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VMware
VMWARE
Empowering and innovating
VMware Ireland has empowered its employees to make positive impacts in the community, through a range of innovative initiatives
VMware, the leading provider of multicloud services for apps, is shortlisted in fi ve categories at this year’s SBIA awards, for initiatives ranging from those that bring a distributed global workforce together, such as its Future of Work programme, to those that leverage the unique skills and talents of its workforce to impact the wider community, such as the tech skills training programme TechStart.
FUTURE OF WORK Through its Future of Work initiative, VMware has established 11 regional communities to drive an inclusive One VMware culture, to amplify corporate strategy on a local level, and to ensure everyone in the regions is enabled and empowered, regardless of where and how team members choose to work.
“Shifting to a ‘distributed fi rst’ work model has heightened the importance of staying close as a community, retaining our strong VMware culture and the rich interactions we have with one another,” says Karen Egan, SVP, Global Support.
Using a variety of communications platforms, VMware tracks all its communications through newsletter, links, surveys and VMsocial analytics, regularly evaluating what is working for its employees and making changes, where needed, to make sure everyone is benefi ting from the correct communication platforms and technologies.
CITIZEN PHILANTHROPY VMware’s Citizen Philanthropy programme encourages all employees to give to the community in a way that is meaningful and important to each individual. The programme celebrates the collective impact of all its people’s individual actions, encouraging the fl exibility for people to give to the community in a way they are genuinely passionate about. The main aim of the campaign was to engage more VMware colleagues and show how easy it is to give to the community, and to promote the use the 40 Service Learning hours each VMware Ireland Employee
gets annually. Each employee who completes their 40 hours can direct a grant of over €500 to a non-profi t of their choice. “This initiative has resulted in our employees making positive impacts to the community in personally important ways, resulting in a collective monetary impact of over €180,000 in 2021,” reveals Egan. Mark Fitzgerald, Sr. Director of Service Delivery, Global Support, VMware
AGE ACTION In a partnership with charity, VMware Ireland launched an App and published a book to promote intergenerational connections with all proceeds going to Age Action. VMware have been working with Age Action since 2017, and were keen to strengthen the ties even further, with
a goal of contributing towards Age Action’s mission of making Ireland the best country in which to grow old.
The team curated content celebrating children and adults alike reaching across generations, telling and immortalising stories from the older people in their lives in the app and book, eff ectively capturing and honouring a moment in time forever. Through the development of the app
VMWARE
VMware Employees doing service learning with Ballincollig Tidy Towns.
Employees taking part in Cork Pride Parade 2022
and publishing of the book VMware raised almost €5,000 in the first 6 months of the project while also raising awareness for Age Action Ireland, achieving the dual goals of raising awareness and funds for Age Action, and to share in Age Action’s efforts to promote and celebrate intergeneration connections.
TECHSTART Ultra-learning programme TechStart provides unemployed women with a path into a career in hightech regardless of background or experience. The initial training programme runs over 12 high intensity weeks, followed by 12 further weeks of highly structured, well ‘scaffolded’ mentoring and work experience. The programme, tailored to suit Cloud Computing companies, in its present incarnation, comprises of intense technical training combined with a number of focussed soft skills modules. The collaboration between VMware Ireland and Digital Skillnet has seen over 400 people, many without prior IT background trained and successfully obtain jobs in the IT sector.
“This program disrupts the homogeneity of standard tech hiring programs and has delivered a very rich vein of talent for VMware. We have people that were nurses, care workers, physiotherapists, chefs, bar tenders and many other professions that have forged very successful careers with our company,” says Egan.
MENTORSHIP In collaboration with the University College Cork Disability Support Service (UCC DSS), VMware provides mentorship to students with a disability to support their successful transition from education to employment. “There is a mutual benefit for mentors and mentees. Mentees build confidence and skills to support their transition and mentors build awareness and understanding of the area of disability,” explains Egan. VMware Ireland has completed three years of engagement in the UCC DSS mentorship programme with 40 employees, including senior leadership, involved as mentors throughout.
“At the heart of everything we do lies the responsibility and the opportunity to build a sustainable, equitable and more secure future for all. I see the passion and integrity our employees have for each other, our customers, and our community every day.” Employees at our quaterly event to welcome new hires
VMware Employees gather before a charity walk