Diversity and Inclusion

At Dover, one of our five core values centers on respecting and valuing people. Reflecting this in our actions and behaviors is integral to our culture, and we now have specific inclusion goals to drive progress on this topic. The diversity of our workforce enables us to attract new talent, keeps our employees engaged and productive, helps us better serve our diverse customers and markets, and advances innovation from ideas reflecting the broad diversity of our employees’ backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.

Our Commitment to Inclusion

We believe that cultivating an inclusive culture, where employees feel valued for their diversity and contributions, is vital for our continued success and innovation. We also believe that cultivating a culture of inclusion that can bring our diverse perspectives together is also one of the best enablers of retaining our diverse workforce. To solidify our commitment, we set forth new inclusion goals this year in line with our internal diversity and inclusion roadmap.

An enhanced focus on inclusion with specific goals aligns with our core values and will set us up for continued progress on diversity and inclusion. These goals will be supported by training and engagement programs such as inclusive leadership training as well as establishing a D&I Leadership Council composed of champions from each operating company.

Further, we will consider the results of the employee engagement survey and inclusiveness data to develop targeted action plans focused on enhancing inclusion across our diverse geographies and businesses.

We continue to support the employee resource groups that many of our operating companies host. These groups promote a work environment that welcomes diversity, promotes inclusion and engagement and furthers our talent development strategy. These groups allow for collaboration and serve as an open forum for networking, professional development, and mentoring.

We are committed to maintaining a work environment that is professional, inclusive, and free from discrimination and harassment. That includes ensuring equal opportunity in our hiring practices and treatment of employees regardless of their race, color, religion, disability, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital status, age, or other characteristic protected by law. Our Code of Business Conduct & Ethics lays out guidelines to maintain a fair and safe workplace in our Ethical Employment Practices, Harassment, and Non-discrimination Policy and does not tolerate harassment or any behavior that creates an intimidating, offensive, or demeaning environment related to a person’s protected characteristics. To help educate our workforce on the benefits of an inclusive environment, and drive awareness, we have invested in training across the organization on topics such as unconscious bias and harassment prevention.

We strive to build teams that fully leverage individuals’ capabilities and actively value the diverse perspectives and backgrounds of all our colleagues. Two of our most critical leadership competencies are “building and managing collaborative relationships” and “attracting, developing and retaining talent”. Developing leaders who model these competencies in their daily behavior by demonstrating the value of diversity is critical to our success.

Employee Resource Groups

Our operating companies encourage diversity and inclusion through employee resource groups. For example, Environmental Services Group sponsors the “Women of ESG” group and Dover Fueling Solutions hosts a “Women’s Network”. These groups meet regularly and invite internal as well as external speakers to explore relevant topics and promote professional development. Environmental Services Group also sponsors a “Veteran’s Network” to encourage veterans to share their experiences and leadership skills and develop strategies to attract and retain veterans in the workforce.

We are also pleased to see the increases in gender diversity over time, across our workforce in total and at management levels. We understand that many of our businesses operate in industries that historically lack gender diversity, especially within disciplines such as operations, production, and engineering. Accordingly, we are continuing to expand our gender diversity recruitment efforts. For example, our Microwave Products Group operating company recently sponsored a career fair for a local chapter of the Society of Women Engineers. Additionally, we evaluate the diversity of our candidate slates when pursuing both internal and external candidates for open positions, particularly in leadership roles.

Dover’s Supplier Diversity

At Dover, our Supplier Diversity program includes minority, woman, veteran, disabled, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender owned businesses as well as small businesses. Our global sourcing teams are directly engaged in positioning qualified diverse-owned businesses in their portfolio of approved suppliers. We require third-party certification or government registration for suppliers to be included in our Supplier Diversity Program and work with suppliers that provide high-quality goods/services, cost savings and competitive pricing, and are customer-focused and innovative. While Dover continues to develop our supplier diversity program, as of 2019 we had 10.6% of spend with over 1,700 small and diverse suppliers in the US.

Developing Dover’s Diverse Talent

Within Dover, we provide many opportunities for professional development through leadership programs—see Employee attraction and development for details. While many programs are based on recommendations and career milestones, we make a conscious effort to promote the development of our diverse talent within Dover. For example, participants in our high potential development program for emerging talent had a 54% diversity representation by gender or ethnicity since program inception in 2012.