Amazon's all-white company board demands policy change

Amazon is adopting a new policy to include more women and minorities in its board of directors

Amazon's all-white company board demands policy change

Amazon.com Inc is adopting a new policy to promote diversity in its board of directors.

The policy aims to ensure that women and minorities are among the company’s board nominees. Currently, Amazon’s board has 10 members – three are women – but all of whom are Caucasian.

“The Amazon Board of Directors has adopted a policy that the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee include a slate of diverse candidates, including women and minorities, for all director openings,” Amazon said in a statement.

The decision was motivated by feedback from employees and other stakeholders about the board diversity proposal, the company’s VP of public policy, Brian Huseman, wrote in a letter.

The new policy follows a proposal which said that the tech giant’s board has failed to show its support for diversity except verbally.

This was submitted by shareholders jointly with a group affiliated with a US workers’ union, reported Reuters.

“Shareholders have long believed that embracing diversity will benefit companies by providing greater access to talent, harnessing existing talent more effectively, and improving decision making by reducing groupthink and similar psychological biases,” stated the proposal.