Sustainability Report 2021 33 Sustainability Report 2021 33 Diverse Talent Recruitment Our diverse talent recruiting seeks candidates from the technology industry and related fields and attracts talented new college graduates (NCGs) from universities with strong engineering and science programs—including U.S. schools with large Black and Hispanic student populations. Through STEM education initiatives with colleges, universities and nonprofit partners serving middle and high school students, we are also building a pipeline of future talent. Over the past two years, we’ve pursued a range of initiatives and technologies to help us achieve our diversity goals: > Introducing a Diverse Talent Sourcing Platform that enables searches for diverse candidates > Rolling out a global Talent Selection Playbook that helps managers define their talent needs, then assess and select the most appropriate candidates > Doubling our referral bonus program to reward employees for recommending successful candidates for customer engineering and other technical roles > Expanding talent searches beyond our physical operating regions to broaden our potential talent pool > Recruiting military talent as they exit the U.S. services These initiatives and others have contributed to an increase in the representation of global women, U.S. women and U.S. URM employees at Applied. As leaders in the technology industry, our total commitment to inclusion and diversity informs and enables all our practices for attracting, recruiting, hiring and onboarding a top-performing workforce. In 2021, continuing pandemic challenges and a hyper-competitive labor market complicated the task of meeting our growing skill needs, especially in semiconductor technologies. Recruiting and Hiring Supporting the Everywhere Workplace In 2021, we implemented a new alternative workplace location process, enabling flexibility for our employees when personal circumstances arise. By supporting remote, flexible models, we are better able to recruit and retain the best talent for our teams. INTRODUCTION PURPOSE PEOPLE Recruiting and Hiring Our Culture of Inclusion Learning and Development Employee Safety and Support During COVID-19 Occupational Health and Safety Human Rights PLANET PROGRESS