HP Innovation Journal Special Edition: Sustainable Impact | Page 25
One hundred.
That’s the estimated number of years it will take to
close the global gender gap, according to the World
Economic Forum (WEF) in a 2018 report.
Sadly, that’s 17 years longer than WEF estimated in 2017,
indicating that the gap is widening, especially among
economic and health parities. In fact, WEF estimates it
will take 217 years to close the global economic gender
gap. Considering that women make up one half of the
world’s population, improving gender parity would greatly
strengthen our global economy. An estimated US$5.3 trillion
could be added to the global GDP by 2025 by closing just one-
quarter of the gap.
Racial minorities also face a disturbing and widening gap. A
2017 report of racial economic inequality in the U.S. by the
Institute for Policy Studies shows that between 1983 and
2013, the wealth of the median black household declined
75 percent (from $6,800 to $1,700), and the median Latino
household declined 50 percent (from $4,000 to $2,000).
At the same time, wealth for the median white household
increased 14 percent from $102,000 to $116,800.
The report also looked at the racial wealth divide at the
median to the year 2043, which is when the U.S.’s population
is predicted to become majority non-white. Their conclusion:
“Without a serious change in course, the country is heading
towards a racial and economic apartheid state.”
Change is not only necessary, it’s imperative.
DIVERSITY STARTS AT THE TOP
At HP, we aim to make life better for everyone, everywhere,
and diversity and inclusion are integral to this vision. In the
simplest form, diversity refers to who we are as people, and
includes all our personal differences and similarities (race,
gender, sexual orientation, culture, religion, and so on).
Inclusion is about how we work. It’s allowing people to bring
all of who they are to work without fear or favor.
Diverse perspectives are essential for us to serve our global
customer base. The better we understand our customers, the
better our ability to stay relevant, deliver value, and create a
Reinventing the Standard for Diversity and Inclusion
lasting impact in the industry and beyond. To that end, we
nurture an environment where people are invited to share
their ideas and innovations, and where all voices are included
and heard.
This begins at the highest levels of the company. Our Board of
Directors is one of the most diverse of any technology company
in the U.S. This was an intentional choice when our company
separated in 2015, and we’ve continued our momentum. We
currently have 40 percent women, 50 percent total minorities,
and 30 percent underrepresented minorities sharing their
perspectives with our leaders and company as a whole. Since
our separation, we have increased women in executive roles
by more than 6 percent. Our goal is to continue to increase
these numbers—and therefore increase diverse perspectives
in driving innovation—year over year, and we have. Per our
FY17 reporting, we saw an 8 percent year-over-year increase
in U.S. minority hires (of those that self-identify). These are
encouraging signs.
In 2017, our President and CEO Dion Weisler took a pledge
as part of the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion on behalf
of HP. Created by PwC, it includes more than 100 top CEOs
and is the largest CEO-driven business commitment to
advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The goal of
this initiative is to rally the business community to advance
diversity and inclusion in the workplace by partnering across
organizations and sectors to make a measurable impact in
addressing this critical issue.
TALENT IS OUR ONLY CRITERIA
Unconscious bias refers to a bias that we are typically
unaware of. It happens automatically and is triggered by our
brain making quick decisions. We recognize these ingrained
biases exist in all of us, and we are actively trying to spark
meaningful change in how job candidates are perceived
and treated in the tech industry. HP offers unconscious
bias training at all levels of the company.
23