HP Inc. is proud of its strong diversity legacy. From hiring some of the first female engineers to launching the first LGBTQ resource group in Silicon Valley, HP is a company of action and continues to reinvent its efforts in diversity and inclusion (D&I). Having a meaningful impact on the planet, its people and its communities is not just a moral imperative—it's a business one as well. HP is taking action through a range of programs to help transform the world. One campaign in particular is Reinvent Mindsets, focused on unconscious bias in today's hiring environment to help cultivate a future talent pool. The message is simple yet powerful: HP is hiring and talent is our only criteria.
The multi-pronged initiative aims to recruit, retain and promote diverse talent both in-house at HP and within agency partner teams to strengthen the broader technology, marketing and communications industries. Reinvent Mindsets is about changing the way we think. Having a variety of experiences helps understand challenges, create new insights, and develop solutions that serve customers' needs. HP wants to not only welcome people with different perspectives to the table, we want to unleash their ideas.
HP's diversity work is steeped in research and insights. Both technology and advertising, two key areas of business for HP, struggle with diversity. However, study after study shows diversity yields better business results, both from building more diverse ideas and representing key audiences (i.e., women buy 53% of personal computers and 48% of printers).
When HP created the idea for Reinvent Mindsets, it challenged itself as a company and its agencies to increase the number of women and minorities in creative and leadership positions to better represent its key audiences. But it needed to better understand these underrepresented communities. To do so, HP conducted a series of focus groups to discuss:
HP found that it should:
In addition, once campaigns were developed, additional focus groups were conducted to test all creative materials and messaging to ensure it would be received and fulfill the desired impact.
To date, HP has launched four "Reinvent Mindsets" ad spots targeted at African Americans, women, the LGBTQ community and Latinos: "Let's Get In Touch," "Dads and Daughters," "Proud Portraits" and "Latino Jobs."
Reinvent Mindsets has helped contribute to an increase in hires and promotions at HP among women and people of color:
HP aims to become the employer of choice for both women and underrepresented groups. For the year ahead, HP is focused on driving systemic change through bold action and an industry-wide approach to diversity measurement.
As HP measures success, it will continue to benchmark progress in hiring and retaining women and underrepresented minorities. But the time for talk is over, the time for action is now. It's about so much more than ticking the boxes and reporting numbers – HP is taking steps to change mindsets and unconscious bias, not just numbers. HP is now providing its global workforce with unconscious bias training at all levels of the company – it started with leadership and by the of 2018 HP will have trained over 1,000 hiring managers through its unconscious bias program. And through the Reinvent Mindsets campaign, HP is actively trying to spark meaningful change in how job candidates are perceived and treated in the tech industry.
