Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) provides electric service to approximately 3.9 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population. Chicago, IL-headquartered ComEd is a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation, the nation’s leading competitive energy supplier.

Tracie Morris is the vice president of human resources for the utility. In this role she drives the strategy and execution of ComEd’s integrated human resources and talent management function, which includes organizational design, organizational effectiveness, learning and development, talent acquisition, performance management, diversity and inclusion (D&I), leadership development, succession planning, employee engagement, employee and labor relations, and occupational health and safety.

Morris serves on the board of directors for The Black Ensemble Theater, Women Employed, Girl Scouts of America and the Business Leadership Council.

She also holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational communications from North Central College and a master’s degree in management and organizational behaviors from Benedictine University, where she was inducted into the Sigma Beta Delta Honor Society.

 

African-American Career World

How is diversity part of ComEd’s culture?

 

Morris

At ComEd, we believe we can deliver best on our commitments by having a diverse and inclusive team. Including diverse perspectives into our thinking leads to greater innovation, increased employee engagement and better solutions to take advantage of opportunities and overcome challenges.

In order to foster a diverse and inclusive culture, we take a multifaceted approach. We started the Diversity and Inclusion Speaker Series, where outside speakers address our employees and share their diverse perspectives.

This year we are hosting our first ever Diversity and Inclusion Summit highlighted by a series of diverse keynote speakers and breakout sessions.

We have a Diversity and Inclusion Council, which provides a diverse cross-section of employees with a forum to address inclusion questions and activities in the workplace.

In addition, we have nine employee resource groups that help us to attract, retain and develop diverse employees, and assist these employees in developing professional networks across the company.

And we also volunteer in the diverse communities we serve in Northern Illinois. Last year we set a company record with more than 22,000 employee volunteer hours, which demonstrates our commitment to engaging with our diverse customer base.

 

African-American Career World

How does ComEd recruit and attract a diverse workforce?

 

Morris

In an effort to attract diverse candidates from the communities we serve, we collaborated with our contractors, local social service agencies and labor unions to create the CONSTRUCT program.

CONSTRUCT is an 11-week training program offering up the information and guidance needed for candidates to compete for good-paying, entry-level jobs in construction-related fields. It’s designed to address the need to increase the pool of qualified minority candidates for construction jobs in Illinois by strengthening job readiness and life skills.

We also recruit directly from City Colleges of Chicago, especially from the Overhead Electrical Line Worker program at Dawson Technical Institute.

We’ve formed close partnerships with and recruit directly from several diversity organizations, including the Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA), Chicago Women in Trade (CWIT), the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). These partnerships have proven to be very beneficial to our diverse recruiting efforts.

 

African-American Career World

What qualities and skills do you seek in a new hire?

 

Morris

We’re always looking for innovators, leaders and people who can quickly adapt to changing circumstances as we strive to become the utility of the future.

We’re looking for people who foster a culture of safety through their actions and words, and people who hold themselves and others accountable for living our values.

 

African-American Career World

How would you describe ComEd’s culture? Why is it a great place to work?

 

Morris

Our company culture is driven by our common goal of powering the lives of our nearly 4 million customers. It’s a team-oriented environment where employees collaborate to ensure we keep the power on and continuously provide a premier customer experience.

We’re always innovating and looking for new ways to better serve our customers. ComEd employees have many opportunities for training and development, and to grow their careers within the organization, which provides job security and keeps our employees engaged.

 

African-American Career World

What types of jobs are you seeking to fill?

 

Morris

We’re looking for electrical engineers, overhead electricians, energy efficiency professionals and data scientists.

 

African-American Career World

Where can readers view ComEd job opportunities and apply online? How can they connect via social media?

 

Morris

Candidates can view and apply for open ComEd positions at exeloncorp.com/careers.

ComEd also has an active social media presence on:

• Facebook, facebook.com/ComEd.

• Twitter, twitter.com/ComEd.

• Instagram, instagram.com/commonwealthedison.

• LinkedIn, linkedin.com/company-beta/4675.

• YouTube, youtube.com/user/CommonwealthEdison/ComEd.

• Pinterest, pinterest.com/comedil.