VMware’s 2023 DEI Report: How We’re Building on the Momentum

VMware celebrated the 25th anniversary of its founding in February this year. Marking the occasion, our CEO, Raghu Raghuram, remarked, “Our 25-year history proves that we can execute anything we set our minds to.” This truth is borne out every day at VMware as we build on our DEI momentum and work towards ensuring inclusion and equity for more than 35,000 employees around the world. We’re proud of our advances in 2022, and our progress is illustrated in VMware’s 2023 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Report.  VMware remains committed to fostering an inclusive culture where all our employees thrive; and we're honored to be recognized for that work by our inclusion on the Forbes Best Employers for Diversity 2023 list.

Our progress over this past year could not have happened without an inherent passion for people-first strategies and our commitment to innovation – qualities that have enabled us to consistently rank at the top of the JUST 100 list for fair and equitable business behavior.

I encourage you to read the report and learn about the growth we achieved in our DEI initiatives. Dive into the details to discover inventive new programs that were designed to achieve the bold outcomes outlined in our 2030 Agenda. Looking back, we see that these three mindsets guided our strategic approach and the initiatives you’ll read more about in the report.

All In

At VMware, we encourage everyone to drive DEI. Neither Human Resources nor the DEI COE team is solely responsible for achieving these results. It’s a companywide effort and responsibility because it directly contributes to the impact in our day-to-day work and to the community at large. This all-in approach is an integral part of our culture.

One way to ensure this approach is by requiring our people managers to take our Inclusive Leadership in Action (ILIA) course. Offered as an immersive course at VMware, ILIA increases awareness of DEI topics and builds an understanding of how behaviors impact our culture. It is an opportunity for learning, reflection, and discussion, to help all of us check our behavior and experiences, while keeping our values of respect and inclusion at the forefront. While the course is required for people managers, all VMware employees are encouraged to participate and become allies and champions. 

Business Embedded  

Studies consistently show that a diverse and inclusive company benefits from more perspectives and increased employee engagement. These benefits lead to greater business innovation and profitability. As the report outlines, we have evolved to a robust DEI business-led process. We connect our strategy directly to results that support the business needs. For example, in 2022, all our general managers in the Product organization created DEI organizational plans and personal DEI plans aligned with our company's DEI Goals. 

We also provide coaching, enablement, and support for business leaders to develop strong business-led DEI initiatives that they are empowered to implement, champion, and promote, including: 

• Leader dashboards to drive business decisions through the DEI lens
• Quarterly forums for our senior leaders to review our DEI progress and spotlight leaders who are leading the way
• Forum and support for business-led DEI resources (“DEI Change Agents”)
• Data insights and coaching on Leader DEI Action Plans

Keeping the Momentum and Thinking Big

From the advancements we’ve made to measure progress on a broader group of underrepresented communities to our investments in external partnerships and conferences with a goal to expand and support underrepresented talent across the tech industry, we are keeping the momentum going. We also see this momentum in VMware’s joining the Valuable 500, a global business collection for CEOS and their companies innovating together for disability inclusion. This is despite the headwinds of economic challenges, volatility, uncertainty and complexity across the business and the industry as a whole.  

But perhaps most importantly, as we keep the momentum going, we keep our aspirational goals in focus. For example, we remain strongly committed to increasing the representation of women globally across all roles, URMs in the U.S., director and above roles for women globally, and director and above positions for URMs in the U.S.  

At VMware, we think big. Never satisfied with the status quo, our culture of possibility inspires innovation and moves us forward in our pursuit to accelerate the value we’re driving on key priorities even as we unlock the full potential of our VMware community.  

I am proud of where we are today in our DEI journey. And while our work is not yet done, the momentum we’ve created leaves me feeling inspired and energized about where we will go from here.