"THINGS ARE AS HARD FOR WOMEN AS THEY WERE 25 YEARS AGO"
Intel's President Renée James on why
the global IT industry needs more women and what the company is doing about it
Intel began 2015 on a good note. The
Santa Clara-based tech giant reported record revenues for 2014, introduced
Curie (a button sized module that can be used in accessories like glasses,
rings, bracelets) at tech fair CES and also committed $300 million towards
workforce diversity. The company hopes to increase the population of women,
African Americans, Hispanics and other minorities by at least 14% in the next
five years. Diversity, however, is a global area of focus for Intel. Leading
the charge on this front is Intel President Renée James who has been with the
company for 27 years and is a regular on women power lists. In an hour long
chat with Corporate Dossier in Delhi, James spoke about why the IT industry
needs more women in its workforce, how that can happen and took a shot at that
tough question: “Can women have it all?“ Edited excerpts:
Corporate Dossier: Intel began 2015
by committing $300 million towards increasing workforce diversity. What made
the company think of making a commitment like this?
Renee James: We've been working on
diversity for a long time now. We've had a decade long program. In the US, some
companies publish their data and others don't. We've always done it. But in ten
years of working on it -asking our managers to make our workforce diverse and
inclusive -we've not made as much progress. We've stayed flat over a decade.
So, we decided to do two things. One, we will continue our efforts and do a
better job -improve on the things we had tried so far. Two, we decided to go
public, so that other companies in the IT industry, worldwide, would begin to
work on this issue. Broadly, we have a couple of problems. The IT industry is
driven by consumer demand. And more than half the consumers are women and 70%
of purchase decisions are made by women. If you don't have women working for
you, you really don't know what the people who are buying from you really want.
We also need to broaden the pipeline of women who are getting educated and who
are trained for IT jobs -and that's beyond Intel. We need the community of IT
companies and governments around the world to focus on this.
CD: Do you see facets of this
programme extending to India?
RJ: Absolutely. We are already doing
a lot of education and training for girls in India, which will continue. We
also have technical leadership programmes for women because we have a large
R&D site in India. We are also looking at investing in women owned startup
companies, which is something we haven't done before. We will be doing this
worldwide through Intel Capital.
CD: You started your career at Intel
25 years ago. Have things changed a lot for the better for women since then?
RJ: I would like to tell you that
things have changed a lot in the last 25 years but that would be a lie. It's as
difficult today for a woman in tech to progress in her career as it was 25
years ago. In some ways it is harder.The business has got bigger; it's a force
in the world of growth. In many countries, IT is a pillar of growth and
attracts a lot more competitive talent. Plus, there aren't more women coming
out of engineering on a percentage basis for the top jobs. CD: In India, about
30% of the IT workforce is women. Yet, only a handful of them are CXOs.
Research shows that women tend to drop out of the workforce after marriage and
childbirth. Are they any lessons from the West that we can replicate in India
to address this?
RJ:The data is exactly the same in
the West.Here's the thing: they are not leaving because they got married or
they are having babies. They are leaving because it is a convenient time to get
out because they can't stand it anymore. And, they don't come back. We have had
post exit interviews with women who left to have a family. When we spoke to
them at length, they would say: `I am back at work. But, I am working at a
non-IT industry.' They go to industries which are more supportive of their
lifestyle. First, you have to attract them and then, retain them. And then,
there is an environment issue where women get to a certain level and don't
promoted further. And that's the thing that we are going to work on: what's
keeping women from being promoted?
CD: How do you address that issue?
RJ: It's hard. It's a cultural
issue. What we are doing now is having listening sessions with managers and
employees about is really going on. It's really scary for some of these women
to come and talk about what's going on in their workgroup. We find most of the
senior managers are men and that starts to create a dynamic. So, we are
training our managers. We are restarting our trainings on inclusion and
diversity and micro-inequity sensitivity. It was something we used to do but
stopped, for some reason. Part of the reason why we are going public with these
issues is that if we don't talk about it, it's never going to change. In this
industry, there are days when I can go on meetings and not meet a woman through
the day. (sighs)
CD: Facebook and Apple are talking
about covering the costs of their female employees freezing their eggs, so that
they can continue to focus on their career without sacrificing their chance of
having children later. Would Intel would look at that?
RJ: We have a lot of wonderful
benefits like maternity benefits. We have recently announced bonding leaves for
all our employees male and female so that they can spend time with their
newborns. Even though we support IVF treatments, paying for freezing eggs isn't
something we have looked at so far.
CD: There has been a public debate
among women CEOs about: “can women have it all?“What's your take?
RJ: Having it all means different
things to different people. I think it's an individual choice. Nothing is
perfect. Everyone makes sacrifices. For me, it's worked out well. I have
children. I have a very interesting career. But it's not for everybody. Not
everybody wants be texting their 15-year-old asking how his maths tutor was.
They would rather be home looking at how the maths tutor was today. But it is
what it is. I think technology has made it easier.I have FaceTime and I can
text my kid. He emails me his paper and at times, I look at it and wish I was
there (laughs).Technology is not the same as being there but it's a lot better
than nothing.
CD: What is your advice to women who
want to move up the corporate ladder?
RJ: Develop resilience and be brave.
There are days when it is very discouraging. You have to develop personal
resilience to environmental things that come along.If you let every single
environmental challenge knock you off your game, it's going to be very, very
hard. You see a lot of women who take the negative things that come their way
and let it slide off them, like they are coated with Teflon.
CD: In your early days at Intel, you
were a technical assistant with the legendary Andy Grove, your mentor. How
important is it to find a mentor?
RJ: Mentorship is crucial. One of
the reasons I have been successful is because of my mentor. He is still my
mentor. I still go to his office and he tells me how much personal improvement
I need. That said he was a very success ful man and he never let me get away
with saying: `because I am woman.' I think finding role models, irrespective of
gender, is really important.Andy is a unique person with a unique worldview
that shaped Intel. He was the COO of Intel for 18 years and CEO for a long
time. He is very egalitarian and that's at the core of how Intel thinks about
things.
CD: What would be your ad vice to
companies who look at diversity as just another check box to tick?
RJ: There is a huge business case
for diversity. You will be making products for people you don't understand, you
don't interact with. If you don't have an inclusive, diverse works you myopic.
As for the compa force, it makes you myopic. As for the companies who approach
hiring women as ticking a checkbox ...part of me says,`fine, so be it.' But,
those women are in the company and nothing stops those women from being
successful, from making an impact. Once they are through the door, they are
in--however they got there. So, I would encourage women even if they think
they are in the company to check a box to do something. Don't stand still,
don't be a victim, do something.
By TV Mahalingam CDET13FEB15
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