Member Spotlight: How NetApp Advances Diversity, Equity, and Belonging in its Workforce and Beyond

Representation matters and today’s workforce is as diverse as it has ever been. Over the past two years, specifically in the tech sector, many companies have made public commitments to increase hiring, engagement, and retention of underrepresented groups, especially people of color. By developing inclusive programs and creating partnerships focused on closing the diversity talent gap, ITI’s member companies are making intentional strides to build the next generation of leaders in the industry.

This Black History Month, ITI would like to highlight NetApp. NetApp was awarded the 2021 ITI Diversity Equity and Inclusion Award for its commitment to building a stronger talent pipeline across multiple industries and in communities in which they operate. This U.S.-based, but global cloud company is strengthening its diversity, inclusion, and belonging (DI&B) work ten-fold with greater and stronger commitments to ensure all NetApp employees can feel like they belong each and every day.

One of NetApp’s core values is focused on creating a culture of belonging by embedding diversity and inclusion into every decision that they make. They have developed an inclusive environment that welcomes diverse voices, different perspectives, and most important, their true potential for innovation. Internally, NetApp has worked to attract, recruit and retain diverse talent through smarter recruiting and retention. This year, NetApp leveraged a new talent enablement tool to provide employees with greater visibility to internal opportunities and equip them to take a more proactive role in their development. The company also used another software program that is used to assist with diversity hiring by rapidly sorting groups of candidates by key criteria. These efforts have strengthened the company’s already existing practices such as requiring diverse candidate pools and diverse interview panels.

In the past year NetApp has doubled down on its work to ensure that the company is fostering opportunities for underrepresented populations. Last year, the company announced that they had placed their first employee in the CEO Action for Racial Equity Fellowship to focus on bridging the digital divide and expanding access to telehealth for communities. This first-of-its-kind, business-led initiative mobilizes CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ signatory organizations, like NetApp, to advance policy change at the federal, state and local levels. It is the largest CEO-driven commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

NetApp also has strong partnerships which shows their support for diversity in the community and beyond. In collaboration with Southern University Law Center (SULC), NetApp launched the Community of Legal Innovators (CLI) program which empowers young diverse law students to build their professional networks with other HBCU-participating students and potential employers across the Fortune 500 and global law firm community. As a top supporter for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), NetApp has also strengthened its partnerships with HBCUs and Advancing Minorities Interest in Engineering (AMIE) to foster greater representation at all levels of engineering and tech fields. For example, the company has invested in scholarships for students matriculating at North Carolina A&T University and outreach initiatives including innovation challenges, hackathons, and senior design projects. In addition, the company is a member of the HBCU Caucus Partnership Challenge, and is co-hosting an event with the Caucus on February 24 to raise awareness about the effectiveness of telehealth in serving the healthcare needs of underserved communities.

Visit NetApp to learn more about its diversity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives.

Public Policy Tags: Workforce

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