Intel has revealed it has successfully hit its diversity and inclusion targets two years ahead of its 2020 goal, with representatives from the entire cross-section of society covered throughout the organisation, including in its leadership team.
What this means is that those working at the company match the tech industry's benchmark percentages for women and minorities employed at the firm. However, the company said it's not quite celebrating yet, because there's still work to do until it's surpassed those figures.
"We are proud of our progress but not satisfied," Barbara Whye, Intel's chief diversity and inclusion officer and vice president of Human Resources for the Technology, Systems Architecture and Client Group said. "We prioritize this as a business imperative to drive innovation and future growth.
"Diversity and inclusion cannot be treated as an add-on. It has to be integrated into everything we do and this is just the beginning. We need to make sure inclusion remains at the center. Every voice matters, and we need to listen and act to make change happen."
The company set the goals back in 2015, when its CEO at the time, Brian Krzanich, announced Intel would be ploughing $300 million into a budget to recruit more minorities into the company - particularly in leadership roles. This money has been invested in STEM education and creating opportunities in underserved populations, including pathway programmes, grants and mentorship.
Intel's 2018 Annual Diversity & Inclusion report has revealed that more than a quarter (26.8%) of its staff is female (23.9% of these are in technical roles), up from 24.7% last year, 4.6% are black, an increase from 3.5% in 2017 and Hispanic representation now stands at 9.2% - up from 8.3% in the previous report.
