During 2020, the Bank’s accomplishments in recruiting, developing and retaining diverse talent included:

Launching the D&I Resource Center, a resource repository on our intranet site geared towards furthering D&I-related awareness, promoting organizational learning and supporting ongoing discussions between employees, leaders and teams. The Resource Center is particularly geared toward enhancing our understanding of racial equity and racial justice.

• Expanding our recruiting outreach with key partners and partnering with external groups, including historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs); the Sadie Collective, an organization dedicated to increasing the representation of Black women in economics; and Out & Equal, the largest LGBTQ workplace organization.
• Surveying our employees in a more timely way to capture real-time insights on their experiences, including in the Financial Services’ Pipeline’s (FSP) Employee Experience Survey, to better understand the experiences of employees of color.
• Launching the D&I Committee, a new cross-functional group of employees aimed at promoting the Bank’s D&I strategic priorities and uncovering systemic barriers to inclusion.
• Supporting our vendors, particularly our minority business-owned enterprises, as the pandemic disproportionately impacted minority-owned businesses, with over 22% of our total spend toward diverse vendors.
• Hosting meaningful event programming, including the launch of the Bank-wide Empower Hours, timely ESNG events and initiatives.

Our Core Values

Integrity: We are honest, fair, courageous and independent in order to maintain strong public confidence in our Bank and in the Federal Reserve System.

• Respect: We value diverse talents and perspectives and empower one another to advance our mission.
• Responsibility: We are accountable for our individual and collective actions and honor our commitments to the public and one another.
• Excellence: We strive to achieve the highest level of performance in pursuit of our mission

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

The Bank values and encourages a diverse and inclusive work environment where employees are respected and given opportunities to perform to their fullest potential.

The Bank’s commitment is embedded in our vision, core values, and policies supporting Equal Employment Opportunity. We prioritize proactively recruiting diverse staff, creating opportunities to build a diverse and inclusive workforce at all levels of the organization, and regularly monitoring our progress. The Bank provides development opportunities for all employees, as well as programs targeted to address particular needs and interests, including open and inclusive membership in professional and diversity support groups. All Bank employees are responsible for embracing diversity and inclusion.

Leadership Commitment

In 2020, the Bank’s leadership team continued to prioritize D&I by reevaluating the governance committee structure to better emphasize and support our D&I vision and priorities. The Bank’s leadership team created three new committees: the Bank Operating Committee (BOC), the Talent Committee and the D&I Committee. While the three committees serve different purposes, each has D&I responsibilities, ensuring D&I is not siloed across the leadership of the Bank.

The BOC is primarily responsible for supporting and executing operational activities in the areas of strategy, culture, diversity and inclusion, talent, finance and risk.

The Talent Committee is charged with developing and executing a vision to grow, develop and assess talent at the manager and assistant vice president levels across the Bank through a lens of diversity and inclusion.

While the BOC and Talent Committee are comprised of vice presidents from across the Bank, membership in the D&I Committee represents varying job levels. This cross-functional group supports the Bank’s strategic priority of advancing an inclusive culture and is primarily responsible for identifying systemic barriers to inclusion and advancing D&I efforts within business areas. The D&I Committee works in collaboration with the BOC and Talent Committee, and its members play a critical role in advising the Executive Committee (EC) on key opportunities, challenges and progress pertaining to diversity, equity and inclusion at the Bank.

Federal Reserve System Efforts

Kathryn Medina, SVP of People & Culture and OMWI Director, participated in the Conference of First Vice President’s (CFVP) D&I Bold Ideas Workstreams, which included joining CFVP and OMWI-led listening sessions with employees of color. This initiative was aimed at improving minority representation at the senior officer level.

Mark Hands, Supplier Diversity Manager and Associate OMWI Director, participates in the OMWI Council’s Supplier Diversity Workgroup and System’s Supplier Diversity Workgroup. Mark’s involvement with both work groups provides the Bank avenues for partnership across the System and the ability to amplify our impact in the supplier diversity space.

Business Unit Consulting

People & Culture’s HR Business Partners and D&I Consultants began partnering with business units throughout the Bank to develop specific DEI strategies in response to their unique circumstances. These consultations identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats so that business units can take meaningful action.

Employee Engagement

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bank leadership took swift action to enact our modified essential services status in March with the majority of staff going remote, while our Cash, Law Enforcement Unit (LEU), and other essential personnel remaining onsite.

To make sure employee experiences and needs were understood during this time, the Bank changed its approach to employee surveys. A Bank-wide biannual employee survey was scheduled at the start of the year, but the survey was tabled in favor of shorter, quicker pulse surveys. Offered three times throughout the last year, these pulse surveys provided valuable insight into the work and personal experiences of our employee workforce. Health, safety and work-life balance concerns arose as the top concerns amongst employees, and the Bank quickly responded by equipping staff with the technology to accomplish their work in a remote environment and providing people leaders with guidance on how to adopt flexible schedules and prioritize work on their teams.

Employee Recognition

In early 2020, a new recognition hub, BRAVO!, was launched to add a much needed peer-to-peer recognition component to the Bank’s people strategy. With the new platform, managers and employees provide recognition to one another through “shout-outs” and visual postings that all staff can view. While BRAVO! was launched prior to the onset of the pandemic, it proved an invaluable tool amidst a mostly remote workforce, connecting staff and creating camaraderie through positive outcomes and genuine appreciation.

In July, the Bank launched a new award program in response to the dramatic escalation of our work caused by the economic fallout of the pandemic. The Agility Award program recognized the extraordinary efforts of individual and teams across the Bank to stabilize our economy, ensure the ongoing operations of the central bank and support our employees and communities in unprecedented times.

Industry Recognition

The Bank received two D&I-related honors in 2020, reflecting our ongoing commitment to an inclusive culture and community:

• For the fifth consecutive year, the Bank scored 100% on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation’s 2020 Corporate Equality Index (CEI). This recognizes work done throughout the Bank in partnership with Spectrum, the Bank’s LGBTQ ESNG. CEI recognition signals the Bank’s commitment to LGBTQ rights and inclusion amongst current and prospective employees.
• For the second time, the Bank earned a spot on the Working Mother magazine 100 Best Companies list. New in 2020 was the Bank’s added recognition as one of the “Best Companies for Dads.” Our Bank rated highly for its parental and adoption leaves, paid time off and childcare benefits.

ESNG Event Programming

The Bank’s ESNGs planned timely and relevant programming that allowed our workforce to acknowledge and process racial and social inequity and injustice; further our awareness and understanding; and come together as a Bank community.

Throughout 2020, over 35 events were held, including:

• The Black Impact Group (BIG) organized a System-wide “Call for Justice” campaign in recognition of Juneteenth and in response to ongoing racial violence against the Black community. The campaign expanded awareness of racial injustice and inequality concerns impacting the Black community and provided avenues for System employees to get involved. In addition, the Run for Justice Campaign coordinated a virtual 5k run/walk where employees could display unity and support for combating racial bias.
• In November, BIG hosted its annual Business Leaders of Color event virtually. The theme centered on “Advancing Emerging Leaders.”
• Conexión, the Bank’s Latinx ESNG, adjusted its annual cultural buffet held during Hispanic Heritage Month to be an in-person lunch for our on-site essential services staff, in recognition of the unique challenges they faced this year.



