Originally posted on channelfutures.com
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is a long-standing value at Salesforce, and they believe that businesses can be a powerful platform for change. That value doesn’t stop at their doorstep.
Beyond the tens of thousands of people Salesforce employs directly, the company has an ecosystem of more than 11,000 partners around the globe and over 200,000 credentialed experts who help their joint customers get the most out of Salesforce. And the Salesforce ecosystem is projected to grow to almost six times the size of Salesforce by 2026, creating 9.3 million jobs.
Salesforce sees ensuring that a diverse talent pool is prepared to fill these roles and start new equitable businesses in the ecosystem is an important way to grow their impact exponentially.
“We’re committed to our equality goals and working across our ecosystem with employees, partners and customers to drive progress and increase business value,” said Lori Castillo Martinez, Salesforce’s chief equality officer. Martinez is a member of Channel Futures’ 2022 DE&I 101, which recognizes individuals driving DE&I in the information and communications technology channel.
The company’s first Partner Ecosystem Equality Report showcases how far they’ve come in ushering in diverse, equitable and inclusive partner businesses in the United States. It also establishes a transparent benchmark for tracking progress toward equality in Salesforce’s Partner Ecosystem.
An Inclusive Workforce
A key strategy for promoting ecosystem equality is enabling those historically left out of the tech industry to skill up and connect with potential employers at partner companies. Salesforce has measured their progress on this front by tracking:
- Hiring through the Salesforce Talent Alliance, an initiative that connects partners with skilled candidates trained on Salesforce’s free online learning platform Trailhead, with an emphasis on inclusion. In all, Salesforce Talent Alliance has helped 22,000 individuals from all walks of life start their careers in the Salesforce ecosystem. Partners who pledged to work with Talent Alliance candidates reported that 27% of the hires in 2022 came from ethnically and/or racially underrepresented groups in technology, 38% of whom were women.
- Attendance at career fairs to look for open positions within the ecosystem. In the past year, Salesforce saw strong participation in career fairs; of these individuals, 40% were Black, 13% were LatinX, and 21% were new immigrants and refugees.
- Completion of Salesforce Fundamentals, a free three-week course that prepares job-seekers for their first roles in the ecosystem. In the past year, 55% of participants were women and 44% identified as underrepresented minorities (URMs).
- Participation in the free live learning experiences that Salesforce sponsors on Clicked, which enable people to practice their skills, build portfolios and explore career options in the ecosystem. Sixty-seven percent of those seeking jobs at partner companies through Clicked were women and nearly half were URMs.
Going forward, Salesforce will continue to drive a pipeline of diverse new talent prepared to fill in-demand roles within the ecosystem.
