News Item

IBM Global and US Workforce Diversity Policy Letters now  include gender identity or expression and sexual orientation.

Oct. 6, 2002

This week, IBM's Workforce Diversity Policy Letters were updated.  "Sexual orientation"and "gender identity or expression" were added to the global policy letter and "gender identity or expression" was added to the US statement. IBM has two letters because of the U.S. laws regarding affirmative action and veterans, which are not applicable to other geographies.

We are updating the letters for the following reasons:

With the change in senior leadership, it is appropriate that these policy letters be signed by our CEO, particularly in the U.S. where we are subject to equal opportunity audits by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Three of our Workforce Diversity Executive Task Forces are now global: Women, People with Disabilities (PwD), and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT). In addition to our Workforce Diversity Executive Task Forces, we now have 137 Diversity Network Groups: two are global (PwD and GLBT); and 11 are outside of the U.S. (seven are GLBT)

It is appropriate that our global policy letters reflect the PwD and GLBT presence in our workforce, and affirm our respect for the individual. The changes in these letters address the following:

IBM's global commitment to providing accessibility to our work locations, and reasonable accommodations in meeting job requirements for employees with a disability.

The terms "gender identity and expression" have been added to our U.S. letter, and "sexual orientation, gender identity or expression," are now part of our global letter.

The new language will communicate IBM's workforce policy regarding people in terms of sexual orientation, what they look like, how they act and how they dress in terms of gender characteristics.

http://www-3.ibm.com/employment/us/diverse/equalopportunity.shtml

Joseph Bertolotti
Program Director, GLBT Sales and Talent
IBM Global Services^^^