By Barbara Whye
At Intel, we believe that a diverse workforce and inclusive culture are key to our evolution and to driving our growth. If we want to shape the future of technology, our workforce must be representative of that future. Transparency and open sharing of our data enable us to both celebrate our progress and confront our setbacks on that journey. We feel a sense of responsibility to continue to lead the industry in this space by raising the transparency bar for ourselves and, as a result, raising it for others.
That’s why today, in keeping with that commitment, we are disclosing our latest workforce representation data. We are also releasing our 2017 and 2018 EEO-1 pay data, as we pledged to do in October. These datasets each tell an important part of the story and point to work that lies ahead.
Hopefully, openly sharing the details of our representation journey will encourage others in the industry to do the same. When transparency reveals areas for improvement, we must work together to understand the challenges and put forth specific actions to create a more inclusive industry. Overcoming systemic challenges will require accountability on all fronts and a fierce sense of urgency.
Working toward better representation
I am proud that our company reached full market representation in our U.S. workforce last year. This was achieved through a comprehensive strategy that encompassed hiring, retention and progression. However, there is much more to be done.
Intel was one of the first companies to launch a report with its workforce representation and we’ve been happy to see at least a dozen other companies join us over the years. This year, we are including a deeper look at our leadership levels, our directors and executives, to show a more comprehensive picture. We are also looking beyond the U.S. and expanding disclosure of our global diversity data, as we’ve been focused on extending our diversity and inclusion initiatives to our entire workforce throughout 2019.
Our key findings from 2018-2019 include:
- In our U.S. workforce, representation for both technical employees and overall employees improved for all of our underrepresented populations: Latinx, African Americans and Native Americans.
- Overall underrepresented employee representation has increased from 14.6% to 15.8% in the past year. This includes a 561 person increase in our Latinx employee population, from 9.2% to 10% of our U.S. workforce.
- There has been a decline in overall U.S. female representation from 26.8% to 26.5%
- Worldwide representation of women overall has increased by 0.1% from last year and women in director-level positions have increased by 0.6%, due to our focus this year on global leadership representation.
Our company still needs better female and underrepresented male representation in leadership positions in the U.S. and worldwide. There is a gap in progression for women and underrepresented populations from senior management into our director and executive level ranks. These drops are preventable, and we are doubling down on our inclusion efforts, including a re-evaluation of leadership progression to make sure women and underrepresented groups are advancing within the company. After all, we know that representation at the top matters most if we want to change the rest of the company.
This year, our Warmline service was expanded globally. The Warmline is an employee hotline that provides retention support to any employee who is having issues with a manager or their current position or career progression. We also launched a program encouraging employees to become allies to support a more inclusive work environment, helping them understand and role model inclusive behaviors. And we have developed a broad set of training programs for managers and executives on inclusion practices that we see within our highest performing teams. Inclusion is an integral part of our culture evolution, which reflects our company transformation and ongoing efforts to attract and retain top talent.
What our pay data shows
Earlier this year, we announced gender pay equity globally across our 107,000 employees in over 50 countries. This is a critical first step — ensuring all employees in the same or similar roles are paid fairly regardless of gender or race/ethnicity, taking into consideration factors that influence pay such as performance, time in grade and tenure.
In keeping with our commitment to transparency, we are publicly releasing our 2017 and 2018 EEO-1 pay data filing, also known as the new component 2 disclosure requirement, alongside our annual 2019 companywide representation data. It’s important to consider that the data in this report is collected from employees’ W2 box 1 earnings, which includes all taxable income and has not been normalized for factors such as hire date, shift differentials and employee retirement contributions.
As might be expected, the pay data overall also reflects our representation gaps — there are fewer females and underrepresented groups at the senior-most, and therefore most highly compensated, levels of the company. Many of our executives, directors and managers in the highest EEO-1 pay categories are white and Asian males, while there are proportionally more females and underrepresented groups in lower pay categories.
However, due to our diversity and inclusion efforts, there is promising growth of our junior female and underrepresented talent from which our future leadership will be drawn. Our challenge now is to create an environment that better helps our female and underrepresented employees develop and progress in their careers, while also ensuring we are expanding our hiring and retention of diverse talent at more senior, higher paying positions.
Transforming our culture with inclusion at the center
It is clear from our latest representation and pay data that we must continue to focus on the progression of all qualified employees within the company and build a deeper culture of inclusion to allow all voices to be heard. We’ve learned that transparency is our strength and something that is critical for real progress. It clarifies our challenges and opportunities, allowing us to work together on solutions. We urge other companies to join us in being transparent and open with their successes and setbacks so we can continue to learn from each other.
Intel will continue to be bold and dedicated to transforming our culture for a new world. At the center of that cultural change is diversity and inclusion, and growing representation at every level of the company. We have made inclusion an integral part of our plan to evolve our culture and enable us to continue to attract and retain top talent needed to support our transformation to a data-centric company. This is a journey, and we know there is still much more to be done. We are committed to continuing our efforts and leading the industry toward a future workforce that reflects the population at large.
I look forward to sharing more details in the coming months about how we will achieve these goals.
Barbara Whye is Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and vice president of Human Resources for the Technology, Systems Architecture and Client Group at Intel Corporation.