At Dover, “Respects and Values People” is one of our five core values which define how we conduct ourselves with our customers, partners, and one another. Respecting and valuing people is integral to maintaining an inclusive culture. We are proud that our people come from across the globe, with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. 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 our innovation.
Our Progress Toward Our Goals
We value inclusion as much as we value diversity. We believe that cultivating an inclusive culture, where employees feel valued for their diversity and contributions, is vital for our continued success and innovation. An inclusive culture is what enables us to reap the benefits of a diverse workforce; it is also one of the best enablers of retaining our diverse workforce. Our commitment to these principles is reflected in the diversity and inclusion goals we set in 2021 and achieved by 2023, as well as the new set of goals we set and met earlier this year.
In 2024, we completed our second global employee engagement survey, which yielded an 84% participation rate and an inclusion index score of 81% based on our employees’ responses to a slate of questions related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Overall, the results suggest that our employees feel valued as individuals, are comfortable voicing their views, and believe they can be successful at Dover. Our inclusion index is encouraging and has informed the development of action plans for further progress on DEI. See our Talent Attraction and Development webpage for more details on our engagement survey.
In addition, we have broadly deployed inclusion training. In 2024, we meaningfully exceeded our goal to train 90% of our leaders globally on DEI. We are encouraged by the broadly positive reception the training received, and we believe this training will continue to improve the inclusion index at Dover in the coming years.
Employee Resource Groups
We continue to support the employee resource groups (ERG) hosted by many of our operating companies. These groups foster collaboration and serve as an open forum for networking, professional development, and mentoring. In so doing, they promote a work environment that welcomes diversity, promotes inclusion and engagement, and furthers our talent development strategy.
Several of our operating companies sponsor ERGs that advocate for women and veteran employees in the workplace. Dover Fueling Solutions hosts a “Women’s Network.” Likewise, our Vehicles Services Group and Sweden-based SWEP hold ongoing Women Speaker series. Microwave Products Group and Dover Food Retail each support Veteran ERGs that provide opportunities for veterans to share their experiences, encourage the development of leadership skills, and help attract and retain veterans in the workforce.
Our Policies on Inclusion
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 Conduct lays out guidelines to maintain a fair and safe workplace and makes clear that we do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or any behavior that creates an intimidating, offensive, or demeaning environment for any person. These guidelines also extend to our suppliers, as noted in our Supplier Code of Conduct. 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.
Diversity Metrics
Through our efforts to promote a diverse and inclusive workforce, we have increased our ethnically diverse team members by 8 percentage points (31% to 39%) and our female team members by 5 percentage points (21% to 26%) since 2016. We partner with America’s Job Exchange on its diversity outreach efforts for candidate sourcing and are dedicated to pursuing opportunities to identify and recruit diverse candidates, ensuring our continued cultivation of the talented workforce we need to deliver strong performance.
We value the contributions and unique perspectives that diversity provides to our companies. A range of age diversity is also represented across the company, enabling us to capitalize on the substantial experience and valuable institutional knowledge of our more experienced employees, while preparing for succession and the evolving needs of our businesses.
2023 Diversity Key Statistics
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, in addition to our efforts on inclusion, we continue to expand our gender diversity recruitment efforts, including by sponsoring career fairs at educational institutions and increasing the diversity of candidate slates for open positions, particularly in leadership roles. Please see our Talent Attraction and Development webpage for further details.
Developing Dover’s Diverse Talent
Within Dover, we provide many opportunities for professional development through leadership programs. 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, in 2022, Dover's two-year internal rotational Consulting Program attracted 60% ethnically or gender diverse participants and benefitted from 100% post-program placement within Dover.
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 and 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 spend1 with over 1,700 small and diverse suppliers in the US.
CELEBRATING DIVERSITY AT DOVER AND ITS OPERATING COMPANIES
The veterans of the United States Armed Forces make up a valuable part of our workforce. We celebrate our veterans year-round through displays and Honor Walls that include photographs and information about their military service. On November 11, U.S. Veteran's Day, Dover recognizes our Veterans by presenting them with commemorative medallions. Our operating companies are also encouraged to hold on-site events to further recognize our veterans with their colleagues.
In 2022, Dover became a sponsor for Girls Who Code, an international non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in the technology industry by equipping young women with the resources needed to pursue careers in the technology industry. Many of the women who participate in the program come from historically underrepresented groups, including girls who are Black, Latinx, or from low-income backgrounds. By supporting Girls Who Code, Dover further demonstrates our commitment to initiatives that advance educational opportunities and sustain a skilled workforce for the future.
Dover’s operating companies participate in additional opportunities to celebrate its diverse workforce. For example, Dover Fueling Solutions promoted the contributions of its women for International Women’s Day 2022, helping to #breakthebiases of gender in the manufacturing industry and to forge women’s equality in the sector.
Dover actively engages with various other groups, especially in the Chicago area, to promote diversity and inclusion. Refer to our Community Engagement and Philanthropy webpage for more information.
Women MAKE Awards Program
Dover participated in the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and The Manufacturing Institute Women MAKE Awards Program for the eighth year, nominating ten women for the 2024 awards. This program recognizes women and their achievements at all levels of a manufacturing organization, from the factory floor to the C-suite, and specifically recognizes women who have made a significant impact on their companies in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and production. The award also looks for women who exemplify leadership in community service within their companies and those who mentor the next generation of talent. We are proud to note that women from Dover operating companies were honored in 2017, 2021, 2023 and most recently 2024 as two Dover employees received Women MAKE Awards.
NAM hopes to shrink the gender representation gap and increase innovation by providing a platform for women to build networks, develop skills in the industry, and support women role models who can inspire the next generation. Dover recognizes and celebrates all of our nominees within each operating company through multiple communications channels, including Dover Celebrates!, our enterprise-wide feedback and recognition platform.