PRINCETON, N.J., Jan. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- DiversityInc, the most widely recognized and leading content provider and consultancy on the business of diversity, is now accepting survey responses for inclusion in its coveted Top 50 Companies for Diversity. The annual competition regularly attracts America's leading employers representing a diverse range of industries, including Sodexo, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Kaiser Permanente, EY, MasterCard Worldwide, Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Prudential Financial.

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More than 1,000 companies are expected to take part in the 14(th) annual survey. These leading private and public companies will determine how they measure up in terms of diversity management, an increasingly critical component of overall performance.

"It is a testament to the growing importance of diversity management - and the power of the DiversityInc Top 50 list - that participation in the survey has doubled in the past two years," said DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti. "The evidence is strong that diversity management is a key tool to improve human capital performance and, for public companies, strengthen stock values. In fact, the DiversityInc Top 50 consistently outperforms leading indexes on the stock market, including the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average."

In addition to growing interest in the DiversityInc Top 50 among employers, DiversityInc has the largest U.S. web audience of any diversity-oriented publication, as measured by Alexa, and boasts of more than 600,000 followers across multiple social-media channels.

DiversityInc Top 50 companies span a range of industries from pharmaceuticals to telecoms to consumer products to banking to automakers. The only requirement for participation in the open annual competition is that companies need to have at least 1,000 U.S. employees.

All participants receive a complimentary report card to highlight areas where they can improve. This assessment allows companies to learn how their diversity-management initiatives measure up in four key areas - Leadership Commitment, Talent Pipeline, Equitable Talent Development and Supplier Diversity.

The DiversityInc Top 50 results are purely empirical and objective, and based on an increasingly evolved methodology.

The results of this year's DiversityInc Top 50 will be announced at an annual event at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on April 22, 2014, and featured on DiversityInc.com and in DiversityInc magazine. Companies will receive their report cards and learn whether they have earned a place on the Top 50 list by March 12(th). DiversityInc will also showcase top performers from several niche categories, listed below.

All surveys are due by February 28, 2014. For participation information, contact top50@DiversityInc.com. The information contained within survey answers is kept strictly confidential.

About DiversityInc

DiversityInc's mission is to bring education and clarity to the business benefits of diversity. The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list began in 2001, at the same time many corporations were beginning to understand the business value of diversity-management initiatives. The specialty lists, determined by the same submission, are: The Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention, Blacks, Latinos, Asian Americans, Veterans, LGBT Employees, People With Disabilities, Supplier Diversity, Executive Women, Global Diversity, Regional Utilities, Regional Companies, Hospital Systems and the 25 Noteworthy Companies.

SOURCE DiversityInc