During the last year, Dell has experienced significant transformation as a company. As we evolve and grow as a company, it’s important to understand that we are not losing an important foundation for success – our commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Our definition of diversity and inclusion is simple – helping Dell succeed with a global workforce that is highly talented, committed and reflective of our global customers. This means that we are an open and inclusive workplace. Inclusion covers not only differences in race, gender and sexual-orientation, but also geographic location, education, work styles, ethnicity and communications style, among others.
I’m sometimes asked if diversity is really important to our leadership. I can definitely say yes. In fact, diversity and inclusion are a business imperative and commitment starts at the top. As I shared last year, Michael Dell chairs our Global Diversity Council and six executives, three from Dell’s Executive Leadership Team, also sit on the council. The Global Diversity Council has taken an active role in shaping Dell’s continuing commitment to diversity and inclusion by integrating it into all aspects of business as well as providing accountability, priorities and leadership engagement.
While we recognize that our work to achieve diversity and inclusion is unfinished. I’m still pleased to announce that we were named to the DiversityInc 25 Noteworthy Companies list. DiversityInc is the leading U. S. business publication connecting diversity and the bottom line. The list is in recognition of the companies DiversityInc believes are rising diversity-management leaders and are close to earning spots on The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity® list.
This was Dell’s second year to compete for this award and what helped us achieve this distinction were improvements in our mentoring, diversity training and supplier diversity initiatives and in CEO commitment. Our progress in these areas includes:
- Mentoring: We’ve got a new Web-based tool to help promote mentoring — Mentor Connect. This online portal that connects mentees with willing mentors broadens the geographic reach of mentoring opportunities, crossing functions and boundaries. To date, more than 100 mentoring pairs have been made.
- Diversity Training: Taking the Stage is designed by women, for women. Our women leaders use this forum to teach, mentor and build relationships with future women leaders of Dell. To date, more than 100 women in the US and more than 600 women in EMEA have completed the one-day workshop. Based on feedback from attendees, a follow on program “Embracing the Stage" is currently being launched in EMEA, and we hope that this will also become a global program. The Networking Group Leadership Series, first launched by aDELLANTE (our Hispanic Networking Group), is a six-month program that provides current leaders a platform to share their expertise using innovative styles and builds the pipeline for our next wave of leadership. Our senior leaders are personally involved with this program and have taken extended periods of time to facilitate classes on leadership, innovation and ways in which up and coming leaders can leverage their diversity to help Dell win.
- Supplier Diversity: Dell became a member of the Billion Dollar Roundtable, after a team of Dell employees drove $2.5 billion of procurement spending with small, minority and women-owned suppliers — a 66 percent increase over the past five years – and far exceeding the $1 billion threshold for entry.
- CEO Commitment: As chair of the Global Diversity Council, Michael Dell engages with the Dell Board of Directors, his leadership team, and members of Dell’s Networking Group Boards regarding diversity and inclusion business priorities. At the first Global Diversity Council, Michael committed to having each member of the ELT be accountable for owning their diversity goals and metrics. In addition, they prioritized the retention, recruitment and development of under-represented groups in our leadership ranks.
As Dell continues its transformation, diversity and inclusion remain an integral part of our overall business strategy. By continuing to drive these initiatives throughout the company, we will be able to harness each individual’s full potential, provide the best Customer Experience, drive innovation, become a better place to work and ensure we have an inspired workforce.
Let me know how you think we are doing in our diversity and inclusion efforts. You can visit the Global Diversity page for more information about all our efforts in career development and mentoring, flexible work solutions, networking groups and marketplace.