Managing a globally diverse workforce in a leading Chinese IT firm
Fang Lee Cooke
Company background
Huawei Technologies Ltd is a privately owned Chinese multinational firm in the IT/telecom industry. Set up in the mid-1980s initially as a trading company for electronic goods, Huawei has developed itself rapidly in recent years into a leading IT/telecom solution supplier with emerging global competitive strength. As of 2012, Huawei serves 45 of the world’s top 50 telecom operators. Its products and solutions are deployed in over 140 countries, serving more than one third of the world’s population.
According to its corporate website http://www.huawei.com/en/abouthuawei/sustainability/win-win-development/c accessed on 1 December 2013), Huawei employs over 140,000 employees worldwide. Their regional spread is indicated in the table.
On average, over 70 per cent of the employees in Huawei’s overseas subsidiaries are local.
Source: http://www.huawei.com/en/about-huawei/sustainability/win-win-development/c accessed on
1 December 2013
The demographic statistics, as shown in the figure, suggest that Huawei has a relatively young and male dominant workforce.
Source: http://www.huawei.com/en/about-huawei/sustainability/win-win-development/c accessed on
1 December 2013
Equal opportunity and diversity management policy
Huawei has a number of corporate policies on equal opportunity (EO) and diversity management (DM) that are intended to have a global coverage. These include:
Non-discrimination
Huawei’s policy of equal opportunity is reflected in its recruitment, promotion, compensation, and other aspects. Huawei stipulates that there should be no discrimination in terms of race, gender, region, nationality, age, pregnancy, or disability. In addition, it has established a policy for antidiscrimination and abides by the requirements of applicable laws in different locations.
Special Needs Employee Management Process
Huawei has established a Special