To celebrate Women’s History Month, we’re focusing on the future of women in STEM. Currently, only 28% of STEM professionals in the U.S. are women and at Best Buy, we think that’s just not good enough.
“We need to empower more girls to go into STEM fields, or we’re not utilizing half of the brain power in the world,” CEO Corie Barry said. “That also means that what gets studied and what gets made will be determined by only half of the population. Women need to be involved in fixing the problems of the future.”
Closing the gender gap is estimated to add $28 trillion to the value of the global economy by 2025. Put simply, companies and societies are more likely to grow and prosper when women gain greater financial independence. Yet across the country, men hold a disproportionate share of senior-level roles in companies.
Best Buy is working hard to change that — at all levels of our business. Through recruiting and hiring, mentoring programs and resources, we’re creating a culture of gender equality from local stores to our corporate campus and beyond.
Here are five ways Best Buy empowers women.
1. Women in leadership
Women hold significant executive positions, a key leader being Corie, our CEO. She’s one of only a handful of women CEOs in the Fortune 100. Kamy Scarlett is our chief human resources officer and Allison Peterson is chief customer and marketing officer. And more than half of the seats on Best Buy’s board of directors are held by women.
2. Award winning support
For the first time, Best Buy was named to Bloomberg’s Gender Equality Index, recognizing the ways we empower women, from our policies to our culture. We also ranked No. 7 on the latest Forbes list of America’s Best Employers for Women and No. 66 on their list of the World’s Best Employers.
3. Peer support
The Women’s Employee Resource Group, based at the corporate headquarters in Richfield, Minnesota, has more than 1,000 members. Members share stories and job opportunities, coach one another and hear from women leaders throughout Best Buy. There are offshoots of the program for employees who work remotely, in tech roles and in sales. Store employees in many districts across the U.S. are also building up networks.
4. Benefits built for families
Best Buy has several programs to support employees and their families. In addition to Paid Caregiver Leave, we offer adoption, infertility and surrogacy assistance. Recently, the company rolled out a new backup childcare benefit and enhanced mental health services.
5. Commitment to do better
Best Buy is focused on creating gender parity at all levels. We’ve shown that commitment by signing on to the ParityPledge™. Companies that sign it promise to interview at least one qualified woman candidate for every open position at the vice president level and above.
Click here to learn more about how Best Buy is working to close the gender gap in STEM. To learn more about careers at Best Buy, click here.