At Equinix, we strive to foster a culture where employees can feel empowered and secure while advancing meaningful careers and doing their best work. Investing in talent is key to the continued growth of our company. Our focus on talent includes developing pathways to reach diverse communities, building robust platforms to connect and engage with new talent, and continually improving the employee experience while maintaining our culture and values. We are dedicated to attracting, hiring and developing the best talent who support our organizational goals and work to create a more accessible, equitable and sustainable future.
We are focused on creating multiple pathways to reach new talent from diverse communities. In 2022, we continued investing in partnerships, tools and systems to grow and support our inclusive hiring practices. This also included an EECN-specific career page to provide potential employees with an overview of our active networks, highlighting there is a network for everyone. These efforts contribute to a growing and resilient talent pipeline that enables us to scale our efforts at every level where we are looking for talent.
We continued to improve our hiring processes with 25% of our U.S. new-to-career hires from Hispanic/Latinx and Black communities.
In 2022, we provided bias training workshops for every hiring manager to establish the importance of reaching out to diverse pools of candidates.
We take a global stance, implementing guidelines and best practices around new hire offers that promote a consistent process. When determining new hire compensation, we do not take into consideration the current salary of a candidate nor increases based on previous salary—offers are determined based on the value a candidate brings to Equinix. We partner with compensation managers to determine the offer based on the following considerations:
In 2022, we engaged the expertise of our Equinix Employee Connection Networks (EECNs) while holding space for regional differences. Partnering with and leveraging these groups has helped us progress against our aspirational representation targets. These adjustments and additions to our recruitment approach have effectively increased the diversity of our candidate pools, resulting in better qualified and more diverse candidates. For example, in partnership with GenteConnect and BlackConnect, we piloted a “Red Carpet Employee Referral Program” in the U.S., providing a high-touch and seamless experience for referrals.
BlackConnect, one of Equinix’s Employee Connection Networks, and the Talent Acquisition team partnered with Fisk University, a distinguished Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Tennessee, to build Black representation in our pipeline, and to attract students for 2023 internships. In November 2022, BlackConnect and the Talent Acquisition team returned to Fisk’s campus to hold mock interviews, internship interviews and evaluate curriculum integration. The relationship continues with aspirations to evolve into a long-term sustainable partnership.
GenteConnect, one of Equinix’s Employee Connection Networks, and the Talent Acquisition team, convened at the 2022 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Technology conference in Orlando, Florida. This conference was designed to recognize the years of passionate research and countless women who choose careers in computing. We recruited candidates resulting in six same-day offers made at the conference.
Our “Pathways Program” works to open global pipelines for historically marginalized communities and improve and accelerate the hiring of diverse talent. The program is made up of seven initiatives–the Career Transition Program, Returners Program, Military Program, Disability Initiative, Athlete Career Transition (ACT), Government Training Initiatives and supporting refugee hiring that target the occupational communities as described below.
Our Pathways initiatives help to address industry issues and skills gaps through hiring, providing opportunities to those in a job search, or from industries in decline. A dedicated sourcing team was put together to support hiring for Pathways, increasing diverse pipelines with 40+ hires, including 58% diverse hires, 37% female and 76% historically marginalized communities. These efforts contributed to a resilient talent pipeline that enables us to scale our efforts throughout our business.
Returners Program
An opportunity for professionals returning to work after a career gap (maternity leave, caretaker role, sick leave, etc.)
Military Programs
An opportunity for Service members and spouses to gain valuable civilian work experience through specific industry training, apprenticeships or internships.
Career Transition Program
Hiring from outside of the data center industry by a competency, aptitude and potential assessment in line with industry requirements.
Support Refugees Hiring
Committed to offering employment opportunities to refugees worldwide and supporting their transition into a new job.
Athlete Career Transition (ACT)
Hiring elite athletes, Paralympians and Olympians, whose values, mindset and determination can be transferred to a variety of business environments.
Disability Initiative
Increasing community support and reducing stigmas around disability hiring. Creating awareness and education around inclusive hiring.
Government Training Initiatives
Focused on building skill sets in order to diversify and increase workforce opportunities.
In 2022, our ACT partnership connecting professional Olympians and Paralympians with relevant career opportunities led to 10+ new global hires in roles across Human Resources, Marketing and Sales.
The Career Transition Program (CTP) allows us to expand our candidate sources beyond the typical high-tech industries, enabling candidates to join Equinix and make a successful career pivot. In 2022, there were 410 global hires from this program, accounting for 43% of hiring for site operations teams. This program showed extraordinary gains, with 58% year-over-year growth.
In 2022, we hired 63 veterans globally through our Military Program. We are proud to be recognized with the Military Friendly Employer gold rating, leveling up from silver in previous years. We have pursued additional avenues to include veterans in our hiring process, including the Warrior Care Program, Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and Military Adaptive Sports, which is much like Skillbridge for differently-abled members of the military and their families.
In 2022, we accepted 82 Skillbridge candidates with 70% diversity among candidates, including 18% female representation. Of the eligible Skillbridge candidates, 62% were hired as full-time employees.
In June 2022, we extended our efforts to support the hiring and placement of refugees with relevant work. In 2022, we hired two refugees and are committed to increasing this talent pipeline.
Emphasizing and aligning with our DIB values and goals, developing toolkits for a year-round hiring cycle, and continually improving the design of our hiring processes has led to a more effective New-to-Career Program with growing conversion rates. Our aspirational hiring targets for this program were 50% women and 30% Hispanic and Black students. We achieved a 54% hire rate for women and a 24% hire rate for Black and Hispanic interns. Additionally, we had over 200 interns in 2022.
