Letter from Gil Casellas, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility and Chief Diversity Officer

At Dell, we consider diversity and inclusion an integral part of our business strategy in any economic environment. By continuing to drive these initiatives throughout the company, we’re able to harness each individual’s full potential, drive innovation and become a better place to work — ultimately ensuring that we’re providing the best customer experience.

I know that diversity and inclusion are business imperatives, even in times of change. Dell is undergoing significant transformation as a company. During this time, it’s important to understand that we are not losing an important foundation for success — our commitment to diversity and inclusion. Our definition of diversity and inclusion is simple — helping Dell succeeds with a global workforce that is highly talented, committed and reflective of our global customers. This means that we are an open and inclusive workplace. Inclusion covers not only differences in race, gender and sexual-orientation, but also geographic location, education, work styles, ethnicity and communications style, among others.

I’m sometimes asked if diversity is really important to our leadership. I can definitely say yes. In fact, diversity and inclusion are a business imperative, opportunity and responsibility. This philosophy starts at the top. As announced last year, Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO, chairs our Global Diversity Council and seven executives — three from Dell’s Executive Leadership Team (ELT) — also sit on the council.

The Global Diversity Council has taken an active role in shaping Dell’s continuing commitment to diversity and inclusion by providing accountability, priorities and leadership engagement. At the first Global Diversity Council, Michael committed to having each member of the ELT be accountable for owning their diversity goals and metrics. In addition, they prioritized the retention, recruitment and development of under-represented groups in our leadership ranks.

As a clear demonstration that diversity is a business priority, I was invited to participate in each ELT member’s organizational human resources planning process with Michael. In every single meeting, before I could ask the question on diversity and inclusion priorities, it was Michael who brought it up. It is reassuring to know that for our CEO diversity remains a priority even during such tough economic times.

As Dell continues its transformation, it is clear that we are seeing diversity and inclusion will remain an integral part of our overall business strategy. By continuing to drive these initiatives throughout the company, we will be able to harness each individual’s full potential, provide the best customer experience, drive innovation, become a better place to work and ensure we have an inspired workforce.

It’s also important to recognize our progress. That’s why we are proud of our diversity and inclusion accomplishments for Fiscal Year 2009.

• Working Mother magazine included Dell in its list of 100 Best Companies for working mothers — a premier work/life award for companies in the private and public sector.
• Dell EMEA received a number of awards within the region:
  
  • Work/Life — Best Family Friendly Company in Slovakia
  • Cultural — Media and Multicultural Awards in Ireland
  • Gender — BlackBerry Technology Awards for Women in the U.K.
• We conducted our first-ever voluntary Work/Life Survey, achieving 20-percent global participation. As a result of the feedback, Dell now offers a centralized online portal — MyLife — for employees to learn about flexible work benefits and opportunities, toolkits and more competitive policies.
• For five consecutive years, Dell has earned a score of 100 percent on the Corporate Equality Index and Best Places to Work Survey by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

We all share a responsibility to build and retain a diverse and inclusive team. So it’s important that we, as a company, provide the essential foundation and appropriate tools and resources to inspire our global team members to simply be themselves and bring their best to the table.

To measure our success and progress in these efforts to build diversity and inclusion, we have implemented company-wide assessments that greatly impact our programs and initiatives:

• Tell Dell is our annual employee survey, in which employees are encouraged to speak candidly about the programs, policies and management of the company. In 2008, 85 percent of employees participated in the survey.
• Organizational Human Resources Process (OHRP) is our people planning process that helps us ensure that we provide fair and equal treatment to all employees.
• The Global Diversity Council regularly reviews the progress of our diversity initiatives with Dell’s diversity scorecard.

We know that commitment is a continuous journey and we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workforce that drives Dell’s competitive advantage.