Social
We value each of our employees and want our team members to enjoy rewarding and long-lasting careers, enhanced by educational opportunities and comprehensive wellbeing and benefits programs.
Our culture is at the heart of our appeal to top-tier talent, giving us a competitive advantage in the industry. By leading with our core values every day, we foster an innovative, collaborative and positive work environment, boosting employee morale and productivity and contributing to our overall success.
Sustainable Development Goals
Through our attraction and retention of top talent, we aim to promote productive employment and sustained economic growth. Our work supports the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 8.
Redefining Our Strategy
In 2023, we redefined our HR strategy to focus on three core pillars: Acquiring and Developing Talent, Embedding an Enterprise Mindset and Equipping Managers. These pillars underpin our three-year strategy to drive enterprise-level alignment with HR through goals and feedback processes, integrate managerial support for wellbeing in leadership and establish equitable talent selection processes globally.
Pillar 1
Acquiring and Developing Talent
Pillar 2
Embedding an Enterprise Mindset
Pillar 3
Equipping Managers
Attracting Top Talent
The varied perspectives, skills and experiences of diverse talent enrich Equinix, leading to a more innovative and adaptable workforce. We are enhancing our global talent selection processes through a strategic redesign and implementation of a more equitable process worldwide.
Recruiting Through Employee Outreach
In 2023, we tapped into the expertise of our regionally diverse Equinix Employee Connection Networks (EECNs) to assist our internal hiring efforts. This collaboration supports our aspirational representation goals.
GenteConnect
In 2023, our EECN, GenteConnect hosted a LinkedIn Live event about how GenteConnect fosters inclusion, offers networking opportunities and drives positive change in the early career space.
BlackConnect
Our EECNs, like BlackConnect, are making an impact in their communities, addressing the digital divide and helping to bring in diverse and top talent to the organization. In 2023, BlackConnect leaders continued to partner with the Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). This partnership builds on the Equinix Foundation’s 2022 commitment of a four-year grant totaling $1 million to fund Fisk University’s technology infrastructure modernization plan. In the second year of the grant, we sponsored engineering classes, peer mentoring, tutoring and an internship program for Fisk students at Equinix.
Constructing Pathways for Diverse Talent
Equinix’s Pathways Program establishes career pipelines for people from historically marginalized communities by enhancing and expediting the hiring of diverse talent, fostering inclusivity and addressing historical inequities in the hiring process. The program includes six initiatives that address the unique needs of different underrepresented communities. Together, these initiatives form a comprehensive and targeted approach to diversity and inclusion, aimed at creating more opportunities for underrepresented groups. In 2023, 14% of our global new hires emerged from our diverse Pathways program.
GLOBAL
Career Transition Program
Recruit individuals from outside the data center industry based on a competency, aptitude and potential assessment aligned with industry requirements.
REGIONAL
Returners Program
Create opportunities for professionals returning to work after a career gap, including maternity leave, caretaker roles and sick leave.
GLOBAL
Military Program
Provide industry-specific training, apprenticeships or internships for service members and spouses to gain valuable civilian work experience.
REGIONAL
Disability Initiative
Increase community support and reduce stigmas associated with disability hiring, fostering awareness and education around inclusive hiring practices.
GLOBAL
Athlete Career Transition
Hire elite athletes, including Paralympians and Olympians, whose values, mindset and determination can be seamlessly transferred to a variety of business environments.
GLOBAL
Support Refugees Hiring
Provide employment opportunities for refugees globally and assist their transition to new jobs.
Empowering Military Transition Through SkillBridge
SkillBridge, a component of our Military Program, is a route into the civilian workforce for military personnel transitioning out of service. Offering up to six months of government-paid talent integration, this initiative provides a pipeline of exceptional military talent and reduces our labor costs. Now in its second full year, the program has achieved an impressive 50% conversion rate.
New-to-Career Program
In 2023, we expanded and refined our New-to-Career (NTC) Program, offering global internships and entry-level career opportunities across all departments of the company. This program is tailored for recent graduates with minimal or no related career experience who are starting full-time positions at Equinix. We provide comprehensive support through a six-month journey designed to enhance their skills, expand their networks and foster a sense of belonging within Equinix.
Our aspirational hiring targets for this program were 50% women and 30% Hispanic/Latinx and Black students annually. In 2023, we achieved a 58% hire rate for women and a 38% hire rate for Black and Hispanic/Latinx interns.
Talent Development
Our talent development strategy emphasizes collaboration and the continuous development of our workforce. We promote a culture that provides a sense of belonging, allowing employees to explore meaningful careers and achieve their best work.
