As a company that is committed to always nurturing and advancing the diversity of our employees across the world, HARMAN was proud to celebrate Global Diversity Month recently in October. While 2020 was a challenging year for many, including our thousands of employees across the globe, we at HARMAN commenced and implemented several key strategic D&I initiatives this past year.
D&I Council Global Meeting
Our recently announced D&I Council held its first global meeting earlier in October, where senior leaders held an open forum to hear the recommendations of our Black Employee Diversity Task Force that is focused on four key areas – Attraction & Hiring, Development & Advancement, Retention, and Culture.
As a result of the substantive discussions that happened at this meeting, the Black Employee Diversity Task Force proposed several actions to help attract, engage and retain Black employees. Many of these initiatives have already been approved by HARMAN’s management. A major approved initiative will work to establish an Employee Resource Group (ERG) for Black employees, which will promote community support and understanding among all employees. HARMAN is also proud to announce that a new fund was established, in conjunction with our JBL Campus program, to provide helpful scholarships and mentorships to deserving students of the Black community. This new program is anticipated to launch in January 2021.
HWN Supports International Day of the Girl in Mexico
HARMAN‘s employee groups such as the HARMAN Women’s Network (HWN) continue to engage with employees across our global offices. The HWN chapter in Mexico recently organized efforts to celebrate the International Day of the Girl, a program from the United Nations that is intended to grow awareness of the inequalities that girls face across areas including education, nutrition and legal rights. To commemorate this special day, our team held initiatives that included a drawing activity inspired by human rights activist Malala Yousafzai and a virtual technical workshop on computer programming.
Earlier this year, HARMAN organized various initiatives to continue having deeper conversations around D&I, including courses on Closing the Confidence Gap, Alliance Mindset and Unconscious Bias, which were attended by more than 1,200 employees. This year also drew the participation of several external speakers as part of our HARMAN University’s Unconscious Bias trainings.
Launch of AMIGO Program in India
HARMAN’s D&I programs and initiatives are continuing to inform and evolve our organizational policies too. In India, we recently introduced the AMIGO program to help pregnant women be better prepared professionally ahead of their maternity leave, including support during their time away and additional services to help them transition back into the workplace. In addition to helping our expecting employees, these programs also aim to help the employee’s manager and peers who would be stepping in to support the employee in this time of transition.
HARMAN continues to be driven in its vision and efforts to be a company that attracts, nurtures and celebrates a highly diverse and inclusive community of employees. From our recent efforts aimed at celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, launch of the NFOT 4 campaign or the various trainings organized to recognize unconscious bias, we’re always striving to create a workplace that instills pride in our employees globally. If you are looking to join a rewarding and diverse workplace that offers incredible growth opportunities around the world, check out our careers page.