Women at IE
Weblog
Let's talk about diversity...
Dalina Leonor Vicente
13 of Junio

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IE Women in Business Club in cooperation with IE Out Club organized yesterday a Diversity Conference hosted by Nieves Delgado, VP of Sales at IBM (International Business Machines).  If I was asked to sum up the contents of the conference, I would say that attendants were infected with Nieves' passion, energy and good sense of humor towards diversity matters.  Not only she managed to explain different types of diversity that IBM is working on, but she gave us real examples, figures and numbers on how IBM is ahead of other companies through its internal diversity plans. We were somehow surprised about some of the figures she presented.  Let's talk about diversity at IBM.




For Nieves, diversity is directly linked to inclusion. The core values at IBM are talent, a good working environment that serves diverse market places and the community itself and this is why companies like IBM have placed so much emphasis in its corporate culture and diversity policy . 

IBM was born in 1896, of course well before the company launched its first computers and laptops in 1950s. However, IBM was already a pioneer in diversity issues. In 1899, the company hired the first women and black people and 15 years later, they hired the first person with a disability. In 1953, IBM launched the Equal Opportunities Policy well before the US launched a federal law against several types of discrimination in the 1960s. IBM was already establishing the pillars for a future diversity policy which they firmly believe in and promote through its senior management. This is the key to enforce such policy.

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Diversity at IBM is focused towards five areas, although there are local initiatives in each region. These are: Women in Business, Multicultural, GLBT, Disabilities and Work/life integration.  With this policy, IBM's goal is to become the best employer in the world. In terms of comparing the values of men and women at work, IBM has done some research on the first five key barriers found by women at work. In 1997, women placed the access to key management positions in the fifth position, whereas in 2007 (10 years later), they find that access to key positions is in the first position.


One of the barriers that has not moved in this ranking of priorities is that they still consider that the work environment is still male dominated (ranked in the first place in 1997 and second in 2007).
 

In terms of multicultural environments, IBM believes that inclusion of all types of people is essential given the fact that we should recognize that society is very diverse and this will contribute to social cohesion. During the conference, Nieves Delgado mentioned the difficulty of understanding each other in a multicultural environment. She mentioned the fact "that no one understands each other due to a problem of under communication".  Although we all speak the same language we may not transmit the same message with our level of English.  In some cases, it was also difficult for her to be a business woman in certain Middle East countries.

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In other areas such as GLBT, people with disabilities or work/life integration, IBM is doing a great effort to include these members of the society. For example, IBM offers sabbatical periods given that Generation X employees value free time at the top of their priority list. Making work compatible with your personal life does only refer to looking after children.

The conference was not only full of interesting insights regarding diversity at IBM but proved to reflect what our society is facing today. A world full of diverse employees where IBM aims to protect our freedom and work climate while representing each one of us at the workplace.  More details on diversity at IBM España can be found here.

IBM just loves you the way you are...

 


 



 
Comments

IBM a real pioneer in Diversity Management.
Dear WIB and ieOut,
Congratulations for this conference! In my opinion you have invited "the" pioneer company in Diversity Management in Spain!
In the United States IBM has plenty of prices and mentions that accredit them as leaders in managing difference. They lead all the rankings that foundations and minorities activists develop to encourage best practices related to diversity management. USA is a very diverse country since very long time ago and a proper Diversity Management, like the one conducted by IBM, is a must.
Spain is different! Due to the dictatorship and the slower development pace until the 80s our country has been a very local and "undiverse" place, at least in its labor force. Women have reached a real presence at work only in the past 20 years; in 1998 (only ten years ago) there were some more than 637,000 foreigners living in Spain, now they are more than 4,000,000; we still tend to think that young people are lazy and that sexual orientation is a personal issue not to be shared at the workplace.
Nowadays in Spain, most foreign multinationals, although sharing the same recognitions as IBM in Anglo-Saxon countries, limit their diversity management scope to Women family balance (they forget men family balance) and cultural diversity.
March 8th, a few years ago, Amparo Moraleda was participating in a TV debate and when inquired over women rights she answered something like "... the only thing I know is that talent is scarce, and IBM wants and needs the best talent. Women mean approximately half part of work force in Spain and IBM cannot afford to do without anybody..."
The President of IBM was clever and brave to talk about diversity when nobody dared to do so, but now that talent is SO scarce and we are all competing in this global race, they are the best positioned in Spain to attract and retain the brightest talent.

Posted by: MA | 17 de Junio 2008 a las 03:35 PM
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