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A Fortune 100 company, Motorola is known around the world for its innovation and leadership in wireless and broadband communications, declares Jenny Fisher, VP for global staffing. Engineering innovation is a cornerstone of the company, she says.
In the past two years sales have grown 18 to 21 percent annually, and "To keep up, we're always searching for uniquely qualified talent to refresh the pool."
The largest geographic concentration of engineers is at Chicago-area HQ. "Motorola has a reputation for putting together multidisciplinary, multifunctional teams and offering opportunities in many departments."
A year ago Motorola introduced a three-year action plan called "One Motorola in the workforce, marketplace and workplace." Candi Castleberry-Singleton, brought in as VP of global inclusion and diversity, launched the new approach.
Castleberry-Singleton received the 2004 Women of Color in Technology award, and has an impressive list of board memberships in organizations promoting inclusion. They include Diversity Best Practices, the Linkage Diversity Summit, the League of Black Women, and Cable Positive.
"Our vision," she says, "is of a company where inclusion is embedded in all we do."
Motorola is already a diverse organization, she notes. About 35 percent of the company's overall workforce is people of color, with management ranks at 16 percent. "Now we will concentrate on embedding inclusion into talent management processes and community, supplier and customer initiatives."
Each senior leader's workforce action plan includes support of internal diversity councils, professional organizations like SHPE, NSBE, Women MBAs and Hispanic MBAs, and local schools. "We hold meetings, inviting staffing, marketing, the councils and our foundation to contribute to development of the plans. We want to create synergies and open opportunities between us."
"From an inclusion perspective," Castleberry-Singleton says, "We develop talent locally in order to support cultural dynamics, norms and behaviors. The real challenge for a global organization is that one size never does fit all. There's never going to be either a single product or a single type of employee that's a perfect fit everywhere.
"Each country, organization and department within Motorola will have its own sources, including local universities and councils, all with the goal of global inclusion and diversity."
Community involvement is important to Motorola. Castleberry-Singleton cites last year's Motorola Global Day of Service. "Almost 9,500 Motorolans around the world volunteered in their own communities, doing everything from donating books and clothes to painting schools and planting gardens. We all wanted to make a difference. We expect this year to be even bigger and better.
"Our workplace slogan is 'aligning culture, programs, workplace and technologies to make work and life connect for our employees,'" says Castleberry-Singleton.
"We're a 24/7 global organization with employees all over the world. When we look at the diversity of the next generation's talent, we must think about the kinds of work environments employees are looking for. By doing this right today, we open ourselves to the best and brightest.
"Through a combination of partnerships and integration, we're driving sustainability into our day-to-day business processes while watching our progress and celebrating our accomplishments. We will continue to focus our growth in global female populations and U.S. people of color.
"We want to make Motorola a great place to work and ensure that our marketplace activities reflect our commitment to inclusion."
D/C
Motorola
www.motorola.com
| Headquarters: |
Schaumburg, IL |
| Employees: |
About 25,000 engineers and IT pros worldwide |
| Revenues: |
$42.9 billion in 2006 |
| Business: |
Wireless and broadband communications |
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