Diversity In Action

SAIC: systems, solutions, technical services and diversity

The director of corporate diversity says the company will hire several thousand experienced engineers and IT pros in the next year

SAIC’s Karen Penn: a workplace that appreciates its techies’ singularities.

SAIC is a leading systems, solutions and technical services company. It generates more than 90 percent of its business through federal, state and local government contracts, including all branches of the U.S. military, agencies of the Department of Defense, the intelligence community and the Department of Homeland Security. Clearly, a lot of its work requires high-level security clearances.

For nearly forty years, Penn notes, employees at SAIC have enjoyed a workplace that appreciates the synergies and singularities of its techies. “We welcome, respect, develop and leverage the individual differences in employees as a competitive strength. We are committed to recruiting, retaining and developing a diverse team of talented professionals.”

From the beginning, “SAIC was designed for professional people who want to do superior scientific and technical work and have a voice and stake in the company’s development.”

Every year the company has about 3,000 openings, some 2,000 of them for experienced engineers and IT pros.

SAIC has two employee networks: one multicultural, one for women. “The women’s network was created shortly before I came on board and today we have 1,600 members across the country,” Penn notes with pride.

The multicultural network, launched last year, already has nearly 200 members. “We wanted to acknowledge all aspects of diversity, including technical ability and education as well as experience, background, race and gender,” Penn explains. “It has been very successful.”

Network bylaws include a quarterly requirement to take part in community outreach. The women’s network has participated in women’s history month at the National Air and Space Museum and in Girl Scout science and technology day. “We’ve also mentored high school girls in science and technology,” Penn says.

SAIC recently participated in a summer diversity leadership program for college students. More than thirty SAIC professionals from across the company mentored hundreds of students in Atlanta and Baltimore. “We had more than 22,000 applications,” Penn says.

In addition to a robust employee referral program, SAIC actively participates in career fairs with a diversity focus, including those put on by BDPA, SHPE, SWE, NSBE, Women in Technology and the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Vocational Rehabilitative and Employment Services, as well as diversity-oriented career fairs at colleges and universities across the country, from San Diego State to the University of Virginia. The company has plans to host its own technically minded diversity career fair in the DC area.

To contribute to its corporate-wide diversity goals, SAIC requires action plans from each of its twenty-four units. “Currently, we have 31 percent women and 25 percent minorities companywide,” Penn reports. “Our goal is to continue to raise the level of awareness and increase our diversity representation across the company.”

In response to employee requests SAIC added a mentoring component to its employee networks’ formal guidelines. “But with 25 percent of our employees offsite at customer locations it’s difficult to maintain a connection,” Penn notes. “That’s why we’ve also developed a pilot program for distance mentoring.

“Our business is wide-ranging and our needs are equally diverse,” Penn reflects. “We’ve helped put robots in space, and we’ve trained dolphins to find undersea mines for the Navy. Not too many companies can offer that wide range of possibilities to candidates.”

D/C