Worldbeat, Salsa Dancing, Gay, Lesbian, Pakistani, African, German, Dominican and more in a day at EMC
A "tech gossip rag" recently published a list of the 10 Worst CEOs "according to employees."
The CEOs named were from these companies: IBM, Microsoft, eBay, HP, EMC, EDS, AMD, VeriSign and Symantec.
Humm. Those are some pretty successful companies up there. Companies that likely set a high standard for performance. Companies where not everyone will thrive or be successful.
But aside from that the list was based on, in EMC's case, 11 employee reviews. The publication featured one of these employee reviews which called EMC out on diversity. For the analytical rock stars out there reading this, we have about 40,000 employees.
The Real Deal
Let me give you the real deal on how 34,400 EMC employees rated us in a recent survey. We don't have a question specifically on the CEO so I'll point to our overall satisfaction rating from our annual employee survey, taken in October 2007, as something likely more telling and more comprehensive. This rating was 82% out of 100%. The large magazine that is famous for its best places to work guide surveyed EMC employees in July of '07 and came up with roughly the same, 83% overall satisfaction rating. Employees rated EMC higher than our benchmark composite of IT companies in 25 of the 26 questions each of these companies ask in their annual surveys. We're not perfect. We have a lot to improve. And I think we're doing some pretty cool stuff to do just that.
Diversity and a Day at EMC
Take the subject of diversity -- seeing that this publication brought it up -- the following recaps an hour of my day yesterday:
------------------------ On my way down the hall from my office at lunch time I noticed a flier taped to the wall titled, "3rd Annual Summer Salsa Cruise" hosted by the EMC Latin Leadership Interest Team.
I rounded the corner to our Starbucks Cafe to find it filled with DJ-spun, Worldbeat music and a massive EpcotCenter-like "'Round the World" display inclusive of beaming people, sights, tastes and sounds. My first visit was to Morocco where upbeat Moroccan EMCers wearing native clothing brought Morocco to life for me.
My next visit was Pakistan. Three EMCers wearing native Pakistan Tunics showed me around a mini-Pakistan and told me their stories. One man has been with EMC nearly as long as me; he joined in 1992; another in 1995; the other in 1999.
Next, Malaysia. Here, a young Malaysian EMCer told me he started in our cafeteria as a cook. Today he's a technician working on his master's degree (with EMC tuition reimbursement.) Once his degree is complete, he's looking to work out of one of EMC's Asia Pac regional offices.
My tour continued to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Germany, Ireland, and more -- with the loud rhythms and effusive EMCers casting a celebratory spell over all visitors.
I was elated at the display of EMC's rich and vibrant diversity.
I returned to my office to find this email:
"We are pleased to announce the formation of the EMC Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Allies (LGBTA) affinity group, an EMC employee circle for the LGBT community, its allies, and employees with LGBT family members. This employee circle joins our existing community of employee circles including our Black Employee Affinity Group, the Women's Leadership Forum, EMC Latin Leadership Interest Team, EMC Connections for New Employees, our Asian Employee Circle, and the Indian Subcontinent Employees Circle."
And this email:
"New Session for the Women's Leadership Forum 'Lit Lunch' (Book Club): 'Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers' by Lois P. Frankel.
How cool is that?
------------------ Talk Back
What are satisfaction levels like at your company? Are you doing anything to embrace diversity or doing other cool things to make the company an even better and stronger place to work?
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