HR Management; Workforce Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Compensation and Employee Benefits
We believe our employee wages are competitive and consistent with employee positions, experience, knowledge and location. Annual wage increases and incentive payments are based on merit and are communicated to employees as a part of the annual review process.
We offer our employees a broad range of company-paid benefits which we believe are competitive with others in our industry, including (i) medical, behavioral health, dental and vision insurance, (ii) paid sick leave and vacation, (iii) 401(k) plan and company match, (iv) paid holidays, (v) paid parental leave, (vi) short-term disability and supplemental long-term disability insurance, (vii) basic and supplemental term life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance, (viii) an employee assistance program that provides employees with access to mental health counseling, child and elder care referrals, legal/financial consultation, among other services, and (ix) other optional benefits including accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, ID shield, legal shield.
Career Development
With markets ranging from small to large to national, we offer a broad range of opportunities for every level, including for those who are just starting their broadcasting career or are ready to move to a larger market or onto the national stage. Our market diversity allows us to give our employees room to grow and progress in their careers. Our management team supports a culture of developing future leaders from our existing workforce, enabling us to promote from within for many leadership positions. As of December 31, 2023, our annual voluntary retention rate for employees was approximately 82%.
Training and Mentorship
We are committed to developing the talents of our employees and provide our employees workplace training. Our catalog of courses includes harassment prevention, diversity/equity/inclusion, ethics, managing bias, supervisor/manager skills, and health-related safety. In addition, we have a mentorship program that matches mentors and mentees across the company and provides the pairs with a 12-topic curriculum covering skills such as communications, networking, work/life balance, and goal setting. Selected Nexstar employees also participate in annual training to ensure understanding of antitrust laws and how they apply to Nexstar and media sales training program provided by The Center for Sales Strategy, a third-party vendor.
Safety and Wellbeing
We are committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for our employees. All employees are required to comply with our safety rules and are expected to actively contribute to making our company a safer place to work. Employees must immediately report accidents, injuries, and unsafe equipment, practices or conditions to a supervisor or other designated person. Threats or acts of violence or physical intimidation are prohibited and subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment. The Company has long-standing policies designed to ensure safety in the workplace, and we require all employees to biannually participate anti-harassment, diversity, and bias training beyond that which is mandated by law.
Our Employee Assistance Fund (EAF) is a way for Nexstar employees to help their colleagues in times of need. The EAF is entirely employee-funded, and intended for use by employees who are experiencing a financial setback due to, for example, natural disaster such as hurricanes or wildfires, or health emergencies, or domestic abuse.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”)
We are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion across our workforce at all levels. We have dedicated DEI programs, hiring practices and mentorship opportunities which we continue to work to extend across our entire workforce. We believe a diverse workforce fosters innovation and cultivates an environment of unique perspectives. We encourage a culture of diversity and inclusion so our employees feel respected and do not feel discriminated against. Nexstar believes that diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace is an ongoing issue in need of constant attention and improvement, and that a diverse and welcoming culture is essential to achieving success.
Oversight and Accountability
While all Nexstar employees have a role to play in fostering diversity, equity and inclusion within the workforce, Nexstar’s Chief Diversity Officer helps ensure accountability in achieving our related goals. Annual performance reviews include an assessment of how well our television station general managers and business unit leaders meet certain diversity objectives. A portion of our general managers’ bonuses is tied to achieving such objectives in their markets and/or business units. Nexstar’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council (The DE&I Council), comprised of ten members, including employees of varying levels of responsibility, helps oversee the company’s diversity efforts, solicit employee feedback, and advise its leadership team about ways to support diversity in the workplace.
Recruiting
We work with a number of diversity-focused broadcasting professional organization to help access talent pools with diverse backgrounds and experiences. These organizations include, among others: The Asian American Journalism Association, T. Howard Foundation, The National Association of Black Journalists, The National Association of Hispanic Journalists, The NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists.
Employee Resource Groups
Nexstar has established several Employee Resource Groups (Women of Nexstar, African American Trailblazers, Pride Nation, Veterans Network, Asian Alliance, Líderes de Nexstar) designed to bring together employees of similar cultures, backgrounds, and interests, and others who wish to support them.
2023 Nexstar Employee Composition by Ethnicity and Gender
The table below reflects the demographics of the most recent census of 13,294 total employees, including 2,851 management employees as of December 31, 2023, in comparison to national averages sourced from the 2020 United States Census Bureau population. As of December 31, 2023, approximately 41% and 39% of our employees and our management (as defined in our EEO-1 report, managers and above), respectively, were women; and in the U.S., approximately 26% and 18% of our employees and our management, respectively, were racially/ethnically diverse.
Click here to view Nexstar’s 2023 EEO-1 report.