Innovation is hard. It requires persistence.

John Deere counts on new ideas to continue to thrive in a global business, and works hard to recruit and retain the brightest talent from around the world to make that happen, said Deere & Company Chairman and CEO Sam Allen.

“We see two very important challenges ahead – to feed the world’s growing population and build the infrastructure needed to support the urbanization trend taking place across the globe. Both of these require breakthrough innovation,” he said. “Diverse teams bring better ideas and decisions to help us forge strong partnerships around the world. It’s a culture that reflects our global market and broadens our business opportunities.”

Employees work on multi-cultural, multi-national teams at Deere, which designs and manufactures advanced agricultural, construction, forestry with the utilization of equipment that can harvest forests, and turf products and services for customers whose work is linked to the land.
Marc Howze, vice president of Global Human Resources and Employee Communications, said, “We look to provide our recruits with challenging work to help them develop to their fullest potential and reach their career aspirations.”

Deere gets a lot of attention as a premier employer. In fact Deere is recognized in countries around the world as a “Great Place to Work.” The company was recently included on the Forbes magazine list of America’s Best Employers, ranked 38th among the 500 best places to work. It’s also ranked 10th in North America and 16th in the world on Aon Hewitt’s 2014 Global Top Companies for Leaders list.

Deere is also focused on gender diversity globally, with specific focus on Europe, China, India and Latin America. “We’re focused on including women across our global enterprise—in all parts of our business and at all levels in the talent pipeline,” Howze said.

Employees at Deere are encouraged to participate in shared-interest or multicultural employee resource groups, such as WomenREACH, Rainbow (LGBT group), LOTUS (Asian-Pacific Islander), Military Support, and BERG, the Black Employee Resource Group.

The company also provides leadership by partnering with and recruiting employees through organizations such as the Society of Women Engineers, National Society of Black Engineers, National Association of Black Accountants, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and others, he said.

“We want to attract the best talent and build strong teams,” Howze said. “That calls for opening our minds and leveraging differences to make us stronger.”

Deere also provides equal opportunity for suppliers and dealers, while strengthening community partnerships that influence the future talent pipeline.

The John Deere Inspire program reaches into communities around the world, sponsoring events that teach students about careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. Employees are involved in various STEM-related events including “Introduce a Girl to Engineering” as well as partnerships with schools and organizations.

Deere leaders hope these activities will expose a wide variety of students to new career possibilities.

“To grow our workforce, we want to grow the base of diverse talent,” Allen said. “That’s a big focus for us.”