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| The evaluation of the 50 list is sponsored by LATINA Style Magazine, a national magazine for the contemporary Hispanic woman. Since it was first published in 1998, the number of companies applying has nearly tripled to 600, making the selection process significantly more competitive. |
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The LATINA Style judges selected IBM on the issues readers identified as most important to them in the workplace. IBM was cited for its supportive environment that includes the number of Latina executives, mentoring, a task force on women's issues, on-site childcare at some locations, health insurance, leave of absences and flexible work options.
The awards were presented following a "Best Practices in Diversity" Conference in Washington, D.C. February 5, which addressed companies' concerns and profiled some of the most successful programs on the LATINA Style 50 companies list. The ceremony brought together the top Latinas in corporate America, at the White House and in the Federal government as well as influential leaders of the Hispanic community.
Patt Romero Cronin, IBM Hispanic Task Force co-chair |
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| Accepting the award on behalf of IBM was Patt Romero Cronin, vice president, transformation initiatives, Global Services, and co-chair of the Hispanic Task Force, and Maria Hernandez, director, e-business on demand business operations, Systems Group.
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| "We are delighted to accept this award for IBM because it illustrates the company's strong commitment to workforce diversity, including sensitivity to Latinas' needs and goals in the workplace," says Patt. "We're proud of our recruiting efforts in the Hispanic community and the results of our executive task force that focuses on mentoring and coaching Hispanic employees across the company." |
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Maria Hernandez |
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Hispanic Task Force Bridges Digital Divide |
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IBM is encouraging the Hispanic community to discover the Internet, thanks to a a new translation program. ¡TradúceloAhora! Automatic Translation software is being piloted with 30 nonprofit organizations in six major cities across the country. More importantly, the software addresses a reluctance by Hispanics to embrace technology.
IBM's Hispanic Executive Task Force commissioned a report on Hispanics and IT two years ago to discover the reasons for this reluctance. The report, from the prestigious Tomás Rivera Policy Institute, identifies a lack of Spanish language Web sites as one barrier. In response, IBM's million-dollar grant provides the English-to-Spanish translation software, hardware and technical support.
The Task Force is also focused on tapping the $653-billion Hispanic market - whose two-million businesses have grown at three times the US average. Task Force members are working with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, other selected organizations and Latino business partners to increase IBM’s marketing to this important segment.
Within IBM, the US Hispanic population grew 48 percent over the last seven years and the number of Hispanic executives increased 211 percent. While creating networking and mentoring programs such as La Red Familiar (the Family Net) for IBM’s Latina professionals, the Task Force is also recruiting actively at leading Hispanic universities.
To increase Hispanic technology education and computer literacy, IBM also sponsors La Familia Technology Week each October. Around the country, IBM Corporate Community Relations partners with IBMers and nonprofits to sponsor activities ranging from e-mentoring programs to parent workshops on computer use.
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