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Sun Microsystems Inc is reaching out to its diverse population in new and more integrated ways, while offering employees a work atmosphere that is high-energy, innovative and fast-paced, says Shari Slate, manager of multicultural strategy.
"Sun is an environment a new college grad can assimilate into easily," Slate says. Like college, the company offers "lots of opportunities to meet colleagues and lots of team projects," she says.
"When you come into Sun, what you find out quickly is that Sun is very team-oriented. It's a friendly, exciting environment, and there is lots of innovation going on here."
Sun offers industrial-strength hardware, software and services. Its 32,000 employees work in 100 countries; the company's revenues for fiscal year 2004 were more than $11 billion.
Slate says that the company has two employment strategies, one focusing on a pipeline of multicultural talent and the other on global leadership. Sun, she says, addresses diversity from a global perspective and is committed to ensuring that it has global representation. "If we look at the world that we do business in, we know that it is a global economy and that we are a global company. But the way we look at diversity is different in different parts of the world," Slate says.
The Sun global inclusion council is made up of someone from each area of the organization, including university relations, professional staffing, executive search, technology and global inclusion. An executive diversity council, made up of top company leaders, acts as a guiding force for global inclusion activities. "We have always had activities that focus on how we recruit and retain diverse talent," she says. "What we are trying to do with the councils is to integrate that into the core fabric of everything we do," helping the company find and keep diverse talent, Slate explains.
New employees, particularly new college graduates, can tap into an array of support programs at Sun. The company has many employee resource networks - affinity groups - for employees who identify with and support a broad range of characteristics. There's SunNet, an active focus group for African Americans; SunAble, dedicated to making the work environment better for those with disabilities; Gays, Lesbians and Friends (GLAF)@Sun, an email list to facilitate discussion of issues related to alternative sexual orientations; Sol@Sun, which offers an information exchange with Hispanic focus groups; and Swing, devoted to the professional development of Sun's women employees. "Anyone is welcome to join any of them," Slate says.
Sun also provides formal mentoring programs. New employees can benefit from a six-month mentoring program through Sun University, the company's development and training arm. Various organizations within the Sun corporate structure link new employees to mentors through this service, Slate says. "All mentors go through training, so they understand what it is to be a mentor and what reporting needs to be done at various stages of the relationship." At the end of the six months, participants can choose to continue, find another mentor, or leave the program.
Employees can take advantage of Sun's iWork program, which allows them to work remotely from anywhere in the world. Many companies have established remote work programs for their sales staffs, but Sun offers iWork to its entire global workforce. Participants must be approved by their supervisors.
There are currently 22,000 employees in the iWork program, Slate reports. The company offers a suite of integrated iWork applications and services designed to enhance productivity, security, interoperability, administration and computing power. Participants use a "smart card" that gives them access to physical offices and company parking facilities as well as their own desktop from any computer with Internet or network access. "It's a seamless system," says Slate, who is herself an iWork participant.
There are opportunities across the company for technical interns, who can work year-round. Internship is an important vehicle for full-time employment after graduation; in fact, 84 percent of new college hires in 2004 were former interns.
Sun recruits interns and new hires on a variety of campuses and through organizations like the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), and national gay and lesbian groups. Sun recruits employees at HBCUs Howard University (Washington, DC) and Florida A&M University (Tallahassee, FL).
A lot of the company's effort is channeled into forging strong relationships with local chapters of the minority engineering groups, Slate says, "And we also have strong relationships with all of these organizations at the national level." Sun's many businesses actively communicate with one another about their recruiting activities, she adds.
Everyone who works at Sun has access to top executives because of a company culture that avoids hierarchy, Slate says. "Anyone can send an email to (CEO) Scott McNealy, and he'll respond."
Sun's principal labs are in Boston and California, but the company also conducts research and development in the United Kingdom and India. Some Sun employees have opportunities for work assignments abroad. There is also a lot of collaboration worldwide, and Sun is presently hiring technical people for major initiatives in the Americas, India, Europe and China.
Sun offers health club facilities at most of its locations, and encourages community volunteerism.
"I think Sun is a place of character. We have a lot of really, really smart people working here," Slate says.
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Sun Microsystems Inc.
www.sun.com
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Headquarters: |
Santa Clara, CA |
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Employees: |
32,000 |
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Revenues: |
$11.2 billion |
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Business: |
Computer hardware, software and services |
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