2020 Corporate Responsibility Report

Employee
Resource Groups

Since 2012, our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) have helped nurture a culture of D&I at Discover, giving all employees an opportunity for leadership and peer support. Each of our ERGs has an executive sponsor, which gives the ERGs leadership support and insight into relevant business objectives for each group to focus on.

In 2018-19, we introduced two new ERGs—”Native American Professionals at Discover” (N8V) and “Green at Discover” (GREEN)—bringing our total to 11 unique ERGs composed of 41 chapters within our field locations. At each location, a D&I Council supports and drives our overall D&I strategy, including supporting ERG efforts and initiatives. In 2018-19, 35 percent of U.S. employees were members of an ERG.

discover ERGs 2018-19 Accomplishments
Accentuating Discover Abilities (“ADA”)
  • Created partnership with Disability:IN’s Inclusion Works program, giving Discover access to three years of unlimited consulting about disability inclusive practices.
Asian Professionals at Discover (“APAD”)
  • Mentorship program entered its fifth year, attracting 100+ mentors and mentees with a historically high number of enrollments of director-level and above mentors.
Black Organizational Leadership at Discover (“BOLD”)
  • First recipients of United Negro College Fund (UNCF) Discover Scholarship completed internships.
Generations of Leaders at Discover (“GOLD”)
  • Participated in Pathways to Leadership and Networking summer event.
  • Provided employee financial wellness education about retirement and 401(k) planning.
Green at Discover (“GREEN”)
  • ERG launched in 2019 with a focus on contributing to the company’s efforts on sustainability.
Helping Organize Latino Achievement (“HOLA”)
  • Provided Spanish translations for Discover Personal Loans and card documents (11 HOLA members reviewed 38 documents).
Honoring Military & Veterans (“HMV”)
  • Hosted veterans’ panel (from employee and external veteran groups) discussions to drive awareness.
  • Led Discover to be one of the first 25 corporations to join Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs “Illinois Hired Heroes Consortium.”
LGBT and Allies Network (“PRIDE”)
  • Over 167,000 unique accounts and $424 million spend on Pride credit card since launch in 2015. Card marketing expanded to the LA Blade and Bay Area Reporter print publications on a bi-weekly basis.
  • Hung the Pride flag at all U.S. locations during Pride Month (June).
  • Participated in 2018 and 2019 Chicago Pride Parades, an event attended by 1 million.
Native American Professionals at Discover (“N8V”)
  • ERG launched in 2018-19 with a focus on promoting Native American heritage through education, networking, and cultural opportunities.
Professional Women Impacting Results (“PWIR”)
  • Launched two successful cohorts of PWIRhouse mentorship program.
Young Professionals of Discover (“YPOD”)
  • Over 100 participants in Mentoring Program and Grad School Series had over 100 participants.

Spotlight: PWIR Helps Foster Female Talent

At Discover, 60 percent of our employees are women, including nearly half (49 percent) of our managers. Our Professional Women Impacting Results (PWIR) ERG has a mission to empower women at all stages of their career.

To do so, in 2018-19 PWIR organized its leadership team into pillars:

  • Community Service—Fosters PWIR’s relationships with various domestic violence shelters and plans PWIR’s participation in Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October, including hosting a month-long clothing drive for a domestic violence shelter, and facilitating personal safety demonstrations and personal safety discussions throughout the month in partnership with Discover’s workplace violence prevention office.
  • Membership and Communications—Facilitates PWIR’s quarterly membership meetings and focus groups to collect data to optimize events and content.
  • Networking—Hosts events with senior leaders.
  • Talent and Development—Launched and manages PWIRhouse Program, a mentorship and cohort program for PWIR members.
  • Volunteer Coordination—Implements formal orientation process for event directors at PWIR events; increases volunteer engagement and provides general volunteer coordination for all PWIR events.