By Sharawn Connors, Vice President of Diversity, Equality & Inclusion, Micron
At Micron, we believe in the importance of access to technology for all communities because technology enriches life for all.
For over 40 years, our memory and storage solutions have been instrumental to the world’s most significant technology advancements, delivering optimal memory and storage systems for billions of devices used by people around the globe. We face an unprecedented time to enrich life by tapping technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G networks. And we have shaped our company’s vision to this opportunity: “Transforming how the world uses information to enrich life for all.”
These are not just words; advancing diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) is how we do business. I am proud of Micron’s leadership in embracing DEI and believe this focus has advanced our ambitious DEI commitments.
Before COVID-19, before the tragic killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the social movements against these injustices, Micron was committed to taking action on our DEI initiatives. These tragic events, along with the global pandemic, shined a spotlight on our work in this space and the need to accelerate the intensity and intention of our efforts. We know we must be relentless and take concrete actions that drive change and so we are focusing on key priorities:
Pay Equity, Including Stock
We know that not everyone is paid fairly. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Black women in the U.S. who work full time, year-round are typically paid just 62 cents for every dollar paid to white men. This was one of the factors that led to expanding our global pay equity mandate beyond gender to all underrepresented groups including Blacks, Latinos, people with disabilities, and veterans in the U.S. And we evaluate more than base pay — as a leader in our industry, we are one of the first companies to extend pay equity studies to all underrepresented groups and also assess stock awards to ensure they are distributed fairly. These actions go well beyond compliance or checking the box — we are committed to full pay equity for all.
Inclusive Hiring Practices
Our university recruiting team is building deeper relationships with institutions such as historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU), Hispanic-serving institutions, and those that traditionally graduate women in engineering. For example, we have a longstanding relationship with Norfolk State University, a HBCU in Virginia where we funded a cleanroom — a controlled environment with low levels of pollutants that can adversely affect manufacturing processes. This high-tech facility cultivates critical skills by giving students access to the latest technologies in chip design and manufacturing.
We tap into exceptional talent from underrepresented groups by building alliances with organizations such as the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Society of Women Engineers. As an alumna of INROADS, I am pleased to announce Micron’s recent partnership with INROADS to increase representation of Blacks and Latinos in our internship program. In addition, we use AI to draft job descriptions that reduce bias and we remove identifiable information from résumés to make them anonymous and less open to discrimination.
We now require all interview slates to include at least two candidates from underrepresented backgrounds. And we invite trained candidate allies from our nine employee resource groups to participate in the interview process as representatives of Micron’s culture and values. They ensure that interviews are conducted fairly and help mitigate unconscious bias.
Support of Minority Firms Through Cash Management
We’ve identified key areas outside our business that we see as essential to creating lasting gains toward a more inclusive economy. For instance, in partnership with RBC Global Asset Management, Micron invests in underserved communities nationally. The investment strategy is designed to reduce wealth gaps in predominantly Black neighborhoods and increase access to homeownership, affordable rental housing, community facilities and small business loans. I want our diversity efforts to cascade beyond the walls of our business and into communities like my hometown, Oakland, California, which are often underserved.
Micron’s allocation brings our total support for firms owned and managed by members of underrepresented groups to $250 million in 2020. And we’ve extended our focus to the supply chain, aiming to double annual spending with diverse-owned suppliers by 2023.
We have made progress on our goals that address supplier diversity, equitable pay and benefits, and fostering a culture of inclusion. We still have work to do inside our company to achieve representation that reflects available talent across all underrepresented groups — especially in leadership and technical positions. To that end, we made powerful commitments for 2021 and are adopting new, inclusive hiring practices and programs to support underrepresented team members in their advancement at all levels of the company.
We provide transparency to our efforts in our annual diversity, equality and inclusion report, “For All.” Micron is dedicated to this journey, working relentlessly to make sure that our technology impact, team member opportunity and corporate engagement is indeed for all.
—Sharawn Connors, Vice President of Diversity, Equality & Inclusion, leads the DEI function within Micron’s People organization, which touches all aspects of the business, particularly attracting and supporting a diverse and talented workforce around the globe. Born and raised in Oakland, California, in a single parent household by her father, she knows first-hand how DEI initiatives and mentorship can advance the ambitions of young Black professionals. Passionate about education and coaching, Connors is also an adjunct professor and a mentor to first-generation and underrepresented college students.
