Diversity is what fuels Red Hat’s inclusive culture. It’s what helps us deliver better ideas and drive innovation. It is only through having diverse perspectives and viewpoints, that we can challenge assumptions, break out of traditional ways of thinking, and explore new territory. So for us, diversity is not a “nice-to-have,” it is a business imperative.

As part of this, we have spoken out in moments of injustice to show our clear and unwavering support for marginalized communities including these statements from our president and CEO, Paul Cormier, and our vice president of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Margaret Dawson. 

When we look at diversity, equity and inclusion, it’s not the responsibility of one person or one team. Red Hat is born out of open source communities and we know that we can accomplish much more as a community than we can as individuals. It is the responsibility of every Red Hatter. We are always working to create an environment where our associates feel respected, supported, and that they belong. And when we fail to live up to that aspiration, we want our associates to point it out and help us be better. 

Internally, we are continually examining our hiring practices and training our associates on unconscious bias and hiring for culture add versus culture fit. But it goes beyond hiring, we are working to build a culture where everyone’s voice is heard and they feel confident to bring their full selves to the workplace. We offer training for our associates and managers on inclusive team dynamics to help everyone be better colleagues, embrace meritocracy where the best ideas can come from anyone regardless of background, and learn to listen to all voices. 

To improve diversity in both our broader industry and at Red Hat, we are involved in many efforts, including:

• DEI communities: Within Red Hat, our associates join diversity, equity, and inclusion communities, which are voluntary, associate-led groups focused on helping members build stronger internal and external networks; offer social, educational, and outreach activities; create development opportunities for future leaders; and increase engagement among associates. We currently have nine communities – Asian Network, B.U.I.L.D. (Blacks United in Leadership and Diversity), Diverse Abilities, Military Veterans, Native + Indigenous, Neurodiversity, Pride, Unidos, and Women’s Leadership.
• Participation in diversity-related career fairs and outreach programs, including the University of North Carolina Diverse Reverse Fair, the National Black Society of Black Engineers and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Career Fair at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, North Carolina A&T’s Extreme IT Day, and Pearl Hacks.
• Sponsorship of events and outreach efforts, including Grace Hopper Celebration, Lesbians Who Tech, TechTogether, ChickTech, and Outreachy.
• Inclusive language initiative: We also have a dedicated team working on a conscious language initiative that is focused on eradicating problematic language within Red Hat’s code.
• Co.Lab: Introduces middle school students to the principles of open source — and to a world of technology and collaboration that they may not have otherwise considered.

These are just a few examples and we are just scratching the surface, and are working to scale our efforts internally and externally.

We’re also living into this goal at All Things Open 2021. In an effort to do our part to make sure attendance at the event is as diverse as possible and reflective of the overall communities we work in, we are proud to be sponsoring underrepresented scholarships to the in-person component of the event. We’re looking forward to seeing you all soon in Raleigh! 

The Featured Blog Posts series will highlight posts from partners and members of the All Things Open community leading up to the conference in October.