This month, we are highlighting our Diversity Best Practices member, Intel, who Seramount has joined along with other peers in the technology industry to power the Alliance for Global Inclusion Index, working to make the industry more inclusive. The index measures current diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices and will identify opportunities to improve outcomes across industries. We spoke with Dawn Jones, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and Vice President of Social Impact at Intel, to learn how the Alliance for Global Inclusion is changing the industry, and what companies can do to help.
What is the goal of the Alliance for Global Inclusion Index?
The Alliance, formed in 2020, was launched publicly in April 2021, with founding partners Dell, Intel, Nasdaq, NTT Data and Snap, Inc., announcing a shared set of DEI metrics to determine progress. It’s a global network of CEOs and their DEI leaders who are committed to amplifying and accelerating DEI outcomes for the technology industry. Its vision is to leverage the strength of technology-driven inclusion to unify and create collective impact across all coalition companies and their communities. By the end of 2021, only eight months after its launch, the Alliance had doubled the number of commitment partners and welcomed CEOs and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers of Applied Materials, Equinix, Lam Research, Micron, TEL US and Zebra Technologies. An important 2021 accomplishment was the creation of a representation guidance for board and senior executive roles reflective of customers and communities served. Take a look to the Alliance for Global Inclusion 2021 report here.
The goal of the Alliance for Global Inclusion Index is to learn about current DEI practices and identify opportunities to potentially improve DEI outcomes across industries. A public index increases transparency, which builds trust, drives collective action, and scales impact. The 2022 Alliance for Global Inclusion Index survey will be open from December 14, 2021 until March 14, 2022, and it informs the Alliance goals and deliverables.
“The goal of this alliance is to establish a unified set of diversity and inclusion metrics and standards to better track progress and identify areas of improvement. We invite others to join us to create positive change within corporations, our communities and society at large.” – Dawn Jones, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer, VP of Social Impact, Intel Corporation
Why is DEI so important in 2022, especially in the technology industry?
Today’s greatest DEI challenges require more than conversations—they require a shared commitment to a global plan of action. The Inclusion Index and Alliance for Global Inclusion present a historic opportunity to reset and ensure that workplaces are more diverse, inclusive and just globally. The coalition believes that now is the time to focus organizational energy on uniting as a collective of companies across industries to solve together the challenges of DEI in the workplace. While companies are making progress by looking inward, it is important to lead together with a shared purpose to improve our world, hold ourselves accountable to commitments and share data transparently so others will do the same.
Why are these metrics so important for the technology industry?
Coalition members are committing their companies’ scale, expertise and reach to work together, and to accelerate the adoption of inclusive business practices and unified goals. While many individual companies are leading by example, the coalition will allow the industry to make and measure collective improvements.
The coalition focuses on three impact areas:
- People: organizational, talent and culture-focused strategies that build diverse, equitable and inclusive companies
- Market: embedding DEI into decisions and processes affecting customers and markets
- Society: actions that align diversity and inclusion to partnerships and policies that aim for broad community impact
Coalition partners will collectively address four critical goals within those impact areas: leadership representation, inclusive language, inclusive product development, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) readiness in under-resourced communities.
Transparency has also been a critical part of advancing DEI efforts. Open sharing of data enables organizations to celebrate progress, confront setbacks and drive change. The coalition believes that transparency is a vital step toward real change—and that it is our responsibility to raise the transparency bar for ourselves every step of the way.
Thus, the coalition of companies not only commits to a shared set of goals, but also to publishing its progress on these collective industry measures. The coalition will look at factors such as representation data and equity, and progress in promoting women and employees from underrepresented groups into senior roles. In addition, the coalition seeks to increase accessibility to technology for under-resourced communities and those with disabilities.
What do companies stand to gain from completing the Alliance for Global Inclusion survey?
The goal of the Alliance for Global Inclusion Index is to learn about current DEI practices and to identify opportunities to potentially improve DEI outcomes across industries. Companies that fill out the survey are enabling the “next normal” for all industries, and now is the moment to build a future of business that is more diverse, inclusive, and just.
Each company that participates will receive a confidential, individualized report with their own data, and will have access to the public aggregated report.
Companies should expect to access the individual reports by April 2022 and the public aggregated results by August 2022.
What feedback and learnings will participants receive?
The index will allow interested parties to know about:
- Characteristics of participating companies: industry type, size, demographics and global footprint
- Data on practices that companies are using to promote and advance DEI, such as inclusive language and Artificial Intelligence inclusive practices
- Representation of gender, race, and ethnicity from participating companies
- Alliance for Global Inclusion goals impact
To learn more about Diversity Best Practices and how it can be a valuable resource in advancing DEI efforts at your company, contact us.
