Best Companies for Latinos in Technology
Story By: Kristian Jaime
The cornerstone of any great domestic economy has always been diversification. So when the United States saw exponential investment in technology infrastructure and data management, the only real question was how lucrative could it get?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014 saw 17 million people employed in the technology field. Just three years later, it became a $100 billion industry with efforts across the country and in Washington D.C. to pre-pare more Hispanics for the jobs of the future. Not only would that empower the economic influence of the nation’s largest minority block, but also it would make a dent in the staggering under-representation in the ranks of employees and executives.
The discrepancy is not so jarring until recent statistics by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) stated the private high tech sec-tor only employed 13 percent Latinos in its total workforce. Hispanic executives in the technology field nationwide hover at a dismal 5 percent of the payroll. Yet there are silver linings finally emerging with national companies actively seeking Latino employees with a wide variety of outreach programs and diversity incentives. These are the top tech companies for Hispanics across the country.
Accenture
The firm boasts over 47,000 employees and has already made strides to bring in a diverse workforce to the tune of 7.3 percent of their employees being Hispanic. That is above the average for a company their size. Among executive positions, Latinos make up over 750 employees.
It also launched a new referral program to reward employees for success-fully referring women and minority candidates in the US. And, as a company, it is facilitating open, conversations about diversity with current employees, within the industry and in the communities where their potential employees work and live.
Additional programs include Diversity Management courses to equip executives with skills to manage diverse teams effectively, while fostering an inclusive work environment. Also, Professional Development enables ethnically di-verse employees to build skills for success through leadership, client-centricity, negotiation and performance, among others.
The Diverse Supplier Development Program pairs executive mentors with “protégé” businesses to strengthen the relationships with minority-run companies. The goal is to develop diverse suppliers. To date, that has included 70 in the country with a 2020 plan to reach 170 partner-ships domestically.
Bank of America
Around the world, it places the responsibility of building diverse teams and fostering an inclusive environment on a corporate structure continually on the lookout for talented employees. This accountability starts with CEO, Brian Moynihan, who chairs the Global Diversity and Inclusion Council.
More than half of the global workforce is women and more than 40 per-cent of the American workforce is racially and ethnically diverse.
The financial institution has expanded to dedicated campus and special-ty-sourcing recruiting teams, which partner with more than 200 colleges, universities and other organizations around the world to recruit diverse talent. The most recent campus recruiting class was more than 50 percent diverse. 12 employee networks have more than 70,000 memberships around the world. Among those universities are Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI)Accolades being named among the top 10 companies in Diversity by MBA Magazine’s 2015 ranking of 50 Out Front Companies for Diversity Leader-ship and Best Places for Women and Diverse Managers to Work. It also has been recognized in the Top 10 Best-in-Class Category for Representation and Workplace Inclusion.
Cisco
The tech giant is one of the few on the list that not only boast outreach programs, but also employee groups to highlight the diversity in the workforce. That includes the Conexión: Latino Employee Community.
Over 7 percent of the executive leadership team is comprised of Latinos with 5 percent of its overall total employees being Hispanic. In 160 chapters across 43 countries, over 25,000 employees now participate in the Cisco Inclusion and Diversity Community. This platform helps diverse groups connect, explore their unique passions and talents, innovate, and excel.
The numerous awards bestowed on Cisco include: Cisco is number 16 on the list of 50 Out Front Companies For Diverse Managers To Work; In partnership with Great Place to Work, Fortune ranked Cisco fourteenth on their list of the World’s Best Multinational Workplaces; Cisco Mexico was ranked in fifth place in places to work. This year we also received a special recognition in the area of credibility.
Lastly, the company has a full-time Chief Diversity Officer in charge with developing and cultivating programs to attract more women and minority employees.
Hewlett Packard
HP joins many others on this list as a company with a full-time Chief Diversity Officer in Lesley Slaton Brown. The result show when, in the United States, minorities constituted 17.3 percent of their executive employees.
In the United States it provided funding and products for Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), which addresses the underrepresentation of minorities in business leadership positions.
Its Employee Resources Groups (ERG) bring together employees with common interests and backgrounds. HP has 115 ERGs worldwide, representing aspects of diversity including gender, ethnicity or national origin. In the Americas, HP sponsored the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineer’s Executive Leadership program, a five-day program designed to develop leadership excellence, strategic thinking and planning in preparation for executive roles. Key talent from HP as well as other leading technology companies participated.
HP make efforts to expand our workforce diversity by proactively recruiting best-in-class diverse talent, embedding diversity into all core people development processes and by sponsoring key development pro-grams to prepare diverse top talent for career advancement and professional growth.
Johnson & Johnson
Among the most ubiquitous companies on the list, Johnson & Johnson established Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and have partnered with the Office of Diversity & Inclusion in creating an open forum to exchange ideas and to strengthen the linkage to and within diverse communities.
