LaFawn Davis

She’s Fostering a More Welcoming Workplace for Everyone

Making the workplace more inclusive isn’t just part of the job for LaFawn Davis — it’s personal. As a Black, Queer woman who doesn’t have a college degree, she’s made it her mission to ensure that nontraditional candidates have equal access to job opportunities. In 2024, Indeed joined the Tear the Paper Ceiling coalition, pledging to expand its efforts in skills-first hiring along with companies like Google and IBM. That same year, the job site launched BOOST, a paid technical apprenticeship program that gives current employees in nontechnical roles the experience to become software engineers at the company. (Externally, Indeed has helped ​​3.9 million job-seekers facing barriers get hired between 2021 and 2023, Davis says.) The company is also leveraging its massive treasure trove of data to highlight welcoming workplaces. Indeed teamed up with Oxford University to create a Work Wellbeing Score for thousands of companies on its site, measuring things like appreciation, fair pay, flexibility learning, and more. In 2024, the platform recognized the top 20 companies with the highest work well-being in its second-ever “Better Work Awards.”

By Audrey Goodson Kingo