For many, ‘Diversity’ is a word that is widely used but not necessarily understood. ‘Inclusion’ is even less familiar. At HP in EMEA, however, we have been practicing, implementing and embedding Diversity & Inclusion into our daily working lives since we started business.
Many companies are quick to recognise that Diversity is not just a question of equal opportunities. There is a lot more to it than that. To find out exactly what Diversity & Inclusion means for HP and how the company is working towards a diverse and inclusive working environment, we caught up with Lisa Kepinski, HP EMEA Culture & Diversity to get some answers.
Q: Lisa, can you explain exactly what Diversity & Inclusion is?
LK: Of course. At HP, we regard Diversity as the existence of many unique individuals in the workplace, marketplace and community that includes men and women from different nations, cultures, ethnic groups, generations, backgrounds, skills and abilities, including all the unique differences that make each of us who we are.
Inclusion is a flexible, supportive work environment where everyone has an opportunity to fully participate in creating business success and is valued for their distinctive skills, experience and perspectives.
Q: When did HP recognise the need for Diversity & Inclusion?
LK: HP recognised the need for Diversity & Inclusion when we started business. It’s always been part of our corporate values. These values include having trust and respect, achievement and contribution, results through teamwork, a passion for customers, speed and agility, meaningful innovation and uncompromising integrity. As you can imagine, Diversity & Inclusion comes into all of these values and we strive to ensure they are woven throughout our approach to business.
Q: So what are the reasons behind implementing Diversity & Inclusion?
LK: Our reasons are fundamentally business reasons and we focus on four, which are: understanding the marketplace, meeting customer needs, creating the best place to work and making difference our advantage.
For instance, we know that larger numbers of women than men are now graduating from university in Europe and this provides a growth market for HP. Also, more than 40 million Europeans have disabilities and we need to make our products and services accessible to this market.
In the Netherlands 54% of women work part-time. For HP to be considered the best place to work, we need to adapt to women’s working lives and needs. High performing teams grow from a culture of inclusion, flexibility, ability to adapt and seeking new solutions. If we have that culture of difference and inclusion, we have the competitive advantage.
Q: How do you implement Diversity & Inclusion – from the top or within each country?
LK: We have a corporate Culture and Diversity function from which we receive supporting services, strategies and tools. In EMEA, we also have Diversity Champions in each country and sub region, who localise the diversity strategy to the different issues in their environments. This is unique to our region and regarded within HP as an example of good practice.
For instance, we have a Disability Mentoring Day (DMD), which in most countries takes place over one day. But in Spain, it has been extended to four months. HP in Spain has also moved quickly to ensure that the offices are totally adapted for people with disabilities and has secured considerable interest from the Chairman of the Commission for Disabled People to showcase our progress.
Spain’s government has expressed the need for more women in society and government. Consequently HP Spain has extended maternity leave and is negotiating with local kindergartens to provide benefits.
Q: Are there specific areas which you concentrate on?
LK: There are many dimensions of diversity and all are valued in HP. We also focus on a few more deeply in EMEA, such as women, disabilities and age. With every diversity initiative we implement, we adopt a business approach.
For instance, by knowing that a strong gender mix in the workforce leads to a greater business advantage, HP has specific goals set by each business for the hiring of women and graduates. We also hold events on disabilities, such as the DMD, in more than seven EMEA countries. In the UK, we are also partnering with an organisation focused on the business case for inclusion of sexual orientation.
Q: What about employee networks?
LK: At HP we refer to diversity employee networks as Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), as this reflects the way HP sees these groups as a business resource. In HP worldwide there are more than 80 ERGs and in EMEA we currently have 16 ERGs with another six in the pipeline.
In EMEA the ERGs work closely with the Diversity Champions and their actions are linked with individual country action plans. ERGs have contributed towards the hiring, development & retention of our diverse employees and also with furthering awareness of Diversity & Inclusion across HP.
Q: How much support for Diversity & Inclusion do you get from senior management?
LK: We have complete support from the top. We recently held two major diversity events which were supported from top level management in our region.
Q: Finally, how important do you think it is for HP to focus on Diversity & Inclusion when there are other pressing issues such as education and the environment?
LK: Diversity and Inclusion represents the future of the company. With future labour pools in Europe shrinking considerably, we have to be best positioned to attract top talent. Diversity is about getting the best talent into the company and Inclusion is about having the environment that allows employees’ diversity to be utilised to benefit the business and lead to even greater levels of success.
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