In the summer of 2020, when a spotlight was placed on the highly visible acts of racial inequality and social injustice that continue to impact our country, FirstEnergy responded.

Discussions related to those events among members of MOSaic, an Employee Business Resource Group for people of color and allies, along with a review of workforce demographic data pointed to a growing need for FirstEnergy to take additional steps to increase the diversity of its workforce and foster an inclusive culture.

"We kicked off the effort by ensuring that there was a diverse group of employees at the table and created an environment where voices were listened to, valued and respected," said Stacey Silvis, director, Diversity and Inclusion. "Five teams – with representatives from MOSaic, HR and Legal – were formed, tasked with recommending ways to accelerate the diverse representation of our workforce and advance racially/ethnically diverse employees within our company."

The team’s recommendations started with establishing a workforce aspiration to achieve a 30% increase in FirstEnergy’s racially and ethnically diverse workforce and in leadership by 2025.  To help achieve this goal, the following recommendations are being implemented: enhancing recruiting practices with diverse candidate and interview slate requirements, implementing unconscious bias training in the hiring process, establishing career growth and advancement programs, increasing employee engagement and transparency in sharing D&I data.

Kelli J. Scott, Director – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion