports our H/L colleagues.

How Bloomberg supports its H/L professionals

Bloomberg supports its H/L professionals by ensuring access to development and growth opportunities at every career stage, promoting real and sustained conversations about race to foster inclusion, and developing a culture of leadership accountability.

At Bloomberg, we understand that commitments are only meaningful when acted on. That’s why we’ve taken progressive steps — like enhancing onboarding and development opportunities — to create a culture of inclusivity for our H/L colleagues. These actions are not just words on a page but proof of our commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Providing HR support to DACA employees

The Global Immigration team at Bloomberg created a support community for employees with DACA status, a federal policy that allows certain foreign nationals who came to the US as children to request deferred action for two years, subject to renewal. Though deferred action doesn’t grant lawful status, it allows DACA recipients to work in the US.

Bloomberg human resources liaisons were inspired to act after hearing conversations among employees expressing feelings of isolation and fear of disclosing their status. The team created a community connecting DACA employees who volunteered their disclosure, creating a safe space to share information and practical updates on evolving federal regulations. The community is still active today.

Creating an inclusive onboarding program

Diverse teams approach challenges from different angles, and that innovation drives our business forward. We actively recruit diverse talent, hiring the best and brightest whoever and wherever they are. But we don’t stop at recruiting.

In 2022, we redesigned our onboarding program for Analytics Representatives to improve preparation for entry-level hires while increasing the diversity of incoming talent cohorts. Each annual cohort includes 15 to 30 Analytics Representatives across the three Bloomberg offices (New York, San Francisco, and Sao Paulo).

Incoming Analytics Representatives spend 12 to 24 months in their role learning about the company, its products, and the sales markets. Following their time in Analytics, most representatives transition to Sales, where they continue to receive professional development. Since not all representatives require the same level of support, the program includes various levels of visibility, including routine office hours, exposure to leadership, and feedback opportunities.

While H/L talent recruitment is not specific to this program, Bloomberg partners with Hispanic-serving academic institutions (HSIs) and Latino professional advocacy organizations like the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA) to encourage talent affiliated with these groups to explore Bloomberg’s career opportunities.

Now in its second year, the program’s initial success has led to conversations about expanding it to other global Bloomberg offices and teams, including Bloomberg’s London office team, which is piloting a similar program.

Accelerating Latino/a potential

Bloomberg launched GOAL (Growth, Opportunity, Access, Leadership) in 2016, an enterprise-wide program that provides underrepresented groups with development support and visibility to accelerate their potential.

The program is designed to provide bespoke growth, exposure, and networking opportunities to its participants, as well as access to a Bloomberg mentor/sponsor and an external career coach. GOAL is also designed with a tiered structure that ensures every employee from an underrepresented group, regardless of title, performance, potential, or tenure, has an engagement, development, or advancement opportunity open to them.

In an interview with Bright Networks, Sangita Clarke, Global Diversity Talent Specialist at Bloomberg, shared that GOAL’s aim is “to elevate this group of high-performing, high-potential talent and provide them with growth opportunities.”

How we stay accountable

At Bloomberg, we recognize the importance of acknowledging H/L professionals’ unique challenges and will continue addressing them. We also recognize that accountability is necessary for progress.

To hold our organization accountable, we set aspirational targets and measure and track the progress of our diversity initiatives through weekly and quarterly reports shared with senior leaders and diversity champions across the company.

While our work is far from done, our efforts are producing results.

Learn more about Bloomberg’s actions in promoting ethnic diversity.