Diversity & Inclusion

VMware Diversity and Inclusion Update 2018

Mar 16, 2018 2:05 PM ET
Campaign: VMware Culture

By Amber Boyle, VMware Diversity and Inclusion Director 

This year, the conversation around diversity has been amplified. While progress is being made in the area of diversity and inclusion (D&I) from Hollywood to the C-suite, company diversity report releases alone won’t move the needle in our communities. Conversation – and action – need to take place every day.

A little over a year ago, we shared the VMware diversity and inclusion (D&I) journey. We believe that as a community, we must harness the power of human difference in order to continue to deliver the best solutions for our customers. That’s why we created our VMinclusion initiative: when our employees thrive, innovation does too.

Since last year we’ve taken numerous steps to yield the best results for our employee base, the industry and society. Additionally, with a new year comes new data. Hence, in the spirit of transparency and accountability, we’d like to update you on our progress.

Leadership and Accountability
In 2017, VMware built on our learnings over the past four years. We focused on incorporating D&I best practices into all of our processes and decisions — from diversifying the applicant pool, to supporting employee participation in D&I and leadership development programs.

All VPs now have clear goals designed to foster inclusive leadership and diverse representation. To achieve this, business and HR leaders partner to develop specific action plans for their organizations to improve hiring and retention efforts. The VMware leadership team will hold our VPs accountable for attaining these goals at each quarterly business review.

Promoting an Inclusive Culture
In 2017, VMware continued to invest in a wide variety of communities to welcome and connect diverse groups and allies. Our Power of Difference Communities (“PODs”) are designed to strengthen networks for women and underrepresented groups, and are open to anyone in the company. Global inclusion PODs are thriving across our key sites, empowering our employees to be champions of inclusion in action.

In partnership with the Stanford University Clayman Institute for Gender Research, our DIALOGUE Circles program has provided more than 600 employees with research-based strategies for advancing women in the workplace, and being an effective ally to female colleagues.

Additionally, we regularly review and update our global benefits offerings and have added same-sex partner benefits in countries where LGBTQ rights are not yet recognized by the local government. We’ve increased the length of U.S. parental leave to 18 weeks and extended our U.S. Military Leave from 30 days to 18 months.

Contributing to a Diverse Tech Industry
Our commitment to progress goes beyond VMware, and 2017 was no exception. VMware continued to invest in many programs in order to help drive industry-wide change and support the communities in which we live and serve. Today, we collaborate with organizations such as: Code 2040, Out in STEM (oSTEM), IEEE Women in Engineering, the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford and Women Who Code.

We’re excited about the launch of Seeds of Change, our second year of CodeHouse, and our upcoming Women Transforming Technology (WT2) event – our third year running. We hope you’ll join us in May to inspire and connect with women from across the technology industry.

Sustained Change with Metrics
Our approach to diversity and inclusion is similar to other strategic business goals–we set targets, commit to actions and measure our progress. Highlights of this year’s results include:

Representation

  • Women: 1 percentage point increase in representation globally, with a 2 percentage point increase in leadership representation
  • Underrepresented Minorities[1]: 1 percentage point increase of overall representation in the U.S., with gains in leadership and non-tech
  • LGBTQ: Currently, 2% of our employees identify[2] as LGBTQ, with our commitment to supporting LGBTQ employees helping earn a score of 100% on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Corporate Equality Index (CEI)

Striving for Pay Equity

  • Women globally earn 99% of their male counterparts’ salary, accounting for multiple factors that influence pay such as tenure, geographic location and performance
  • Racial and ethnic minority employees earn 100% of their white counterparts’ salary in the U.S., accounting for multiple factors that influence pay such as tenure, geographic location and performance

While we are encouraged by our progress, we recognize that there is much more to do, especially around diversity in our technical talent. In a world where diversity is top of mind, we cannot claim to have all the answers, but we can commit to doing work that will result in change and sharing our learnings to advance the conversation.

For more information, check out our updated VMware Diversity Data 2018.

 

[1] Underrepresented minorities include Black/African American, Latino/Hispanic, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and Native American or Alaska Native

[2] Option to identify as LGBTQ