Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure targets one-third Hispanic, African-American employment

Sprint Corp chief executive Marcelo Claure set a target that one-third of the company’s employees and management team should be Hispanic or of African-American descent. Claure, a Bolivian immigrant to the United States, made the pledge during an address to the National Council of La Raza’s national convention in Kansas City. “I have made it a very clear point that I want one-third of our employees and our management team to be Hispanic or of African-American descent,” he said. “It’s not because we need to fill a quota. It’s because I’m certain that we will understand the needs of our customers better.”

More than a third of Sprint’s customers, Claure said, are Hispanic or of African-American descent. The Overland Park-based company had about 31,000 employees at the end of March. A Sprint spokeswoman said Claure’s comments reflected his “vision” for the company’s workforce better understanding its customers rather than specific hiring goals. “It’s not a policy,” Melinda Tiemeyer said. Nor did she have a report on the percentage of Sprint’s employees or its management team who are Hispanic or of African-American descent.