With LGBT History Month underway, we thought, what better time to reflect on our commitment to supporting and celebrating colleagues from all backgrounds, experiences and perspectives?
It’s our mission to deliver transformative IT solutions by harnessing the power of human difference and building a community that is both inclusive and diverse. That’s why VMinclusion – our business-led diversity and inclusion effort – sits at the centre of our global organisation. But what does this look like in practice?
The power of words
Working with us isn’t just about work. We want every customer and colleague to feel a true sense of belonging. So, as part of this, we developed Power of Difference (POD) communities – employee-led groups that enhance our inclusive culture.
These PODs are changing the future of VMware for the better, but we’re always looking for ways to do more. So, last year, we ramped up our D&I commitment by forming an internal, cross-discipline team to develop and drive processes for addressing the use of non-inclusive terminology company-wide.
By collaborating with employees around the world, we’re educating our team about the origins of terms, and the power words have in making or breaking an inclusive environment. This journey couldn’t be completed overnight, but we’ve been working tirelessly to identify and replace vocabulary throughout our print and digital content, as well as in our products.
PRIDE@VMware
Around the world, the PRIDE@VMware POD community strives for equality and inclusion for everyone, by focusing on education and support for the LGBTQ+ community in our business and beyond.
There’s no one better to tell you about the importance of feeling accepted at work than our global LGBTQ+ colleagues and allies themselves, so we’re passing the torch:
Putting equity at our core
To us, equity starts with creating a diverse and inclusive work environment that allows every person in our organisation to belong within our community. And this wouldn’t be possible without the collective effort of all employees.
Our POD communities lead the way, but this responsibility spans every single colleague. So, we’re ensuring each team member has the necessary training to support, recruit, hire and promote our exceptional team without bias. We know there’s more to be done, but we were delighted to achieve 100% on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2021 Corporate Equity Index, and to be named one of the ‘Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality’ for the fourth consecutive year.
Supporting all colleagues, today and tomorrow
We’re proud to say we’re committed to supporting our LGBTQ+ colleagues every day of every month of every year. Together with our global communities, we’ll continue striving to ensure our business has inclusivity at its core – and our team have the support needed to thrive.
After all, as Chief People Officer and VMinclusion Co-Sponsor, Betsy Sutter, says: “Ingenuity is the heart of VMware’s culture. The power of human difference is what fuels ingenuity.”