ERGs, formerly known as Affinity Groups, engage an estimated 13,000 employees across 186 U.S. chapters and 18 non-domestic chapters. 12 enterprise-wide ERGs are uniquely positioned to provide key insights, strategically focused on driving better outcomes on behalf of our employees, the marketplace and the community.
ERGs worked with the Johnson & Johnson Supplier Diversity group in support of the Company’s efforts to become the first health care firm to be inducted into the Billion Dollar Roundtable, an elite group of corporations that have achieved spending of at least $1 billion with diverse suppliers. Inclusion is an integral part of how Johnson & Johnson leverage diversity into the company. It implements programs, policies and processes that enable all the employees to feel the company makes diversity a priority.
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory was recently recognized by Latina Style as a top 50 employer for Latina women, the first national laboratory to achieve the distinction. With a proven track record of reaching out to Hispanics for employment opportunities, LANL frequently works with organizations like the National Society for Hispanic Professionals (NSHP) on events like the LatPro Hispanic Diversity Job Fair. Out of it’s 10,800 employees 37.9 % are Hispanic, their largest minority group. It’s Women’s Employee Resource Group currently has four Lab subgroups that help provide a network of mentors and peers to ensure skills are developed to their full potential. Director Charlie McMillan’s commitment to making the Laboratory an employer of choice for Latinas and other women who are considering careers at scientific and technical institutions confirms LANL as leaders in diversity and a top choice for Latinos in Tech.
Microsoft
To help foster diversity and inclusion, Microsoft has a rich community of Employee Resource Groups (ERG) and Employee Networks (EN). Its approach to diversity and inclusion does not stop with its workforce. It includes helping to build a pipe-line of candidates for jobs in the tech industry, investing in diverse suppliers, and partnering with policy makers and others on broad reaching activities in this space. HOLA, the Latino EGR, has a vision to educate and connect Microsoft to the Latino communities and enable the company’s mission within the global Hispanic communities to realize their full potential. It also aims at enhancing employee development and supporting building a pipeline within Microsoft through aiding in recruiting, retaining and advancing current and future employees of Latino descent. That includes engaging the Hispanic communities in the development of products and services. Finally, that means driving and participating in community outreach events.
Microsoft recruiters and business leaders recruit at many conferences and events throughout the year, including Grace Hopper, Tapia, National Society of Black MBAs, National Society of Hispanic MBAs, Out and Equal, Recruit Military Career Expo and others.
Telefonica
In a company with a team comprised by almost 100 nationalities, heterogeneity is an accurate reflection of what its customers are composed of and it encourages creativity.
3To help the promotion of diversity among our staff, during 2016, it established the Global Diversity Council of Telefónica, led by Laura Abasolo, member of the Executive Committee of the company. Diversity is integral to the organization, as it employees in more than 21 countries (three of which are represented on the Board of Directors) and operates in 17.
Outreach efforts have included active recruiting of minorities and women to the total of 47 percent of employees all under age of 30 and female in 2015. To date, total recruitment of both minorities and women have equaled over 10,000 employees.
The Coca-Cola Company
Perhaps the best-known company on the list, the total workforce is comprised by 19 percent of Hispanics with eight percent of corporate headquarters also Latino.
The three pillars of diversity education are Diversity Training, a Diversity Speaker Series and our Diversity Library. The Coca-Cola Company also offer supplier diversity training to help ensure that associates understand how to leverage the procurement power of the company by creating a pool of suppliers that include minority- and women-owned businesses.
The total worldwide employees of 123,200 is among the most diverse of any major company on the planet. That comes as a result of a comprehensive recruitment and training policy.
Many people across the company continue to work diligently to help Coca-Cola advance in the diversity journey and build practices on diversity, inclusion and fairness. It includes associates in the process. The company garners their feedback through formal surveys and informally through their participation in the business resource groups, various diversity education programs and the Resolution Resources Program, where associates can work to resolve issues they face in our Company.
Wells Fargo
You could say Wells Fargo was founded with diversity in its blood with its earliest examples of supporting Latino business back in 1875.Today, the Enterprise Diversity and Inclusion Council is chaired by CEO and President, Timothy Sloan, and is comprised of senior leaders who have been identified by our Operating Committee. They oversee partnering with the Operating Committee to establish goals and set direction in the areas of team member diversity and inclusion, market segment diversity, supplier diversity, and regulatory and external reputation.
With 269,000 in its global workforce, 42 percent of American employees are ethnically and racially diverse. Team Member Networks align with strategy and are devoted to profession-al growth and education, community outreach, recruiting and retention, business development, and customer insight. Individuals connected by a shared background, experience, or other affinity organize each network. Latin Connection acts the company’s Hispanic organization for the growing number of professional and executive level employees.
To implement diversity and inclusion in every aspect of business, it collaborates with key internal partners including Human Re-sources, Government and Community Relations, Enterprise Marketing, and Corporate Communications.
Other Top Companies:
• Gartner
• Link America
• Ultima Software
• Intel Corporation
• AT&T
• IBM Corporation
• Xerox
• Rackspace Hosting
• United Corporation
• Boston Corporation