Intel CEO Brian Krzanich announced Wednesday that the company had made significant strides in four months in its goal to make its workforce more diverse.
Forty-one percent of hires so far this year have been “diverse,” which means women or people who are Latino, Native American or African-American, he said. That compares with 32 percent last year. Intel’s goal is 40 percent for this year.
Of Intel’s senior hires, 17 percent are Latino, Native American and African-American, compared with 6 percent last year, and 33 percent are women, up from 19 percent from last year.
“This is real progress,” Krzanich said. “We are trying to do inside a corporation what society has tried to do for years.”
Krzanich also announced that the company by 2020 would spend $1 billion annually with minority suppliers compared with $150 million currently.
The announcements were made at an event in San Francisco held by the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
In January, Krzanich announced that the company would spend $300 million to get the company’s workforce to better represent U.S. demographics by 2020. Managers’ performance reviews would be tied to their ability to succeed on the diversity goals, he said. On Wednesday, he said the company had exceeded its goals.
In addition, Krzanich announced the company would launch a new $5 million pilot program to train teachers in computer science and develop curriculum at the Oakland Unified School District. The five-year effort is expected to affect 2,400 students, initially at McClymonds and Oakland Tech high schools. Intel has set a goal of 600 students in the next six years going into engineering and computer science college programs with the company providing scholarship funding. They will be guaranteed internships at Intel and jobs at the firm upon graduation.
“If you know you have a job out there, it keeps you engaged,” he said. He called that promise, “the golden carrot.”
Krzanich said he has been talking with other companies in Silicon Valley to replicate the education pipeline model. The company declined to name the other companies it is talking to.
“We believe if we could collectively invest in a model, it could drive scale,” said Rosalind Hudnell, Intel chief diversity officer. “It’s not really a philanthropic spend; it’s more of an investment spend.”
Contact Michelle Quinn at 510-394-4196. Follow her at Twitter.com/michellequinn.
