Intel, HP Get Plaudits for Diversity Moves
Hewlett-Packard and Intel are "illuminating the darkness" in their efforts to bring more racial and gender diversity to their workforces and leadership ranks, the Rev. Jesse Jackson told us Wednesday. Jackson's Rainbow PUSH Coalition has been campaigning for greater workforce diversity in the tech industry (see 1508110036). The group applauded new Intel data released Wednesday about its hiring efforts as well as HP's announcement of its post-split board.
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While the tech industry in general has been "much too slow" in efforts to diversify its workforce, "Intel is a notable exception," Jackson said. Today, African-American and Hispanic workers make up 11.8 percent of Intel's employee base, and 17.2 percent of its U.S. "early career" employee base, the company said Wednesday as it released its 2015 Mid-Year Inclusion Report. The numbers for black and female workers are up from the beginning of the year, as are the numbers of women and underrepresented minorities in vice presidential and senior fellow positions, Rosalind Hudnell, chief diversity officer, said in an open letter. "We are currently tracking to 43.3 percent diverse hires in 2015, which exceeds our goal in the United States of 40 percent for 2015." In January, Intel pledged to greatly diversify its workforce by 2020, and said it would spend $300 million on retention and hiring efforts targeting women and underrepresented minorities.
After the Nov. 1 split into Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP, the boards of the two companies will include two African-American representatives each, HP said: Sarr Group CEO Leslie Brun and now-retired Cummins Distribution President Pamela Carter on Hewlett Packard Enterprise; and TaskRabbit Chief Operating Officer Stacy Brown-Philpot and former DuPont General Counsel Stacey Mobley on HP, the company said Wednesday. Those appointments will more than double the number of African-Americans on boards among major tech companies, according to Rainbow PUSH. Current such board members include Colin Powell on Salesforce and John Thompson on Microsoft. HP's post-split boards also will have eight female members: Carter, former Alcatel-Lucent CEO Pat Russo, former HP Enterprise Business Executive Vice President Ann Livermore, HP CEO Meg Whitman; and Brown-Philpot, former Dow Corning CEO Stephanie Burns, Blackstone Senior Adviser Mary Anne Citrino. HP is "taking not just a small step but a leap forward, setting the pace for the tech industry that will do well to follow their example," Rainbow PUSH said in a statement.
Most large tech companies have efforts to bring greater diversity to their workforces, but announcements such as Intel's and HP's could see those firms ratchet up their work, said John Challenger, CEO of outplacement company Challenger Gray. "It signifies to the industry that it is time to get on board this change and not to just let the status quo remain in place. It is a problem in the industry that has been simmering for some time. There has been growing awareness it must change."