Also read: DiversityInc Top 50, DiversityInc Specialty Lists

What makes a company an inclusive place where Black employees feel they can flourish and rise to their highest potential? We took a look at submissions from the 449 participants in The 2010 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list and examined several factors that create an inclusive culture, such as mentoring, employee-resource groups, diversity training and communications, and measured them against actual demographic results in the workplace and moving up the management ranks.

This year, we also changed the name of this list, previously known as The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for African Americans. This was done to create a more inclusive name, since some employees from Caribbean and other descent do not identify specifically as “African Americans.” To understand why Black is capitalized in DiversityInc style, please read this Ask the White Guy column from DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti.

Here are a few points about the 10 companies on this list that make them stand out and a specific item about each of these companies:

• They average 20 percent Blacks in the workforce, compared with 14 percent nationally (EEOC)
• Black women are 23 percent of their workforces, compared with 8 percent nationally (EEOC)
• Black women are 16.5 percent of their managers, compared with 3 percent  nationally (EEOC)
• They average 8.2 percent of their Tier I (direct contractor) spend with minority business enterprises (MBEs), compared with a 4.3 percent average for the DiversityInc Top 50 and 2 percent nationally (industry estimates)

Here is a fact about each of these companies and why they made this list:

No. 1: Marriott International

Also No. 7 in the DiversityInc Top 50; No. 9 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Supplier Diversity; No. 6 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Executive Women

CEO and Chairman Bill Marriott meets regularly with employee-resource groups, which are very strong at this company, including its group for Black employees. Marriott also has mandatory diversity training for its entire workforce.

No. 2: AT&T

Also No. 3 in the DiversityInc Top 50; No. 6 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention; No. 6 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Supplier Diversity; No. 9 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees

With strong talent-development efforts throughout, AT&T notes that Black women are 19 percent of all managers and received 16 percent of all promotions into management.

No. 3: Sodexo

Also No. 1 in the DiversityInc Top 50; No. 1 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention; No. 2 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Latinos; No. 10 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities; No. 1 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Executive Women; No. 5 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Global Diversity

Forty-one percent of managers participate in mentoring programs at this company, which is the best at measuring the success of its diversity initiatives. The results show in its representation, especially at the crucial level of direct reports to the CEO’s direct reports, where Blacks are 11 percent of the total and Black women are 18 percent of all women at that level.

No. 4: Northrop Grumman

Also No. 47 in the DiversityInc Top 50

The defense contractor has devoted a great deal of effort to connecting with multicultural communities, especially the Black community, with 51 percent of its philanthropic endeavors allocated to multicultural nonprofits.

No. 5: Altria

The company has made a concerted effort to recruit, retain and promote Blacks.
Almost 20 percent of its work force is Black and 22 percent of promotions to women in management went to Black women.

No. 6: McDonald’s

Also one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies; No. 1 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Supplier Diversity; No. 10 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Latinos

Also a strong company for supplier diversity, McDonald’s states that 15.4 percent of its managers are Black.

No. 7: Verizon Communications

Also No. 11 in the DiversityInc Top 50

With very strong results for Blacks in almost all demographic areas, Verizon notes that Blacks are 23.7 percent of new hires and 19.2 percent of all managers.

No. 8: Southern Company

Also one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies

In its first time on the list, the utility company communicates its commitment to all its  employees and customers clearly on its web site and internal messaging. Almost 14 percent of management promotions went to Blacks, compared with an average of 9 percent for the DiversityInc Top 50.

No. 9: InterContinental Hotels Group

Also one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies

With Blacks representing 21.5 percent of the workforce and 22 percent of new hires, InterContinental shows an effort at increasing emphasis on talent development.

No. 10: Target

Also No. 40 in the DiversityInc Top 50; No. 9 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention

Target has mandatory diversity training for its entire work force and strong outreach to the Black community in terms of marketing and philanthropy.