Dow Jones creates group to assess hiring, compensation

Mark Musgrave, the chief people officer at Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal, sent out the following announcement to the staff on Monday:

Dear Colleague,

As you know, we recently committed to leading a thorough review of our current hiring, development and compensation programs, and I am writing to give you an update on the progress we’ve made thus far.

In addition to our own internal review, we have been engaged with an expert outside consultant, Willis Towers Watson, to conduct an independent analysis. Both the internal and external reviews are comprehensive projects, and they are not yet finalized. However, in July, the Executive Leadership Team will host our latest series of company-wide Town Hall meetings, during which we will be able to share the results of the extensive work we have been doing over the past several weeks. I understand there will be questions, and we will make time to hear from you as part of these sessions.

The ELT is not only dedicated to creating more diverse workplace based on our demographic components, but also in thought, perspective and opinion. To help us work toward this goal, I’m pleased to share we’ve just kicked off an ongoing Diversity Cross Functional Workgroup, comprised of approximately 20 employees from around the company who represent different locations, regions, departments and interests. As enthusiastic volunteers to this group, members are tasked with acting as ambassadors of diversity by collecting feedback from their colleagues, discussing potential areas of improvement and putting forth solutions and initiatives to address them. Suggestions and ideas generated by this group will go directly to the ELT for review and, where appropriate, implementation. Our first meeting was held last week, and I am excited for what we will all learn and do together. We’ll measure the success of this group and our collective diversity efforts by benchmarking ourselves against similar businesses in the industry.

Additionally, we are actively reaching out and partnering with universities to promote entry-level jobs at Dow Jones to a diverse audience, and continuing to stringently monitor all hiring requests to ensure good recruitment practices are followed. We are proud partners with organizations such as Fairygodboss and actively work with associations dedicated to helping veterans re-enter the workforce. Internally, we have enhanced maternity and paternity leave and expanded our Special Needs Program to support both our employees and their families.

Myself, along with the rest of the ELT, believe that our ability to evolve and grow depends on a diverse and varied workforce. We are committed to continuing both our dialogue on diversity and making Dow Jones a truly great place to work.

Below is the Diversity Cross Functional Workgroup team, and we encourage employees to reach out to our members with their thoughts and suggestions. For specific inquiries regarding the Diversity Cross Functional Workgroup, please reach out to Meredith Lubitz for questions or suggestions regarding our diversity efforts.

Meredith Lubitz, VP, Talent
Yumiko Ono, Asia Digital Editor, WSJ
Kimberly Johnson, Editor, CFO Journal
Christine Glancey, Deputy Managing Editor, News Operations & Talent
Karen Pensiero, Editor, Newsroom Standards
Lauren Weber, Reporter, WSJ
Laetitia Majou, VP & Associate General Counsel
Tracy Corrigan, Chief Strategy Officer
Laura Dubell, Customer Experience Business Manager
Kristin Heitmann, VP, Partner Development and Strategy Projects
Shaown Nandi, VP, Head of Infrastructure and Cloud
Patricia Oliano, People Compliance & Diversity Manager
Mildred Stegman, Director, People Business Partner
Eric Mandrackie, SVP, FMA, Global Controller
Sterling Gilreath, Associate Director, Sales Development Operations
Beth Golden, Senior Manager, Metadata
Jill Kirschenbaum, Deputy Editor, WSJ Video
Dianne Decarlo, Head of PIB Customer Support
Jamie Lehrer, Associate General Counsel
Nikki Hotvedt, Director, Internal Communications