“United flights provide life-changing new perspectives and new opportunities to millions of customers and, in turn, tens of thousands of employees. We want to offer those opportunities to as many people as possible, from every background. Our purpose-driven commitment to DEI is the right thing to do—and it’s an essential driver of our growth and sustainable financial success.”
Our strategy
Our DEI strategy is centered around transforming the future of aviation. It is recognized as an essential driver of our growth and sustainable financial and operational success.
In 2022, we built on our progress to embed DEI throughout the business with a focus on leading the aviation industry by:
- Cultivating greater opportunities and access for underrepresented groups so they can build long, lucrative careers at United and enhance our uniquely inclusive culture;
- Offering a more accessible and culturally sensitive travel experience for all of our customers;
- Empowering and uplifting the communities we serve; and
- Demonstrating active leadership in building a strong pipeline for business diversity.
We are proud to share how we exceeded our DEI goals in 2022, made additional progress beyond these goals and established ongoing DEI commitments among our employees, customers, communities and commercial partners.
Stakeholder engagement
We are focused on enhancing relationships with the people who are impacted by our operations, our success and what we do. The primary stakeholders for our DEI programs are:
Customers
We strive to provide a safe and inclusive experience for our millions of diverse customers worldwide and to treat each one with dignity and respect.
Employees
We are creating new pathways into long, lucrative aviation careers and a workplace where all employees feel included and empowered to make a measurable difference in our success. We offer policies, programs, benefits and recognition designed to reward and support the success of our diverse workforce and we seek to attract, retain, and develop diverse leaders.
Communities
Our partnerships with local, national and global organizations and our work with elected officials and civic leaders provide opportunities to make a difference at all levels and champion causes that reflect our purpose and values.
Commercial partners
Our commitment to business diversity and empowerment extends from our workforce and continues in our relationships with suppliers. As a global company, we are committed to uplifting communities all around the world by partnering with diverse-owned businesses of all backgrounds and sizes.
Our goals
We have set goals for our DEI strategy.We are proud to share how we have exceeded our DEI goals for 2022, made additional progress beyond these goals and established ongoing DEI commitments among our stakeholders. You can read more on the following pages.
| Objectives | Goals |
|---|---|---|
Customers |
Improve accessibility and cultural sensitivity |
|
Employees |
Increase demographically diverse representation |
|
|
Create new pathways to United careers |
|
|
Assess and refine HR policies and practices |
|
Communities |
Support our DEI aims through engagement with community organizations |
|
Suppliers and commercial partners |
Support women- and diverse-owned businesses through membership in the Billion Dollar Roundtable |
|
External awards and recognition
We are proud to have been listed as a supporter of inclusive practices by a number of external organisations including:
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Diversity Inc. 2022 Top 50 Companies for Diversity
United was the only airline to make this list of top companies in the US that excel in diversity and inclusion management. United was also listed as 30 “Top Company for ESG,” and #9 “Top Company for ERGs.”
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Disability Equality Index
United was selected as a 2022 Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion. We scored 100%for the seventh-straight year.
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Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index
United was selected as a 2022 Best Places to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality, and we were also recognized for 11 years of perfect scores.
DEI data
Data on our workforce demographics and labor relations can be found on our data page.