• Instead of gathering for a group photo to highlight the Bank’s support of its LGBTQ community during Pride Month, 300 employees volunteered to participate in Spectrum’s virtual Progress Pride Flag mosaic. This image was published on both our intranet and external site and follows on the next page.
• Spectrum held the Bank’s first World AIDS day event with an informative discussion on individuals living with HIV and AIDS.
• The Women’s Impact Network (WIN) hosted Jane Olmstead-Rumsey, researcher and PhD candidate in Economics at Northwestern University, to speak on the impacts and challenges of COVID-19 on women’s careers.
• The Family Resource Group (FRoG) partnered with Project Hometown, a Bank-led economic research and policy initiative, to explore navigating remote and hybrid learning and supporting students, families and communities in the present and future. Project Hometown brings together civic leaders, expert researchers, Bank staff, and concerned local residents to examine how our hometowns can recover from the pandemic and overcome longstanding inequities.
• The Generational Empowerment Network (GEN) hosted a series of one-hour focus groups for different generations to discuss their experiences working remotely during the pandemic.
• Our ESNGs also collaborated on many meaningful events, including:
• Spectrum, BIG, AAAG and Conexión invited external speakers who shared their wisdom, creativity and lived experience as queer and trans Black, Indigenous and People of Color. This event was well-attended by over 200 employees throughout the System.
• WIN and BIG explored intersectionality through a TED Talk-style, moderated conversation and small group exercise, exploring what it means to be Black and female in today’s America.
• GEN and FRoG hosted a panel that explored the challenges, successes and best practices in creating and strengthening cultural values across a geographically dispersed and increasingly remote workforce.

Promoting Staff Development

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the Bank continued to focus on integrating D&I objectives, best practices and educational content into our learning curriculum to strengthen our inclusive culture. And to meet the needs of our newly remote workforce, more on-demand and bite-sized, virtual learning offerings were provided to staff in 2020.

The Bank launched Blue Ocean Brain (BOB), an on-demand learning suite, providing employees with easily accessible, self-paced learning content to help build skills in the areas of leadership, diversity and inclusion, resilience and change. BOB relies on micro-learning, which aligned with the needs around flexibility, ease of use and time sensitivity that employees shared in the pulse surveys. BOB enabled our employees to continue their development on their own terms and within their own schedules.

The Bank’s learning team tailored course offerings to address employees’ growing struggles with mental well-being amidst the expanding pandemic, growing uncertainty and racial violence. A popular series of workshops and webinars provided practical tools, guidance, and resources to decrease stress and enable mental and physical well-being and resilience.

The System Leadership Initiative (SLI), a System-wide function based in our District, continued to manage its talent exchange program and launched The Leaders’ Library, a resource for all employees, sharing valuable curated content from SLI’s leadership conferences. Opening up conference content to all employees was an inclusive step to expand SLI’s reach and development opportunities.

Lastly, the Bank leveraged its community partners to expand diverse development opportunities for staff. In late 2020, the Bank announced a formal partnership with Out & Equal, a global LGBTQ organization focused on workplace equality. The partnership gives access to the O&E Summit—the largest LGBTQ focused conference in the world—and provides learning opportunities to all staff, especially those in the LGBTQ community. Ten employees attended the organization’s Annual Conference in October, and the Bank hosted a booth at the conference career fair, allowing us to meet with potential talent.

Leader Development and Support

The Bank recognized that people leaders were struggling to support their employees and teams amidst their own personal responsibilities and challenges. To ensure resiliency, development and ongoing engagement of this critical group, SLI five Speakers’ Series sessions, a virtual senior leadership conference (SLC), virtual Thrive conference and an Executive Exchange program, focused on developing of women and minorities for expanded leadership roles. The table highlights the breakdown of participants at these events.

Following are the minority and female participation numbers for SLI conferences and talent exchange programs. Tracking this data ensures these important development opportunities reach a diverse pool of leaders. SLC had 43 participants (40% female and a 28% minority). The 2020/2021 Thrive Conference, launched virtually in November for emerging leaders, had 86 participants (55% female and 31% minority) and targets convening in-person in 2021.

Diversity Recruiting Efforts

The Bank focused on the unique needs of each business unit, invested in existing strategic partnerships and expanded to new partnerships as recruiting transitioned to an exclusively virtual format.

