Companies benefit from their dedication and commitment to operationalizing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) into every aspect of their organization. Organizations that truly have a reflective DEIB strategy have a competitive advantage over their competitors. They benefit from increased employee morale, engagement, productivity, and idea creation. Not only that, but your organization is much more attractive to your clients too.
The importance of a diverse workforce can also help your employees and leadership foster better relationships with each other, create a culture of understanding; and therefore attract and retain top, diverse talent. The more your workforce can empathize and find connections with one another; the more they will meet the organization’s intended objectives.
In this article, I highlight my top picks for the best local and national, home builders’ organizations that have an authentic commitment to operationalizing DEIB. These are entirely of my own opinion and they are in no particular order. I’m selecting these brands based on the following criteria:
- Commitment to gender and racially diverse hiring practices,
- Marketing and community outreach that is inclusive and inviting to diverse audiences and communities of color,
- Housing segmentation (a.k.a. Product mix) is varied and/or inclusive of affordable housing for below-area-median-income-earners.
Habitat for Humanity
Habitat is rooted in the belief that everyone should have access to a decent place to live, regardless of race, creed, or ethnicity. Founded in 1976, Habitat International was formed on the sole premise of creating safe and affordable housing for families in need. They were inspired by the southern community Koinonia Farms’ layout of 42 half-acre house sites surrounded by four acres of parks and open space, where capital was donated from around the U.S, and homes were built and sold at no profit and no interest.
For nearly 50 years, Habitat has replicated this model in addressing issues of poverty and access for more than 39 million families across 50 U.S states and 70 countries worldwide through “partnership housing”; which engages future homeowners to work alongside volunteers to build their own homes, and homes for other families, with no-interest loans, over a 20-year period. The housing payments are directed to a Fund for Humanity that functions as a revolving fund that is recycled back for building more homes. Ultimately, their work helps to improve the living conditions of individuals earning on average 50% of the area’s median income.
Habitat builds houses in partnership with families who are inspired to drive strength, stability, and self-reliance in their communities. Their primary goal is to contribute to an improved way of life in underinvested neighborhoods where diverse communities of varied lived experiences and socioeconomic backgrounds have a desire to thrive together. Habitat recognizes that in order to create housing equity and cement their anti-racist principles, from community development to policy advocacy; they must maintain an environment where humility, open communication, open dialogue, and listening are at the center of their work.
In their dedication to diversity, they seek to understand the differences of diverse voices and the desires of the communities they serve around the world to build hope and transform lives. And, in honoring their commitment to building a diverse, inclusive workforce; Habitat strives to reach diverse talent and has diverse interviewer panels for candidates to experience representation in the process of vetting a job opening. This entails educating hiring managers about unconscious bias and how to conduct fair and equitable interviewing and hiring processes.
They have also created employee resource groups to encourage employee engagement, provided opportunities for professional development and internal networking, and informed the implementation of their cultural values and diversity, equity and inclusion strategy. Their Employee Resource Groups (ERG) provide opportunities for employees to exchange diverse ideas and solutions and create pipelines for mentoring and career development. ERG leaders and the Habitat for Humanity International senior leadership team formed their diversity, equity, and inclusion council, intended to leverage the diversity of the organization to improve organizational performance as a part of their broader diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy.
KB Home
Founded in 1957, KB Home was recently ranked #1 by customers as the preferred National Homebuilder that provides a variety of home designs for a variety of budgets. Last year, 62% of their customers were first-time home buyers. They work with mainly middle-class to lower-middle-class homebuyers; 63% of their customers make a household income of less than $150,000. Their client base is very diverse, and they serve all those who are interested in buying a home that is affordable, and reflects how they want to live. Their goal is to work with clients of all different backgrounds and lived experiences.
Their internal strategy reflects this as well. In their 2021 Sustainability Report, they stressed that they want to be an employer of choice for diverse talent. They invest in career advancement programs, training, competitive benefits, incentives, and initiatives to promote health, safety, and wellness for all their employees to feel like they belong. All of their employees learn how to create more of a culture of inclusivity because they must complete anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training. Their commitment is reflective in their talent composition; their staff is 40% women and 35% people of color overall. They are the only national builder to receive in both 2021 and 2022 the honor of being Forbes Magazine’s Americas Best Midsize Employer.
Both their internal culture and values; and external customer base, goals, and objectives reflect a commitment to operationalizing DEIB. They acknowledge that there is a wealth gap in the United States and they are working to offer homes to wider, more diverse communities to make home-buying more accessible and affordable for all.
