The Estee Lauder Companies - This letter was shared with Estee Lauder Companies global employees on November 13, 2020.

Dear Colleagues,

Our collective vision is for The Estee Lauder Companies (ELC) to be the most inclusive and diverse beauty company in the world, and to be both the employer of choice for diverse talent and the brands of choice for diverse consumers. Our commitment to driving Racial Equity across our business is central to us achieving our vision.

When we released Our Commitment to Act on Racial Equity in June, we emphasized the importance of continuous listening and learning as we work toward that goal. We recognize that this is the first step and want to thank you for your continued participation and passion in this effort.

Since our last update in August:

1,600 employees from around the world joined a Global Town Hall on Racial Equality in September.

More than 4,500 employees attended virtual employee engagement events hosted by corporate functions and our employee resource groups (ERGs).

We hosted Global Inclusion & Diversity (I&D) Week from September 21-25 with approximately 6,000 employees attending live, virtual events in five regions.

3,000 employees attended virtual Unconscious Bias trainings, and numerous smaller team meetings have taken place with leadership and employees across our ERGs and other parts of the business to help us continue to learn.

We would also like to thank and recognize ELC's Network of Black Leaders and Executives (NOBLE) who has organized a number of events for leadership and NOBLE ERG members, and who are partnering with the Global Talent and Inclusion & Diversity Center of Excellence teams to develop a sponsorship and mentorship program for Black employees.

Employees around the world have also continued to share feedback. While many have shared appreciation for the steps ELC is taking, employees are interested in updates on progress regarding recruiting and growing talent.

Questions received since September show a desire to understand our progress in this area:

53% focused on talent growth and development, equity and transparency

23% on how we will measure success

16% on how we will ensure advancement and foster an environment of inclusion for all minorities and ethnicities in our diverse employee base

6% on the expectations and training of senior leadership

2% on ELC's progress on the hiring of Black-owned businesses and involvement in the product development and creative process

While future Racial Equity updates will focus on progress across the entirety of our commitments, today we felt it was important to focus specifically on talent. We are pleased to announce several actions underway as of November 12, 2020:

1)	Progress Against Our 2025 Parity Goals

In June, we committed to reaching U.S. population parity for our Black employees across all levels in the next five years. Progress includes:

While our promotions and hiring have been disrupted by the necessary adjustments our business has made during the COVID-19 pandemic, our hiring is showing signs of forward momentum.

We have doubled our rate of hiring Black employees, with representation of Black hires accounting for approximately 14% of corporate hires in the first part of this Fiscal Year; indicating we are making progress towards our goal of racial parity by 2025.

While we focus on the professional advancement of our existing talent, we are also engaging prospective job candidates from a wide and varied pool.

2)	Leadership Responsibility

Managers across ELC are responsible for employees' growth and career mapping by ensuring access to skill development, talent planning and conversations about progression within the company, early and often.

By the end of the calendar year, each brand, region and function leader in our U.S. Executive Leadership Team will receive personalized dashboards on the diversity of their teams.

Each leader will play a critical role in increasing diversity over time, including having diverse slates of candidates for all Executive Director and above positions in external and internal searches before hiring decisions can be made, and ensuring diverse talent is represented in talent progression plans as well as recruitment plans, and pay equity.

We have increased dedicated resources across HR and I&D to ensure we are training our leaders effectively, while taking steps to ensure our progress is sustainable, process-driven and transparent.

3)	Employee Diversity Data

As part of our ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) reporting, we disclosed our U.S. workforce diversity metrics and pay equity data in ELC's Citizenship and Sustainability Report, published on November 2.

Today, we have launched an internal Racial Equity page where employees can access data updates and information on the diversity of our U.S. workforce.

The U.S. workforce data shows that non-White employees, or employees that self-identify as people of color, make up approximately 48% of our total U.S. employee population.

Within that percentage, employees who self-identify as Black or African American comprise approximately 13% of overall population across corporate, retail and manufacturing and distribution. Approximately 4% of Directors and above and 4% of VPs and above identify as Black or African American.

4)	Employee Pay Equity Data

We have taken several actions to continue to cultivate a community of trust and transparency, including the decision to engage the expertise of a labor economics consultant from a globally reputable firm to assist us in completing a pay equity study for our global workforce. As part of this study, we conducted an in-depth statistical analysis of employee compensation, based on like-for-like jobs, considering factors such as grade, experience, time in role, location and performance, among others.

Results show:

All else being equal, the results of this study show that, globally, there is a modest, statistically significant pay gap for women, who earn 98.2% of what men earn and that overall, in the United States, there is statistical parity with White employees for Black and LatinX, as well as other non-White employees collectively, resulting from a small gap in the aggregate.

We are strongly committed to closing the remaining gaps and believe that gender and racial pay parity is an important step towards achieving full equity in all aspects of employment at The Estee Lauder Companies. We also believe that achieving equity requires a holistic approach; one that further invests in our diverse talent through career advancement, development programs, hiring practices and enhanced talent management to ensure sustainable progress over the long term.

We already have many programs underway in support of this, such as the Women's Leadership Network and the Racial Equity Program, that we will continue to expand and scale. We are developing a strategy to close any existing pay gaps in a way that addresses identified sources of pay differences and protects against their re-emergence over time.

Our Progress Continues

While there is more work to do, we want to thank you, and particularly our teams across HR and I&D, for this strong work on talent, as well as our Racial Equity Operations Committee for their continued, daily efforts and focus that keep us moving toward our goals. We encourage employees to visit the new Racial Equity page regularly for updates on progress and exciting collaborations happening across our brands and functions. As always, be kind to one another, support one another and continue to share your feedback.

Sincerely,

William P. Lauder

Executive Chairman

The Estee Lauder Companies

Fabrizio Freda

President and Chief Executive Officer

The Estee Lauder Companies

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