In 2020, the Bank deepened relationships with local professional affinity/networking groups, colleges and universities, and student groups. Nationally, we expanded our efforts to work with HBCUs. We also continued to work on improving the Bank’s employer brand and reputation in the market—the goal being to attract a wider range of candidates across all industries and communities. Our social media presence, particularly on LinkedIn, helped bolster our campus and professional candidate outreach. And we promoted our attendance at virtual career fairs and networking events with our strategic partners through social media campaigns.

New Recruitment Partnership Efforts

Partnership efforts have continued to focus on recruiting and education initiatives that meet critical talent gaps for women and minorities. The Bank enhanced its diversity recruiting strategy to have a more formalized approach with community partners, adding the following:

Dean’s HBCU Roundtable. We co-sponsored a large-scale diversity fair hosted by the HBCUs in September. The Bank also participated in virtual career fairs hosted by HBCU clusters, including fairs in Atlanta (Clark Atlanta, Morehouse University and Spelman College) and New Orleans (Dillard University, Southern University – New Orleans and Xavier University).

• Chicago Urban League. The Bank has committed to sending employees to their IMPACT program in 2021, a prestigious leadership development cohort of young Black professionals.
• Illinois Diversity Council (ILDC). Through this partnership, the Bank will share D&I content with all employees, improving their D&I acumen, especially ESNG leaders and employees of color.
• Out & Equal. Spectrum members attended Out & Equal’s career fair to support the Bank’s diversity recruiting efforts with this new strategic partner.

Expanded Recruitment Partnerships

• Chicago United (CU). A long-time Bank strategic partner, the Bank expanded its work with CU by joining the Corporate Inclusion Institute (CII), a nine-month long development program for employees of color. Forty-nine employees will participate in the CII in 2021, which is an increase from just four employees two years ago..
• Additionally, the Bank’s Economic Research team contributed valuable research to CU on the topics of local corporate diversity and trends in middle management diversity, showcased in their Inside Inclusion report.
• Cristo Rey and Christ the King. Though the Bank was not able to physically welcome Cristo Rey and Christ the King students, we honored our commitment to the Corporate Work Study Program and financially sponsored 12 students for the 2020 – 2021 calendar year.
• Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE).Our expanded partnership allowed for our participation in a wide range of virtual events to recruit Latinx talent and provided developmental opportunities to current staff, including two virtual career fairs, the annual HACE National Leadership Career Summit, and the Mujeres de HACE development program.
• Local Universities. Our ESNGs partnered with local schools to support our talent pipeline. AAAG virtually visited business students from the University of Illinois in April and October. Conexión and BIG virtually spoke with student clubs (the Association of Latino Professionals for America and National Association of Black Accountants) at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
• Sadie Collective. Expanding our work with Sadie Collective included co-hosting Exploring Career Pathways in Economics and Related Fields, a virtual event that provided Black and other minority college students with an opportunity to learn more about career pathways in economics and related fields.
• Year Up Chicago. In 2020, the Bank provided internships to two Year Up students. The Bank is planning to host at least four or more students in 2021.

Internship Program

The Bank completed its first ever virtual internship program in August. Over the course of the 2020 summer, 47 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students from 33 universities across the country joined the Bank. Although remote, interns participated in a range of professional development activities in addition to their day-to-day business area assignments and capstone project. At the conclusion of the program, 15 interns, approximately 30%, were converted to fulltime employees or contingent workers.

In response to the lack of diversity in the 2020 class, the Bank assembled an Intern Diversity Recruiting Taskforce to increase diversity of the Bank’s 2021 summer Intern Program. In the fall of 2020, the Taskforce identified and targeted 15 universities, primarily comprised of local Illinois universities and national HBCUs. Recruiters and staff alumni attended 14 events,, leading to over 150 intern applicants of which 53% identify as minority. In additional the taskforce launched a LinkedIn marketing campaign to broaden the Bank’s reach to potential diverse candidates and revised the Bank’s intern webpage with an impactful new video. At the conclusion of the program, 15 interns (30%) were converted into either contractors, full-time employees, or contingent workers.

