A year after Delta's CEO, Ed Bastian, committed to taking action on inequity and injustice, Delta remains focused on continuous improvement for their people and the communities where they live, work and serve. While Delta has improved over the past year, this is a journey, not a destination, and they still have a long way to go.

Reflecting the World

At Delta, they seek to reflect the world they live, work and serve in at all levels of their company. With a historic level of change in our employee and management base last year, Delta is building a more diverse organization and management team as they recover from the pandemic that will lead a new Delta into the future. Delta remains committed to doubling the percentage of Black Officers and Directors and growing the percentage of other Minority and Female Officers. Delta measures their progress with the goal of improving on a year-over-year basis through 2025 and beyond. Our Close the Gap strategy translates those words into action.

Through Delta’s Close the Gap reporting, they hold themselves accountable for Delta's plan to grow and attract talent in three demographics where the difference in representation between frontline employees and leaders remains the largest: Black employees, women and other ethnic minority groups.

Here is a look at the progress Delta Air Lines has made since introducing the Close the Gap strategy in January 2021:

• Black employees now represent a larger percentage of entry-level managers and General Manager through Managing Director levels. While the pipeline is being strengthened, Vice President and above talent remains an area of focus
• More women now represent Delta's company across entry-level managers, General Managers through Managing Directors and most notably at the VP and above levels
• Increased representation among Delta's colleagues who are ethnic minorities (Asian, Hispanic, Native American, Alaskan, Hawaiian, two or more races) across all levels of leadership

The data-driven approach to Close the Gap also helps Delta identify opportunities to do better, including growing, attracting and retaining Black talent at the Vice President and above level.

Reimagining Delta's Talent Strategy

Every job posting is an opportunity for Delta to bring a person with new experience, perspectives, ideas and backgrounds onto Delta's team. To achieve that goal, Delta must build a more equitable talent experience. Delta's efforts will continue to focus on removing barriers that prevent exposure to careers at Delta and attracting qualified, diverse candidates for underrepresented roles.

• Delta is already seeing broader diversity in candidates for General Manager, Director and Managing Director roles, enabling more diversity in hiring. Black external candidates now represent 33% of Delta's new hires for these roles, up from 20% in 2020. Other ethnic minorities represent another 33%, up from 25% in 2020
• In the first quarter of 2021, 95% of the positions Delta filled did not require a college degree, compared with 78% in the same time period in 2020

Boldly Pursuing Equity

Leadership means living by example and advocating for positive change. As an industry leader, Delta is committed to engaging with local and national policymakers to promote justice and equity. This year Delta joined the Bipartisan Policy Center Business Alliance for Effective Democracy, which prioritizes policies that enhance the voting experience, inspire confidence in election results, and foster collaboration and bipartisanship in Delta's governing institutions, especially Congress.

Delta is also looking at themselves, seeking opportunities to integrate equity principles across all of Delta’s people programs, including talent acquisition, healthcare, compensation, performance management, employee experience, learning, rewards, people operations and professional development practices.

In July, 7,000 Airport Customer Service and Cargo employees transitioned from part-time Ready Reserve roles to benefit-eligible Customer Service Agents. This change was a significant step forward to create more equity across Delta's employee workgroups by providing access to all Delta benefits, including health care.

Creating More Equitable Opportunities

Delta believes creating opportunities means forging partnerships and supporting organizations that are making a difference.

• As part of Delta's commitment that one-third of their annual charitable contributions and giving will go to equity-focused organizations and initiatives, they're now looking at historical partnerships through an equity lens and investing in new partnerships with organizations that boldly pursue equity
• Deta has expanded theor partnership with Operation HOPE to support its One Million Black Business and Entrepreneur Initiative and Financial Literacy for All, offering financial literacy programs for Delta employees. Delta has ten coaches on-site at their major U.S. hubs, and all domestic employees will have access to these coaches virtually
• As a founding member of OneTen, Delta has begun work inside Delta to pursue a “skills-first” hiring approach, removing the four-year degree requirement from more than 70% of Delta's jobs. As the largest employer in Georgia, Delta intends to help lead the coalition’s efforts to build a Black talent ecosystem within Atlanta

Supporting Black Business Partners

Beyond Delta's partnerships with civic organizations, the airline is also seeking to double how much money Delta spends with Black-owned businesses by 2025. So far in 2021, Delta has reached only 27% of their annual target. Delta remains focused on increasing access to RFPs for Black- and minority-owned businesses.

Stepping Up Inclusion Training at Every Level of the Company

Over the past year, Delta launched enhanced inclusion training for their employees. While the goal is to have every employee complete the training by the end of 2022, more than 52,800 of Delta's employees have participated in the training so far. The training focuses on understanding, action and inclusive behaviors. In post-training surveys, employees have said the series helps them recognize how their actions might impact others and that they feel motivated to use the skills they learned.

To underscore the value of this training and build understanding within Delta's employee base, the airline has launched a “Let’s Talk About It” townhall series that brings to the forefront issues that groups are facing daily for broader discussions with leaders and employees.

At Delta, their journey towards a more diverse, equitable and inclusive company started with listening, and more importantly, hearing from each other. Listening has inspired Delta to act in meaningful and strategic ways that Delta believes will ultimately make a lasting difference within Delta's organization and the world their people serve.