How do you bring your full self to work? It’s a question we – at VMware – have been working to answer for the last few years. As Duncan Greenwood, Vice President and General Manager for Northern EMEA at VMware says in the video below, bringing your full self means “that sense of belonging, and how you can be so much more productive when you trust and have the respect of the people you work with.”
It’s a challenge in the technology industry, and indeed the business world as a whole, has been wrestling with. From vendors and partners to our enterprise customers themselves, making our workforces more diverse and inclusive for all is imperative. A study from McKinsey identified that companies with greater racial and ethnic diversity were 35 percent more likely to have better financial returns than their industry medians, while companies with greater gender diversity were 15 percent more likely to have better results.
One way to achieve that is to learn from others, to discuss the challenges and identify ways forward. At VMworld 2019 Europe, we want to foster exactly that, which is why we’re running an extensive Diversity and Inclusion Program, as Duncan and Kirsten Cox, Vice President for Marketing in EMEA at VMware, outline in this video.
There’s not long to go before #VMworld 2019 Europe kicks off. @YourCloudHub and @duncang1505 are excited to share with you what we’ve got planned in our Diversity & Inclusion program. pic.twitter.com/cDXPafbeX2
— VMware UK (@VMware_UK) October 25, 2019
Our Connect Café will be open throughout the entire VMworld in Hall 8. It’s going to be a place to grab a coffee, meet friends and colleagues, share your own perspective and here theirs. Its aim is to help people experience the power of human difference, recognising that what makes us unique is at the core of how we make our own individual marks.
Alongside the Connect Café will be our Diversity and Inclusion reception, taking place from 16:30 on Tuesday 5th November. It’ll be a chance to meet and discuss how partners, customers and VMware itself promotes diversity and inclusion over food and drinks and is open to all attendees.
Then there’s our Diversity and Inclusion sessions, both taking place on Thursday 7th November.
First up is our panel session – Diversity and Inclusion in Tech: Why it Matters, from 10:30. Duncan will be joined by Sarah Lucas, Head of Platforms and Infrastructure at William Hill and Simran Arora, Systems Engineer at VMware. They will be moderated by James Hogan, Sales Director for Enterprise – End Computing UKI, and the Co-Lead for VMinclusion, and will be looking at how each of the participants have either fostered a work environment or forged their own path to unlock the power of human difference.
This is followed by Charley Woodward, Director of the EMEA Renewals Channel at VMware, and DARE to be Your Disruptive Self! In this session, starting at 1200, Charley will explore how VMware’s company culture, and its commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive environment has helped the business to be so consistently innovative.
This program is designed to help our customers, partners and our own employees experience the power of human difference. The sessions and events taking place are a unique opportunity to share and learn – we look forward to seeing you there. To make sure you have a place at the sessions, add them to your schedule today.
