Employee Resource Groups

Women in Search of Excellence (WISE)

WISE

About WISE

Employee Networking Groups are a program within Dell's overall Global Diversity strategy. Networking Groups represent a community of employees who have common interests relating to such things as ethnicity, gender, nationality, lifestyle or sexual orientation. Networking Groups must have approved charters from Dell Global Diversity and the Executive Leadership Team.

Women in Search of Excellence (WISE) is the chartered Networking Group for women employees.

Mission and Objectives

WISE’s mission is to create an inclusive community that connects the needs and interests of women. WISE’s objectives are:

  • Retain talented women at Dell, and increase the pool of talented women leaders.
  • Improve the recruitment and retention of women by enabling the communication of goals, motivations, and concerns of women at Dell.
  • Support Dell's efforts to cast a broad net to recruit and retain the best and brightest talent.
  • Provide opportunities for education and professional development.
  • Act as a trusted resource of information and creative solutions to Dell.
  • Leverage women’s knowledge and expertise as we penetrate new markets and segments.
  • Provide a pool of resources for Dell community outreach and leadership activities.

Participating Executives

Each Networking Group has one or more Executive Sponsors, who are responsible for providing executive leadership to the group and interfacing with the Dell Global Diversity Council. Executive Sponsors must be members of the Dell Executive Leadership Team. WISE currently has two Executive Sponsors:

The Chairperson for WISE is Kim Hibler, vice president of sales effectiveness. Kim works closely with Brad Anderson, Erin Nelson and the board members of WISE to set the group’s strategy and define group initiatives on an annual basis.

Initiatives

WISE’s initiatives for this year include the following programs:

  1. Member development:
    • Key talent programs
    • Learning more about the Dell business groups and strategy
    • Mentoring
  2. Community within Dell:
    • Provide a “safe” environment for learning, practice & consultation
    • Provide support and a sense of belonging
    • Provide a place that addresses member needs and interests
    • Serve as an internal resource group for feedback and input to Dell
  3. Community beyond Dell:
    • Give back to the community through member support of and participation in community events
    • Conduct benchmarking and share best practices about community and employee engagement

WISE addresses these initiatives through the efforts of members that volunteer to serve as a Core Team Member (up to five Core Team Members per initiative), with lots of support from the general members of WISE.

Support to Dell

WISE members provide support to Dell through a number of program and initiatives, including:

  • WISE Buddies, who help newly-hired employees learn about and navigate within Dell through the New Hire Buddy Program. Buddies also serve as a person with whom new hires can network, or start to learn more about WISE.
  • Recognizing that employees, especially women, have multiple demands tugging at them, Dell has implemented a variety of Flexible Work Solutions to give employees options on how they balance work and home life. WISE members have been instrumental to the success of Flexible Work Solutions by providing input to help shape the program in its planning stages, and also through feedback as employees adopt different ways of working for Dell.
  • WISE also organizes and promotes a variety of internal events open to all Dell employees. These events cover a range of topics but frequently relate to family and health issues. Some recent events include:
    • A forum on adoption, with speakers from adoption agencies, support organizations, and Dell adoptive parents that share their stories on adoption. The forum also included an expo with representatives from adoption and foster agencies, support organizations and benefit specialists.
    • A panel discussion on breast cancer, held in conjunction with Komen Race for the Cure. The panel was informative and inspiring as participants discussed both personal experiences and various methods for early detection. The WISE chapter in Nashville also sponsored a team for the Komen race the following day, which raised funds for the Komen for the Cure Foundation.
    • A featured speaker on how to reduce clutter at home and at work. A professional organizing consultant shared tips on the basic principles and skills of organizing. The event was held in January 2008, just at the right time to support the accomplishment of New Year’s resolutions to get organized.

These efforts contributed to an improved workplace for women employees, which has been recognized with several awards including:

  • Working Mother magazine named Dell as one of the Best 100 Companies in 2008, recognizing Dell’s efforts to provide programs that enable employees to balance work and home life.
  • Dell was recognized with the Best Family Friendly Award by the Slovak Minister of Labor and Social Affairs for Dell's efforts to facilitate work-life balance. This prize is the most significant recognition of its kind in Slovakia.
  • Marie Moynihan, director of human resources for Dell EMEA, was awarded IMAGE Professional Woman of the Year Award. These awards honor and recognize the outstanding achievements of business women. IMAGE is the number one magazine for women in Ireland.
  • Kate Bishop, director of human resources for Dell EMEA, named as the Best Female Mentor 2008 in the Blackberry Technology Awards for Women for her work in training to help women advance their careers.
  • Dell received the Corporate Rising Star award from the Women’s Business Council Southwest for our commitment to supplier diversity and strategy to develop these companies as part of our supply chain.

Cultural Awareness

WISE leads the planning and execution of Dell’s annual observance of Women’s History Month each March. These observances recognize the contributions of women each year. Dell’s most recent observance for Women’s History Month featured a speaker from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Lady Bird is well-known for her campaigns to eliminate roadside litter and promote the planting of wildflowers.

Community Involvement

In addition to planning and supporting internal events, WISE members are also active in events in the communities where Dell employees live and work. Examples of this include making donations of food or money for Dell’s annual Can Hunger food drive, and forming teams to participate in events such as the March of Dimes March for Babies, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk to Cure Diabetes and Komen for the Cure. WISE members also supported the SafePlace Field Day & Festival through volunteering for the event that promotes an end to sexual and domestic violence.