Lennar Homes
Lennar Homes have built homes in the most popular cities across 26 states. The company is focused on building homes for diverse communities with a variety of experiences and family dynamics. For example, one of my favorite collections is their NextGen home, built for a multigenerational family living under one roof. There is a separate suite with its own exterior entrance but has access to the main home; perfect for a young adult coming home from college, aging parents, or a child with special needs.
They focus on creating homes that are accessible and affordable for all different budgets, offering six different programs where people who wouldn’t otherwise, could have a brand new Lennar home. One of their programs, Upward America, allows families and individuals to lock in an attainable rental price point, without needing to put a down payment on their new home.
They build their internal culture around the value of servicing diverse and inclusive communities. They have implemented a mission that “Everyone is included” meaning they have committed to providing awareness, education, and having conversations regarding DEIB, with their staff regularly. They created an “Everyone’s Included” advisory council that meets monthly, where they continue to develop their DEIB strategy, including diversifying their talent composition, creating an inclusive culture where everyone feels like they belong, and creating professional development programs for their associates. The added proof of their commitment and conviction of their DEIB strategy is that they recently hired a full-time Inclusion & Diversity Program Manager, that solely focuses on operationalizing DEIB throughout the organization.
Their vision enables their organization to further unleash the power of diversity within their workplace, drive innovation, and sustain growth.
Thrive Homebuilders
Based in Denver, CO, and building for the surrounding communities, Thrive is led by one of the most altruistic home builders I know, Gene Myers. He started Thrive in 1992 with an increased awareness of building energy-efficient homes. They build homes that are affordable and accessible to single families, either detached or attached. They offer a variety of homes that support every stage of a homebuyer’s life, factoring in what the value of “home” means according to diverse experiences and family dynamics.
Thrive strives to create a positive impact for its customers, the community, and its employees. Its mission is to “always do the right thing” which means that they are creating a culture of diversity, empowerment, and employee engagement.
In recent years, they have won twelve housing innovation awards from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for building Zero Energy homes as their standard. These homes have a net-zero impact on the environment and offer superior air quality for their customers. They also build solar-power-ready homes that meet the U.S. Department of Energy standards.
Their internal culture reflects their mission to “always do the right thing.” They stress a culture of accountability with their employees. They challenge their employees to think about how they can handle their problems without going “below the line” or tearing down their other team members. They model their culture to be: improving, challenging, and mastering positive outcomes.
They also invest in Challenge Scholars, a scholarship tuition program for top, diverse, students in need, in order for them to go to the best college preparatory schools in Denver. It offers a direct pipeline to attract diverse staff of different backgrounds and experiences to eventually work at Thrive. Two Challenge Scholars have already been employed by Thrive, back in 2017.
They continue to build on their internal and external culture. They are committed to an “open-book” management style that ensures all employees are receiving transparent and honest updates about what is happening in the company. In their efforts to continue to ensure they are retaining top, diverse talent; in 2020, they enhanced their compensation and benefits package.
David Weekley Homes
David Weekley was named after its founder, who established the company in 1976 in Houston, TX when he was 23 years old. David Weekley is one of the largest national home builders and has sold over 100,000 homes across 19 cities in the U.S. It was the first homebuilder in the U.S. to be awarded all three: America’s Best Builder, National Housing Quality Award, and National Builder of the Year Award. This year, it has also been named the #1 Best Workplaces in Texas, with 96% of its Texas-based employees vouching for it being a great place to work.
Its mission is to positively impact the communities they serve, its customers, and its employees. They are dedicated to educating their customers on how they can design, maintain, and afford their dream homes to meet their family’s and individual needs. They also make home-buying more accessible and easier by offering their clients top resources to learn how they can turn their home-buying dream into reality.
In 2020, they were ranked #23 on FORTUNE’s list of 100 Best Companies To Work For due to their culture. They are committed to respect and fairness in their day-to-day operations and have created a multitude of training opportunities to support their employees to understand their policies, culture, and responsibilities better. HEART, their diversity and inclusion council, supports staff and their families by ensuring that their culture is one of caring and contribution. They also have a robust corporate social responsibility team that allows the company and its employees to get involved in over 150 projects; and affect more than 200,000 lives in the community.
This year, they rank #9 on FORTUNE’s list of 100 Best Companies To Work For, which only shows the company continues to foster a great culture that enhances the lives of its employees, customers, and the communities they serve.
