Supporting Our People and Our Neighbors
Our core principles were established to enable a culture and environment where employees are empowered to collaborate, learn, and teach others. Those principles include:
- Safety
- Teamwork
- Integrity
- Diversity and inclusion
- Respect
In 2022, we refreshed the core behaviors that complement these principles to better reflect our culture. These are the behaviors we expect our people to emulate and display:
- Own it
- Act with urgency
- Foster a customer-first mindset
- Think big and execute
- Lead by example
- Drive continuous improvement
- Learn and seek out development
Safety and Wellness
A safe and healthy workplace creates the foundation for innovation.
There’s more to responsible operation than protecting the environment. At Vertiv, it also encompasses the environmental, health and safety (EHS) systems, programs, and training we have put in place to promote safety and wellness.
The mission of Vertiv’s EHS team is to protect Vertiv and Vertiv’s employees from environmental, health, and safety risks so they can be prosperous and achieve their goals. A robust ESG system is critical to that mission while simultaneously allowing Vertiv to be both commercially successful and socially responsible.
Vertiv employs a global occupational health and safety management system to govern EHS. Our corporate EHS policy includes requirements and standards for EHS across the company and covers all employees, as well as contractors and members of the public who are on company premises.
Vertiv’s regional and functional EHS leaders are responsible for maintaining and updating EHS guidelines, which include emergency procedures, training standards, accident reporting procedures, fire safety procedures, roles and responsibilities, and other important information. Our employees are responsible for following Vertiv safety policies, including using personal protective equipment, reporting containers that are unlabeled, actively participating in required training, and reporting safety incidents to their supervisor or manager.
Our policy is supported by an EHS management system, which is equivalent to ISO 45001:2018, an international standard designed to reduce risks and create better, safer working conditions. As of 2022, 49% of our eligible facilities have received ISO 45001:2018 certification, and our goal is for all eligible facilities and service regions to be certified. We also track key EHS performance metrics at the regional and global level to drive positive performance over time.
Furthermore, EHS training is a condition of employment and provided to all employee upon hire and throughout their employment with Vertiv. Specific areas of training include incident reporting, emergency response, personal protective equipment, lockout-tagout, safe tool use, and other topics pertaining to workplace risks.
Tied to our core behaviors, the Safety Starts With Me initiative encapsulates all the ways we remain dedicated to our vision of a safe and environmentally sound workplace. The program serves as an ongoing reminder that each employee, every day, is responsible for safety excellence.
We also recognize the vital role health plays in the overall well-being of our workforce. We proactively provide resources to inform, inspire, and safeguard our global team, including requiring all manufacturing sites and service regions to have ongoing wellness initiatives. In 2022, Vertiv joined the World Federation of Mental Health in celebrating World Mental Health Day.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I)
At Vertiv, we believe that innovative solutions are often developed from having diverse viewpoints and perspectives at the table.
Vertiv’s Code of Conduct sets forth key DE&I principles:
- We promote inclusion and equal opportunities with respect to hiring, terms of employment, mobility, training, compensation, and occupational health without discrimination.
- Employees are encouraged to expand the diversity of candidate pools, and to be open and welcoming to a variety of different points of view and backgrounds.
- We wish to build and foster an inclusive culture where employees have opportunities to grow, develop, lead, and effect positive change.
- We believe in diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity not because it is the legally responsible thing to do, but rather, it is the right thing to do, and ultimately, it benefits Vertiv.
In 2022, we introduced the Vertiv DE&I Statement, which captures our approach and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
To build a world where critical technologies always work, Vertiv must nurture, empower, and celebrate a diverse and inclusive high-performing culture. We aim to attract, develop, and retain qualified, diverse global talents. We must value innovative ways of thinking and unique experiences to connect our employees with our customers and community.
When we celebrate our seen and unseen differences, we strengthen our commonalities. At our core, we are committed to respecting all people, and prioritizing continuous self- and organizational improvement, curiosity, growth and education. We set the bar high for ourselves because your uniqueness and voice matter.
We respect the dignity and human rights of individuals and create a safe working environment for Vertiv employees, partners, customers and affiliates. We do not tolerate discriminatory, defamatory, or exclusionary behavior.
We also took steps in 2022 to advance our DE&I training by launching education and training sessions for senior management and other global and regional leaders, and continued training on unconscious bias.
Our Equal Employment Opportunity policy statement, included in our Code of Conduct, states that there will be no discrimination or harassment against an employee or applicant on the grounds of age, race, color, religion, creed, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, citizenship status, national origin, protected veteran status, political affiliation, disability, or any other status or characteristic protected by applicable law.
Women in Leadership
Vertiv is continuing to make progress in advancing opportunities for women in our industry. Vertiv has appointed the following women executives in the past three years to lead their respective functions — Sheryl Haislet, Chief Information Officer; Stephanie Gill, Chief Legal Counsel; and Cheryl Lim, Chief Human Resources Officer. In addition, in 2022, women in our organization received industry-wide recognition for their excellence.
