Diversity In Action

Diebold makes ATMs to meet worldwide demand

R&D, software engineers and MEs are particularly essential employees. "When you get down to it, an ATM is just a giant PC," says the HR director

Carrie Connor

'Each person comes to our organization with a different background," says Tim Michalk, Diebold's director of human resources. "Because of their diverse backgrounds they look at our products differently. And if we build that into our design, manufacturing and serviceability, that will satisfy our worldwide base of customers, because our customers are diverse."

Diebold "seeks to turn uniqueness into assets," Michalk declares. Over the past few years the company has introduced programs and initiatives to deliver the message that "cultural differences are vital tools to achieve competitive advantage and flexibility."

The company started in 1859, and its first products were bank safes. Throughout the years, it has produced many items used in a bank, such as safe deposit boxes and vault doors. The company invented the drive-up banking window back in 1946.

Today, Diebold focuses on ATM self-service terminals, security systems and electronic voting machines. It has about 13,500 employees in eighty-eight countries. About half of its employees are in the U.S.

Diversity plays a huge role in the design of Diebold products, since they serve so many cultures, Michalk says. The machines have to be easy to use regardless of the language of the country. There are other special considerations, like the way customers in different countries prefer function keys and PIN pad keys to be arranged on an ATM, or where they expect to see the money dispensed. The company's new Opteva machines can use an audio interface to help visually impaired users through ATM transactions. "Regulations vary so we accommodate several options," Michalk explains.

Diebold serves bank branches across the U.S. About 1,800 of its employees are at company HQ and other facilities in the Canton, OH area. Another five manufacturing operations are located in Newark, OH; Lynchburg, VA; Danville, VA; Lexington, NC; and Sumter, SC.

The company manufactures all its own ATMs, and the manufacturing process is very specialized. The Lynchburg facility forms the sheet metal and the Sumter facility makes the lower chest part of the ATM, which is the machine's safe. Voting machines are made in Lexington.

Diebold is hiring worldwide, but "frugally," Michalk says. For example, there's a fair amount of turnover in customer service engineering. Half the employees in the U.S. are customer service engineers, working out of their homes and handling equipment installation and maintenance. Most have two-year associates degrees and either software or hardware backgrounds, Michalk says. The customer service engineers report to a dispatching operation in Canton, returning once or twice a year for training. "We train them from the ground up for these positions," Michalk says.

The company also employs R&D pros, many stationed at the Canton facility which handles about 60 percent of Diebold's R&D needs. There are also R&D centers in Argentina, Brazil, China, Italy, Belgium and other European countries. A new center is starting up in India.

Diebold is moving toward an emphasis on software, Michalk says. "We see the hardware becoming almost a commodity, although it's still quite specialized." He notes that the company wants to put different types of applications into the same basic machines so they can serve other purposes as appropriate: event ticketing, e-commerce or gaming, for example. "When you get down to it, these machines are giant PCs with special attributes," he notes.

R&D job applicants should have backgrounds in both software and hardware. The software part should be in apps, and an interest in design is very important.

The company uses a variety of development platforms like C++, C#, .net or Java. "It is not just about technology, it is about leveraging the right technologies to meet our customers' business needs. We can run on multiple systems like RMX, DOS, OS2 or MS Windows, and we're looking at Linux. We're always thinking ahead," Michalk says.

Diebold's original software was proprietary, but the company started using open architecture ten years ago. "That's because it was important to some of our customers, and also because open architecture means that our software can run on our competitors' machines," Michalk explains.

Experienced mechanical engineers are needed to handle small mechanism design, Michalk says. Applicants should have disk drive and PCB experience. Most of the company's IT work is outsourced to Deloitte Consulting.

"We have really concentrated on diversity hiring in the engineering ranks in the last five to seven years," Michalk says. The company is also pursuing a strong diversity program for its employees.

Diebold's diversity council is currently made up of HR professionals. Next year it will be extended to other areas in the organization, says Carrie Connor, HR rep.

While the Diebold diversity council is fairly new, Connor says, the eight-member team is building on its momentum. The company plans to form focus groups for networking, sharing experiences and building stronger relationships among employees. Another plan is to create diversity bulletin boards in select sites throughout the U.S., where employees will find educational information, global calendars, events and posters.

The company has an active supplier diversity program, and works with NSBE, SWE, SHPE and the Canton Urban League. There's an international focus group for mentoring, organizing outings and enhancing language and cross-cultural skills.

Diversity training is required for Diebold North America managers, and will soon be available for all employees. Michalk notes that the company's executive team recently went through an interactive on-site diversity training program.

Employees enjoy flex scheduling, a strong health and wellness program and even a discount on local exercise programs. The company also offers adoption benefits and dependent care reimbursement.

Employees can access an online performance enhancement program, where managers and employees establish goals and discuss their competencies, including diversity. Every employee also goes through Diebold business improvement system classes. They discuss different views of diversity, and learn about the company's efforts to move toward a more inclusive workforce.

Concerned about the brain drain of Ohio college students to other states, Diebold is working with state officials to help keep them home. The company has an extensive co-op program, and is pushing to hire about 20 percent of its technical employees directly from local colleges.

From a diversity standpoint, Diebold is looking to bring in some offshore recruits. "We already have about thirty people from outside the U.S. that we're sponsoring from a visa standpoint. They're from all around the world: Europe, Asia, India and Latin America," Michalk says.

D/C