As a woman of color, I’ve been through my share of gender and cultural obstacles. But it’s because of those challenges that I’ve been able to recognize how important an inclusive culture is in business. Just as I want to feel accepted by my peers, I want Flex employees to know they are valued regardless of race, color, gender identity, or other attributes. We are in the business of creating products that change people’s lives—and that change starts here at Flex. —Revathi Advaithi, Flex CEO

Flex, the $24B manufacturing behemoth—ranked the third largest contract manufacturer in the world, with approximately 160,000 employees in 30 countries—is a powerful launchpad for transformation. If CEO Revathi Advaithi can foster inclusion and advance gender parity at an organization of this size on the heels of a crippling pandemic, the rest of the business world may be out of excuses. Says Advaithi, “You think tech has a shortage of women? Manufacturing is a whole different ballgame.” Indeed, manufacturing is a male-dominated industry, but that doesn’t dampen her resolve in the least. Since taking on the role of CEO at Flex in 2019, Advaithi has committed to increasing gender parity at the director level and above globally. As she puts it, “It’s very doable, frankly. I’ve made that clear to all my teams. It’s not about ‘not having enough women,’ it’s about making the decision to promote. We have enough women we can promote to get to those levels, and that comes down to sponsorship.” And how does one go about instituting sustainable culture change in a diverse, multinational corporation? As a former mechanical engineer, Advaithi relies heavily on advanced planning, steady incremental change, and above all, measurement. She says:

At Flex we do great when we measure things, so we’re measuring the heck out of this. We’re looking at why people make certain decisions, and I’m very comfortable that we can make progress just by opening people’s eyes to the decision-making process.

Advaithi and her team have set their sights on culture transformation and gender parity at Flex with relentless determination. In February 2021, the company rolled out Ways of Working (WoW), a set of behaviors defined to guide how the organization lives out its values and connects around a shared sense of purpose. The purpose? Make great products for customers that create value and improve people’s lives. The three simple but powerful values are: support each other as we strive to find a better way; move fast with discipline and purpose; and do the right thing always. The four WoW behaviors are the specific actions for employees to bring these values to life: respect and value others, learn and adapt, collaborate and share openly, and honor commitments. Clearly, these are not small, easily defined tasks one can check off a list. The goal is to change the way people think and make decisions—as well as the way they see themselves, their colleagues, and the organization—in the service of creating an inclusive workplace that empowers every employee to thrive, while improving performance. To do that right takes considerable planning, layers of support, and of course, measurement. The WoW initiative—which Flex is methodically implementing with a focus on one behavior per quarter—relies on a structured, top-down approach, a multitude of resources, and perhaps most critically, Culture Champions and Ambassadors like Sharon Johnson, Senior Director of Global HR Compliance. Johnson, who has been with Flex for more than 20 years, says her CEO has ushered in a new era at the company, and she wants to help make Advaithi’s vision a reality. After hearing Advaithi speak in the spring of 2019, Johnson says,

I felt like she was really planting seeds for the journey we’re on now. She spoke to the importance of culture, of collaborating, of transparency, and to the value of creativity. She said, 'Inclusion is an action, you have to do it to make it real.' I remember thinking, ‘Changes are coming, and I really want to see this firsthand.’

When the WoW initiative was announced, Johnson raised her hand to help support the effort. “As a Culture Ambassador,” she explains, “we partner with the executive and extended leadership teams to equip them with what they need [in a manner best suited to their particular learning style] to help drive a culture-change initiative through the organization. So, we train to gain a deep understanding of the topic in order to prepare leaders for conversations with their teams, we get feedback on opportunities for improvement, and we learn as we go to help us make the next quarter’s rollout even more effective.” There are also Change Champions in place who support middle managers in much the same way,“ so that the same message resonates through every level of the organization.” Each quarter starts with an introductory session on the topic, followed by thematic, monthly trainings offered via Flex Learn, the company’s online learning platform. Managers are also provided with “meetings in a box,” or reference materials, micro-learning videos, and other visuals to help them guide their teams in discussion. Johnson explains,

We consciously embed inclusion and diversity into all WoW elements. For example, our behavior this quarter is 'Learn and adapt,' so this month we talked about change and paradigm shifts, and a little about unconscious bias. We’re aiming to give leaders the tools they need to have those tough, uncomfortable conversations. That’s what we’re really working toward.

The measurement component of the initiative is no less thorough than its implementation. In addition to the important feedback Champions and Ambassadors gather from participants, managers’ efforts to foster the adoption of WoW behaviors are tracked through modules within Flex Learn. The company also covers the topic in quarterly pulse surveys. In a recent survey, employees were asked if their “manager discusses and demonstrates our Ways of Working,” to which an astounding 91% of respondents answered in the affirmative. Flex also plans to measure the adoption of WoW behaviors in its annual employee engagement survey in March. Johnson notes there are also a number of recruiting and talent acquisition efforts in place to ensure greater diversity through more equitable hiring practices. For example, Flex has applied masking technology to résumés, so that a hiring manager can’t see gender or infer a candidate’s ethnicity. Job descriptions are now written to remove any language that could indicate gender bias. Candidate pools are also more diversified, with at least two qualified women included per slate. And there has been an emphasis on recruiting from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Says Johnson, “We did an intern luncheon recently in Austin and the class was really diverse…different than I’ve seen in the past. We're making a conscious decision to be very focused in that space and I think it’s making a big impact.” There is also a notable nine-month intensive leadership program called SheLeads, designed to accelerate the development of diverse women leaders and fortify Flex’s talent pipeline. A cohort of high-potential women from a variety of regions, backgrounds, and career levels are invited to take part in a curriculum designed to bolster their leadership potential. A large component of the program involves networking with executive and senior leaders, SheLeads alumni, and outside experts; participants also can work on high-impact, executive-sponsored business projects. When it comes to sponsorship—which Advaithi credits for much of her own career success—Flex is currently evaluating which programs would make the most impact within the organization. But you can rest assured that the approach will be robust, and that impact will be measured. Says Advaithi:

I'm a woman from India who came to Oklahoma for my first job. I look different. I speak differently. And obviously, if there weren't people sponsoring me all the way as promotion decisions were being made, I wouldn't be here today. I'm glad there’s so much mentoring, but until you're in the room, championing for someone when a promotion or a job decision happens, then change doesn't happen. In terms of sponsorship and decision-making at Flex, we’re actually just starting to hold people accountable for it. We’re saying at the end of the day, there’s no reason not to get there.

The bottom line with Advaithi and Flex always goes back to core values. Success comes from supporting one another as we strive to find a better way, moving fast with discipline and purpose, and doing the right thing, always. Revathi Advaithi is a signatory of the Catalyst CEO Champions For Change initiative.

Flex: Do the Right Thing, Always

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