Intel’s diversity plan: Five pillars of cultural change

01 Oct Intel’s diversity plan: Five pillars of cultural change

How the semi-conductor manufacturer is trying to transform itself and its industry
By Bill Hatton

You may recall Intel’s Jan. 15 announcement of aggressive diversity & inclusion goals, and similarly heard that Intel has issued its six-month progress report on how it’s doing in its diversity-in-technology program for the first half of 2015. Intel has laid all its information out there, and because of that, we can see in detail that Intel has met is first hurdle for its goal to change its corporate culture.

Background: In January, Intel committed $300 million to “reengineer the face of technology.” Goal: Achieve “full representation of women and underrepresented minorities” in its U.S. workforce by 2020, meaning a workforce whose demographic characteristics match the characters of the U.S. as a whole. To accomplish its goals, it has tied compensation for both employees and managers, as well as trained managers how to lead in a diverse environment.

Here are five pillars of its approach, and its progress so far:
Hire and retain
Intel specifically says it wants to change the composition of its workforce: That means more women and more historically under-represented minorities. Specifically, “diversity” means African-Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics and women of any race. It seeks to do a better job at retaining those individuals they already have, and to recruit aggressively new employees. Compensation is tied to success.
It has measured its U.S. workforce according to demographics, but also in terms of technical v. non- technical, as well as seniority level, and the leadership level. In its mid-year report, Intel reported that it had met its overall goals in nearly all areas, except for the relatively modest goal of Native American recruitment.

Grow the pipeline
Intel’s technical staff comprises the vast majority (85%) of its employees: That means recruiting math, science, engineering and technology experts. To get to the level of qualifications required by Intel requires years of study – and excelling at those studies.
Intel in its analysis of the current labor market has determined that the market already supports specific percentages of available minorities qualified to work at Intel.

For example, Intel’s technical staff includes 3.3% African-Americans, but Intel says the market availability is 4.5%. That means Intel can make some progress through more effective recruiting. Similarly, Intel’s technical staff includes 19.4%
women and market availability is 22.7%. To reach full representation in 2020 will require more than will be available – unless more candidates are in the pipeline.

To that end, Intel will invest $5 million in the next five years to improve STEM education in the Oakland Unified School District, as well as entered into technical agreements with Georgia Tech and the National GEM Consortium, a network of universities and government agencies to boost minority graduate education in STEM fields.

Invest in startups
Intel also announced in June 2015 the Intel Capital Diversity Fund. Through this program, Intel will invest $125 million over the next five years on technological startups where minorities either founded/CEO of the company or comprise at least three senior members of senior management team.
Nearly $17 million has been invested since the announcement, two more are expected by the end of the year. Startups are eligible for up to $100,000 in seed funding.

Improve supplier diversity
Intel wants to improve the diversity of its supply chain
and spend more with minority-owned businesses. It has committed to $1 billion a year in annual spending by 2020.
In its summary report, Intel states that it is tracking
$600 million in diverse supplier spending, primarily in “indirect services” – services not directly related to the core business. It is seeking to increase the pipeline of core- service suppliers through its capital-investment program in startups.

Support women in gaming
Gaming (not the casino kind, the videogame industry) is important to Intel because Intel’s products support the gaming industry and the pressures to improve and strengthen gaming drives innovation. As such, a gender disparity in gaming can result in a gender-disparity within Intel’s corporate culture. Intel notes a gender disparity in the gaming industry, and compares it to the tech- sector disparity. Sixty-nine percent of members of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) are male, according to a 2015 IDGA study.
Intel is seeking to bring more female students into the gaming industry; it partnered with IGDA to bring female students to Intel’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco and matched them with mentors to “immerse them” in the industry. And it has sponsored numerous other programs, such as sponsoring programs for women at the Nordic Games, E3 and Gamescom conferences.

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