Teaming up with diversity partners has enabled us to expand access to hiring opportunities for historically marginalized communities. By including Equinix branded content and employee stories on our partners’ platforms, we reach more candidates in these communities and provide them with visibility into a workplace that values diversity and belonging. Our partners include:
In 2023, Equinix will maintain our affiliations with external diversity partners to establish an ecosystem of equitable candidate pools. We plan on launching a hiring manager training session to effectively select interns for 2023, including a refresher on unconscious bias. We will continue to train and use recruitment and hiring tools, like Hopin, Clinch, HiredScore and Campus apps, to drive our goal of ensuring a diverse pipeline and maintaining an equitable hiring process.
Investing in talent is key to the continued growth of our company. We foster a culture where our employees can find belonging while discovering meaningful careers and doing the best work of their lives. Our efforts toward talent development reached new levels of engagement in 2022, even as we built out further elements of the program. We saw a total of 50,620 learning hours across all our talent development programs, a 54% increase from 2021.
With over 17,000 video-based leadership, professional and technical courses available to all Equinix employees in 11 languages, this online learning resource provides our employees with an on-demand library of relevant content they can access to improve their performance in their current roles and build their skills for their next roles. In 2022, we grew our library of customized, role-specific learning paths and leveraged LinkedIn Learning videos in our leadership programs. Our utilization rates for LinkedIn Learning are in the 75th percentile when compared to other global technology companies. Over 7,000 Equinix employees used LinkedIn Learning in 2022 to learn new skills, with an average time of 3.5 hours of learning per employee
“I took LinkedIn learning courses directly related to my work as well as my personal interest. I scheduled in a couple of hours each week to learn new skills as well as enhance the skills I already had.”
“I have also found that no matter what course I am watching, regardless of if it is going to be interesting or not, I always come away with learning something that I did not know before. This to me is the whole reason. Always improving & learning is what drives me. Lately a mix of programming, infrastructure software and leadership classes has been what I have been finding interesting.”
“My LinkedIn Learning began with a purchase of a treadmill in 2020 and having extra time while I am walking where I needed to keep my mind busy and not think about exercising. There are so many things I am interested in learning that this seemed like the perfect opportunity to take advantage of this program and my new allocation of time. I am guaranteed to get a better, more improved version of myself.”
Leadership Coaching
This six-month program provides unlimited one-on-one coaching with a professional certified coach for selected leaders spanning across first-level and mid-level leaders. In 2022, we expanded our audience and invited over 120 leaders to participate, including leaders of our EECNs. The coaching is focused on helping our leaders develop critical leadership skills outlined in our leadership success profiles, such as shaping strategy, developing others and leading change.
“I feel like we’ve made huge strides with defining my goals, developing my strategic thought process and focusing on team development (through delegation and accountability). Really am enjoying working with [my coach].”
Equinix Management Essentials
This six-month, cohort-based learning journey is targeted at developing first-level leaders focusing on themes such as coaching, decision-making and inclusive management. In 2022, the global rollout of this program saw over 750 managers participate, and 100% of respondents gave positive feedback. Additionally, self-assessments conducted after the program indicated an average 20% increase in manager effectiveness.
“I loved how interactive the sessions were. After being remote for so long, I finally got to meet other managers that I know I can reach out to for help/advice.”
Archimedes
Aspiring senior leaders can participate in our Archimedes Leadership Development Program. The program builds leadership skills in the following three areas: leading self, leading others and leading the business. Over a three-month period, 52 global participants attended focused sessions with senior Equinix executives and leadership experts at our Redwood City headquarters. Together, they worked to solve real Equinix business challenges, developing resilience and honing business acumen within a highly collaborative environment. There was also a focus on wellbeing, including an introduction to wellbeing rituals for leaders to share with their employees, knowledge building and reflective journaling. Overall, the program received a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 94, and all participants commented on the value of combining wellbeing with leadership development and appreciated the opportunity for connection with peers and executives.
“Self-care is critical for business transformation”
– Director-level cohort
Our global approach to measuring performance and growth is conducted through our Grow, Perform, Succeed (GPS) program. From “Quarterly Conversations” to year-end assessment and rewards, GPS is a cornerstone of how we align our people with our business strategy. It is also our way to support our employees’ personal and professional growth.
In 2022, we made systemic changes to the GPS program to increase objectivity in performance management by defining and measuring goals. Our focus for this update was to ensure everyone’s workload is balanced and they stay accountable while continuing to drive objectivity. There is a consistency check on the leadership level to ensure employees are assessed equitably, and employees have an avenue to revisit if they feel they were unfairly assessed. We have achieved a 95% adoption rate for our GPS measurements.
We reestablished our commitment to transformational positive change through alignment of leadership behaviors with a DIB-focused purpose. The five specific transformational leader behaviors are Agile, Business-savvy, Collaborative, Decisive and Inclusive. And in 2022, we added DIB leadership competencies and behaviors to our Leadership Success Profiles, to be used in hiring and promotion discussions for VPs and above. This works to recognize and incentivize these behaviors.
We continue to solicit feedback through short quarterly Pulse surveys that invite employees to share feedback. Additionally, we survey employees at other key points in the employee life cycle, such as onboarding and exit. These surveys help us identify themes and potential challenges, as well as glean insight into differences in the employee experience, satisfaction and sense of belonging across gender (globally) and race/ethnicity in the U.S. Our employee satisfaction score of 81 reflects the annual average response to the question: How happy are you working at Equinix?
Our recognition for driving strong workplace connections and providing unique work opportunities for everyone spans the globe. Here are some of recognitions we’re most proud of: