Diversity and Inclusion

Our goal is to attract and retain a diverse, highly skilled, fully engaged work force. Emphasis on diversity and inclusion enhances our ability to make sound business decisions by engaging people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Making diversity and inclusion a part of how we do business is not just a corporate performance goal, it is a business imperative. Our focus on sustaining an inclusive and diverse work force and actively engaging community partners and diverse suppliers helps make our business stronger.

To heighten the focus on excellence through inclusion, Southern Company named a chief diversity officer in 2005 and merged the diversity and talent management organizations in 2006 to better integrate work force strategy and planning, talent acquisition, and talent development. This brings all of the functions in the lifecycle of employment – hiring, orientation, career development, retention, work force planning, and retirement – under one umbrella.

To keep the diversity effort moving forward, we are raising the bar on expectations, more strongly linking diversity to the business, aligning systems and processes internally and externally, moving from activities to results, and strengthening accountability around performance standards to track and guide success.

The effort is led by the Southern Company CEO, with the CEOs of each operating company taking ownership and leading the effort at their respective companies. The overarching objective is to execute business strategies with precision through competent leadership, technically skilled teams, and engaged individuals who feel valued and respected for their ideas, experiences, and backgrounds.

Southern Company’s focus on diversity and inclusion is based on Southern Style, our core values. As the foundation from which we operate, Southern Style demonstrates our pledge to earn unquestionable trust, our dedication to superior performance, and our total commitment to the success of everyone touched by our business.

Embracing diversity and inclusion requires that we value differences and treat people as unique individuals. Uniqueness manifests itself in much broader terms than the visible aspects of race and gender. It includes creativity, experience, upbringing, and educational background – all the things that shape us and make us individuals.

Putting Diversity and Inclusion into Practice
From the board of directors to frontline employees, Southern Company enlists talent that meets our business needs and is representative of communities we serve and the changing demographics of the marketplace.

Once employees come to work at Southern Company, we strive to ensure that resources are in place to support and encourage professional development. We have an active focus on individual and group mentoring programs, leadership and high potential assessments, performance management, tuition reimbursement, and numerous development courses.

By nurturing relationships with diverse suppliers, including female and minority-owned businesses, Southern Company broadens its access to products and services while demonstrating commitment to economic inclusion. Across the system, our operating companies engage diverse suppliers and, in some instances, mentor them to help them compete for opportunities to become a part of our supply chain.

Community partnerships ensure the growth and vitality of the diverse communities in which we serve, work, and live and create alliances around business issues.

Measuring Diversity and Inclusion
We measure performance on a quarterly basis for diversity and inclusion and report this information to the CEO along with other key performance metrics. Employees can track the company’s performance around key performance goals each quarter through our intranet.

Since 2001, Southern Company has surveyed its employees annually to analyze our progress on our efforts to ensure an inclusive work environment. Areas targeted on the survey include fairness and openness within individual work groups, management and supervision, the selection and development process, and valuing differences. In 2005, more than 60 percent of our employees participated in the survey. The results are reported for each business unit, which then develops action plans to address opportunities for improvement and build upon areas of success.

Southern Company subsidiaries have one of the lowest turnover rates in the industry, in large part because of our work environment, pay and benefits, and employee development and training.