Diversity at Siemens: Interview

<p>Diversity isn't just something we pay lip service to, but is embedded in our corporate culture. It's part of the guiding principles of the company, which all our people are made aware of and it's an essential part of our management training programmes - we actively seek to help managers implement and sustain diversity in their own areas of operation and responsibility. New graduate hires becomes part of our mentoring programme, which helps them to develop inter-personal and other career skills with the guidance of an experienced manager. We've also instituted a number of targeted initiatives to tackle specific problems or challenges faced by sections of our workforce or to promote applications from under-represented groups. We heavily promote measures which support work/life balance, something that can be particularly important for individuals with family responsibilities. Consequently we offer possibilities for flexible working hours, tele-working and, for example in Germany, but also in other countries, have partnered with various childcare agencies to provide facilities for children.</p><p>"Diversity isnit just something we pay lip service to, but is embedded in our corporate culture. It's part of the guiding principles of the company."</p><p>Although women now make up around 27% of the total workforce, we're keen to attract even more of the brightest and best, particularly from the fields of business administration and engineering. In Germany we have gone about this by developing the YOLANTE (Young Ladies` Network of Technology) programme, a mentoring programme for ambitious young women from the technical sector and in a range of countries that includes the US, South Africa, Switzerland and Austria we run annual (Girl's Days) when employees are encouraged to bring female relatives into the workplace to get a feel for the types of opportunities the company could offer them in their future careers. We're also aware of the need to provide the right opportunities and environment for individuals who have disabilities. In Austria, for example, we have a model training programme which provides special training for the deaf and hard of hearing and also for the blind and partially sighted. Such measures mean that we've been highly successful in bringing people with disabilities into the company - over 6,000 in our German operations alone.</p>

<p>When we are recruiting from business school or university, we look for committed and wellqualified people who can show initiative and an international mind-set. We need individuals who are results-oriented and natural entrepreneurs, who are able to motivate and inspire and who can work well both in teams and in their own personal networks. It's our aim to be attracting the very best people from around the globe, irrespective of their gender, nationality or ethnic background and that's why an effective diversity policy is so important to a company with the ambitions of Siemens.</p><p>Source: <a href="/why-mba/publications/career-guide-2013">TopMBA Career Guide</a></p>