Current Award Winner

Diversity has been part of IBM’ history ever since its creation 100 years ago. As early as 1934 IBM started recruiting women staff. In 1943 they appointed Ruth Leach as the first woman vice-president. In 1953, Thomas J. Watson, President of IBM, launched the « Equal Opportunity » policy, first of a long series of commitments which led to the implementation of the Diversity and Inclusion policy in 1996. This policy consists, among others, in involving networks in order to increase the value of differences inside the Company. Thus groups of women, Gays, Lesbians, Bisexual & Transgender (GLBT), handicapped persons and ethnic minorities were successively created on a global scale and locally in every country where IBM is present. These networks operated independently thanks to the commitment of voluntary employees and leaders along with the support of executive sponsors.

In Switzerland, this commitment for the promotion of women in the work place is demonstrated through activities and initiatives developed and carried out by the Swiss Women Leadership Council (SWLC). Its main mission consists of informing, raising awareness, motivating and supporting women in their development and in reaching their true potential. Part-time work, « work@home », flextime are some of the options which allow co-workers (men and women) to maneuver more easily in their professional and private lives.