Empowering Growth Through Online Learning
Our Equinix Learning Center (ELC) offers comprehensive online resources allowing employees to enhance performance in their current roles and develop skills for future positions. The ELC contains more than 33,000 video-based courses covering topics such as leadership, professional development and technical skills training. These courses are accessible in 15 languages. We also provide access to LinkedIn Learning, which offers an additional extensive library of video-based courses.
In 2023, we launched a cohort-based learning experience platform in the ELC for our leadership development programs. One of these, Equinix Management Essentials, is our development program for first-level leaders. It is a hybrid six-month learning journey, which includes self-paced learning, facilitated workshops and peer learning opportunities. In 2023, 341 managers completed the program, with 98% stating they would recommend this program to a fellow first-level leader.
In 2023, 98% of employees used our online learning resources, averaging 3 hours and 52 minutes per employee, marking a 6% increase from the previous year.
Listening to Our Employees
Understanding employees’ perspectives helps shape and strengthen our company culture while highlighting opportunities for improvement. We collect employee feedback through brief quarterly pulse surveys, and we conduct surveys at crucial stages in the employee life cycle, including onboarding and exit processes. These surveys are crucial for identifying recurring themes and potential challenges, offering valuable insights into employee experiences, satisfaction and sense of belonging. This includes analysis on a global scale across genders, as well as a specific focus within the United States on issues related to race and ethnicity.
Our employee satisfaction score of 83 represents the annual average in response to the question, “How happy are you working at Equinix?” This score increased two points from the previous year and was six points greater than the top 25th percentile benchmark. Also, our Belonging and Wellbeing scores, 85 and 88, were higher than the industry benchmark.
Retaining Top Talent
To retain talent, we foster an inclusive and unique culture, and we offer opportunities for career development and comprehensive benefits. Our turnover rate in 2023 decreased to 10%, down from 12% in the previous year.
Leadership Development
Leadership development is essential for our ability to thrive in a highly competitive and ever-changing industry. Good leaders help attract and retain talent and ensure that Equinix is well-equipped to innovate, adapt and meet customers’ needs.
In 2023, we added wellbeing to our leadership development training and site activation strategies, underscoring the importance of fostering a supportive and healthy work environment from the top down.
Driving Leadership Excellence
We revamped our director assessment process to broaden the perspective on the connection to the company. This update emphasized the significance of considering how directors conduct business and lead, aiming for a more holistic understanding of leadership that goes beyond individual roles and responsibilities.
Through our Change Leadership Assessment, we annually evaluate leadership behaviors for those in VP level and above positions—and starting in 2023, for director level and above. The assessment is a more comprehensive evaluation of leadership qualities across different levels of the organization. Specifically, the assessment focuses on the behaviors of transformational leader agility, business-savvy, collaboration, decisiveness and inclusivity (ABCDI). These behaviors directly connect to the bonus program for senior directors and above.
Coaching Our Leaders
Our leadership coaching program provides selected leaders, including those from our EECNs, with one-on-one coaching from certified professionals. For first-level leaders, our Equinix Management Essentials program uses cohort-based learning to encourage development.
Equinix Leadership Essentials
In 2023, we collaborated with Harvard Business Publishing to introduce Equinix Leadership Essentials (ELE). Available to select directors, ELE is a specialized leadership development program that aims to develop the fundamental skills essential for mid-level leaders. 100 directors completed the program.
For aspiring senior leaders, we continue to offer our Archimedes Leadership Development Program. This program, available to key mid-level leaders, builds leadership skills in three areas: leading the self, leading others and leading the business. In 2023, the program had nearly 40 participants and focused on building leadership skill sets to foster employee wellbeing. In a post-course self-assessment, 98% of participants expressed a deeper understanding and appreciation for the role of wellbeing in effective leadership for themselves and others.
Bridging Performance Review Processes
Our global performance and growth measurement is conducted through our Grow, Perform, Succeed (GPS) program. The program aligns employees with our business strategy and supports their personal and professional growth.
Employees and managers hold quarterly agile conversations that are focused on the employee’s growth, wellbeing, development, and progress in attaining their annual goals. HR resources and tools are provided to support both employees and managers during these conversations and performance review process.
In 2023, we improved our performance review process by integrating mandatory bias mitigation training in English-speaking countries and enhancing clarity about evaluation scales and expectations. This improvement underscores our commitment to equitable assessments and inclusivity.
Recognition as a Best Place to Work
We take pride in receiving global recognition for fostering strong workplace connections and offering unique work opportunities. In 2023, we earned:
