Equal Employment Opportunity is often a subject of conversation concerning big companies, especially those companies that rely on employees with highly developed and specific skill set. Many big tech companies suffer from the same problem of having a male dominated work force. There have been several incidents in the not so distance past that highlight discrimination issues in work places; in response, Intel has announced that they are going to pledge over $300 million to change things in their company. A portion of this money is coming directly from CEO Brian Krzanich, which is a huge vote of confidence and sign of great dedication to Intel. The effort will probably take many forms, perhaps scholarships and extremely diverse hiring efforts.
Intel chose their words carefully, and said that the effort aims to reflect the diversity in the talent pool, which doesn’t directly indicate that this effort is going to focus on changing the demographic of the talent pool, but simply to reflect it. The problem doesn’t really lie in Intel’s hiring process, but in the people that actually have the skills that Intel needs. From a New York Times article by Nick Wingfield:
Intel’s employment statistics are fairly similar to those of its peers. It had published company gender and race statistics for over a decade. Its latest figured show that 76 percent of its American employees are male, 4 percent are black and 8 percent are Hispanic.
This announcement is a assertive step forward for Intel, and Intel’s wish is for other companies to follow suit. It is Krzanich’s belief that he is not only making a responsible decision for Intel but that it is also just “the right thing to do.”
This pledge, or something similar, is one that I hope to see from more big companies in 2015.
What do you think of this huge sum of money being dedicated to Intel’s diversification effort? Let us know in the comments below or on social media.
Featured image courtesy SiteProNews.
[button link=”http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/technology/intel-budgets-300-million-for-diversity.html?_r=0″ icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: New York Times[/button][button link=”http://www.cnet.com/news/intel-pledges-300m-to-build-a-more-diverse-work-force/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: CNET[/button]Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