Sheryl Haislet, Vertiv CIO, was named one of 20 Women to Watch in the IT, telecom and technology space by Capacity Media. Sheryl was also awarded the Ohio ORBIE for organizations with more than $1 billion in revenue and multi-national operations.
CRN named Christina Pageau, Senior E-Ccommerce Marketing Manager, Global, to its 2022 list of 100 People You Should Know which recognizes individuals whose insight and ingenuity help drive channel partners success. The publication also named Katie Royse, Partner Marketing Manager, to its list of 2022 Rising Female Stars.
The Economic Times of India recognized Dipti Singh, Director ASI Portfolio Marketing and India Marketing, as one of its Most Promising Tech Marketers in the Channel/Partner Marketing category.
Attracting and Nurturing Talent
Attracting and nurturing talent is central to building a culture that prioritizes respect, teamwork and innovation. We are continuing to expand our efforts to attract talent, particularly in high-demand fields, to support our expansion and focus on research and development (R&D). In 2022, we added more than 400 engineers to our team to support expanded product development and innovation initiatives.
Our recruitment efforts also continue to emphasize early career hiring, recruiting young professionals for a wide range of positions. In 2022, we received the following recognition for our early career hiring efforts:
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RippleMatch, the leading organization connecting the university population with companies and job postings, recognized Vertiv as a RippleMatch 2023 Campus Forward Award Winner.
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Harvard Business Review recognized Vertiv with the Outstanding Management Award, which considers employer brand as a significant component.
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Yonyou recognized Vertiv with the Excellent Practice Award for Campus Recruitment. We also won regional awards including The Best Employer in Shenzhen from Zhi Lian, 100 Employer Excellence Award of China from 51 Jobs, and Extraordinary Employer Award in Guangdong from Lie Pin.
To support their development, we provide our employees with access to a portfolio of in-house learning experiences, in addition to on-demand courses offered through LinkedIn Learning. In 2022, Vertiv employees received approximately 378,000 hours of general and position-specific training. We also support qualified employees who wish to pursue additional third-party certifications or higher education through tuition sponsorship or assistance.
All Vertiv employees also receive regular training on health and safety, the Vertiv Code of Conduct, and other instruction. In addition, we provide in-depth development opportunities tailored to specific needs and job functions, such as service and design engineers, IT experts, and other technical specialists. We operate 14 training centers across the globe, focusing on all areas of our business.
Supporting Our Neighbors
Vertiv supports the communities in which we operate with innovative volunteer and corporate philanthropy initiatives.
In 2022, we focused our global community and philanthropic efforts in four impact areas.
- Education with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
- People in need
- Healthcare nonprofits and advocacy
- Environmental improvements in local communities
Here are some examples of how these efforts benefit our communities and our employees:
Our role as a Founding Partner and Official Data Center Equipment Provider of the Columbus Crew, a Major League Soccer (MLS) team, yielded multiple opportunities to give back to the community in 2022. Those included a group of Vertiv employees joining the Ohio Special Olympics soccer team for spring training; partnering with the Crew on a STEM Day for local Boys and Girls Clubs; and partnering with a local non-profit supporting children fighting cancer for a Kick Childhood Cancer event at a Crew match.
We partnered with PCs for People to divert 7,276 pounds of electronic waste from landfills, which is equivalent to preventing 38.6 metric tons of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere.
Employee-led Volunteerism
Vertiv encourages and supports employees in their community volunteer efforts. Individuals and groups of Vertiv employees have organized efforts around the fight against cancer and heart disease to combating issues like hunger and homelessness.
Over $47K raised by the Vertiv Peloton team for Pelotonia, a Columbus-based nonprofit that raises money for innovative cancer research and treatments at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Approximately 1,000 lunches packed and delivered to the Loveland Food Bank by Vertiv employees.
Vertiv Manila Supports Project PEARLS’ Adopt-A-Family, delivering food packs, personal protective supplies like face masks and hand sanitizers, and Christmas gifts to children in the families.
Employee-led volunteerism has spurred a number of activities across our global operations. Here are just a few examples:
- Vertiv staff in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Czech Republic and Croatia provided humanitarian support for people impacted by the conflict in Ukraine. This support included housing families, providing cross-border transfers and other transportation support, providing food supplies, volunteering in shelters and reception centers, and providing language support.
- Approximately 50 Vertiv employees supported the renovation of a children’s library in Lara Village, in partnership with World Vision Romania.
- In collaboration with Treedom, Vertiv employees planted more than 1,700 trees throughout nine countries across three continents that will absorb more than 600 tons of CO2, underscoring our commitment to environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation.
Supporting Education, STEM, and Closing the Digital Divide
Nurturing the next generation of talent in all fields is important to Vertiv, and we have many initiatives to help young people learn about opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math. In fact, several of our leaders mentor young professionals inside and outside our company, and volunteer on boards to facilitate learning and hands-on experience.
In 2022, we offered a three-day intensive virtual summer school for students ages 14-21 interested in STEM education. The interactive experience was led by 22 Vertiv colleagues as instructors and guest speakers. The 80 student participants were dispersed globally across 18 countries.