Internal Leadership Pipeline

In the Seventh District, our senior leaders committed to diversifying the leadership pipeline by supporting new programs to advance minority talent. The Talent Committee launched a leadership rotational program in 2020, specifically aimed at diversifying the pipeline of Officer-level talent. As part of this program, two high performing, high potential Black managers from Finance and Central Bank Services earned AVP positions within the People & Culture department. This program is expected to expand in 2021 as we continue our commitment to expanding representation at the leadership level.

Continued emphasis was also placed on the internal development and promotion of women and minorities in core functions.

With regards to minority talent, the priority continued to be increasing representation at the Officer and Knowledge Leader job levels.

This underscores the importance of the diversity leadership rotational program in achieving greater parity at senior levels.

In response to the continued racial violence against the Black community in 2020, and the related social protests and movements, Bank employees sought D&I-related information and support in more ways than ever before. Employee engagement was challenged by the heightened exhaustion and grief over the continued racial violence, with employees seeking space to collectively acknowledge, process and reflect on the events. Additionally, employees and teams requested D&I-specific training, events and business unit consultation as the Bank reflected on the challenges we and how best to address them. The increased requests strained the D&I team, who themselves grappled with current events while trying to support the Bank and employees through a very challenging time.

In addition to the employee engagement difficulties, challenges persisted in the talent management space. The Bank continues to look at hiring, promotion and retention trends at the Officer level.

In the past five years, the Bank’s minority Officer headcount has grown from 16% to 23% of its total Officer population. As the organization continues to explore programs to hire, promote and retain minority Officers, it will look to increase that share at a steady rate.

Launching DEI. In the wake of 2020, the Bank reflected on its D&I strategy and assessed the needs of its workforce and our communities. In 2021, key focus for the D&I team will be a rebrand and related campaign to formally shift focus to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Related D&I efforts, including the D&I Committee, will also formally transition their names from “D&I” to “DEI.” This reflects the Bank’s continued evolution and a growing understanding that recognizing diversity and championing an inclusive culture can only be strengthened by equitable practices in all that the Bank does. Moving forward, the rebranded DEI Team will launch an education campaign to raise awareness of how all employees can support greater equity in their work and why each employee it is accountable. This work will be done in close partnership with the DEI Committee.

Expanding DEI Talent Management Practices. The DEI Team will partner with the Talent Committee in its assessment of managers and AVPs. Through oversight of annual talent reviews, the Talent Committee provides a holistic look at the Bank’s leadership pipeline. Adding the DEI lens will help connect these reviews with broader diversity pipeline efforts. Furthermore, the continued focus on and expansion of the Talent Committee’s Diversity Rotational Program will help support representation at the Officer level.

Providing DEI Learning Opportunities. Through a DEI-specific learning curriculum, all staff will have the opportunity to learn more about diversity, equity and inclusion and how to build an inclusive culture. However, recognizing that our people leaders have the greatest influence on Bank culture, practices and decisions, a dedicated DEI curriculum for people leaders will be a priority.

Understanding the Employee Experience. In response to the employee engagement challenges in 2020, the Bank is revamping its employee listening strategy for 2021. Based on the valuable, realtime insights from this year’s pulse surveys, the Bank will leverage new technology to collect and analyze employee sentiment and measure employee engagement on a regular and ongoing basis to inform critical decisions about our people, practices and culture. This new technology builds on prior surveys and the findings that have disparate experiences among employees in our Bank. Based on past historical trends in our employee engagement data from 2018 and prior, we know Black women and Latinx men, in particular, have a significantly different experience at the Bank compared to our white employee population. Furthermore, we know that Black employees leave the Bank at a higher rate than our white and Latinx employees. As we roll out our new listening strategy and technology, exploring and understanding these nuances will be crucial to tailoring an employee experience that meets the needs of our employees.