These are the best CEOs for diversity, according to employee reviews

Published Mon, Jul 20 2020 4:33 PM EDTUpdated Tue, Jul 21 2020 11:52 AM EDT

Jennifer Liu

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, speaks with Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen AG, (not pictured) at a "fireside chat" to the media about a joint project between the two companies called the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud on February 27, 2019 in Berlin, Germany.

Sean Gallup | Getty Images

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was named the top-rated CEO for his diversity efforts based on reviews from employees, according to the latest annual survey from company review site Comparably.

The 2020 list was determined based on ratings from employees who identify as Black, Latino, Asian, Indigenous or another non-White race. Employees were asked to provide anonymous feedback on Comparably, including ratings of their CEO, plus other workplace culture factors such as whether employees feel they're being paid fairly or if they'd recommend their employer to others. Comparably's database includes roughly 60,000 U.S. companies spanning all industries, though organizations in the following list all have more than 500 employees.

Nadella, who became Microsoft's CEO in 2014, has spoken publicly about social issues such as bias in artificial intelligence, female leadership in tech, corporate response to climate change, and racial and gender diversity at the company. In recent years, he began tying executive compensation to diversity metrics and has discussed assessing promotions based on a senior leader's ability to build a diverse team.

Last month, in the wake of protests following the killing of George Floyd, Nadella committed an additional $150 million to the company's investment in diversity and inclusion, which will go toward Microsoft's goal to double the number of Black senior leaders in the U.S. by 2025.

Leaders at major tech companies including Google and Apple also rank highly in the best CEOs for diversity list. However, the tech industry is notorious for its lack of representation of women, Black and Latino workers. In the six years since big tech began making diversity reports available, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter have all seen low single-digit increases in their percentage of Black employees, according to a CNBC analysis of the annual disclosures. As of 2018, the share of Black workers at Apple was highest among the group at just under 10%; meanwhile, representation of Black workers at Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter all remained under 5%, according to CNBC reporting.

More broadly, reports show corporate initiatives fail Black and underrepresented workers due to a host of internal barriers, ranging from microaggressions to lack of support from leadership to succeed. Sweeping diversity initiatives can also fail to address specific problems that keep certain groups of workers out of earning equal pay and getting equal access to promotion opportunities.

Reviews for this year's report were compiled over a 12-month period ending June 30, 2020. A Comparably spokesperson tells CNBC Make It employee review activity increased between March through June of this year, possibly due to workers rating their employer's response to the coronavirus pandemic as well as ongoing protests against racism and police violence in the U.S., though "it's still too early to tell any specific trends in the data" how recent events may have impacted employee feedback.

The rankings were calculated based on more than 10 million data points, according to Comparably, and additional weight was given to companies with more participation from their employee base, relative to their company size, for statistical significance.

Here are the best CEOs for diversity in 2020, according to Comparably reviews from employees of color, plus additional rating metrics from non-White workers as of July 20.