Best Buy unveils diversity, inclusion workforce goals

Best Buy is committing more than $44 million to a five-year plan focused on staffing diversity and inclusion along with community efforts. 

By 2025, the consumer electronics giant said it aims to fill one out of three new non-hourly corporate positions with BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color — specifically Black, Latinx and Indigenous) employees. Additionally, one out of three new, non-hourly field roles will be filled by women.

To expand representation throughout the company, Best Buy said it is providing leadership-in-training roles to BIPOC and women employees. It also will invest in mentorship opportunities and match all BIPOC directors and officers with sponsors and coaches to enhance the employee experience, increase retention and create meaningful connections.  

Other goals for 2025 including fostering inclusion among all employee groups to create parity in retention rates, including transforming Best Buy’s senior leadership ranks to be more in line with its board of directors.

The company also plans to reach 30,000 teens annually from disinvested communities across the nation, including building a network of at least 100 Best Buy Teen Tech Centers, where teens can develop critical skills through hands-on activities, and to provide $44 million to expand college prep and career opportunities for BIPOC students, including adding 16 scholarships for HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) students and increasing scholarship funding for Teen Tech Center youth.

Best Buy will also expand opportunity for BIPOC teens in its home market of the Twin Cities by investing in more local Teen Tech Centers, creating a scholarship fund specifically for Twin Cities-based teens, committing to hosting 400 high school interns from Teen Tech Centers and other program partners, and offering 340 jobs across the company to teens.

In June, Best Buy committed to making systemic, permanent changes that address social injustices to improve its company and communities. In August, the retailer said it plan to add more than 1,000 new employees to its technology team, with 30% of the new hires being diverse.

“We have spent the last several months making plans for how we can make meaningful impacts, including setting major company goals to address how we recruit, hire and retain our employees, and how we’re expanding opportunities for youth across the country,” said Best Buy CEO Corie Barry. “We know it’s incredibly important to our employees, customers and communities to show that we are committed to doing all we can to further economic and social justice. In many ways, we have engaged in these issues for years — but now we’re being bold about our commitments to hold ourselves accountable for this work we’ve promised to do.”

Today, Best Buy is announcing actions we are taking to better address underrepresentation, technology inequities and educational and career opportunities for those who need it most.

In June, Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said we will do better. As a company, we committed to making systemic, permanent changes that address social injustices to improve our company and our communities.

We have spent the last several months making plans for how we can make meaningful impacts, including setting major company goals to address how we recruit, hire and retain our employees, and how we’re expanding opportunities for youth across the country.

“We know it’s incredibly important to our employees, customers and communities to show that we are committed to doing all we can to further economic and social justice,” Corie said. “In many ways, we have engaged in these issues for years — but now we’re being bold about our commitments to hold ourselves accountable for this work we’ve promised to do.”