Our Commitment
HNI’s member-owner culture is founded upon empowered accountability. Every member truly has something unique and valuable to contribute to our success. We believe the same qualities that make us different also make us more creative, collaborative, and attuned to customer needs.
We believe three key areas—diversity, inclusion, and career growth—play an important role in empowering all members to make an impact and drive business outcomes.
Diversity
We aim to have a workforce that reflects the diversity of the communities where we live and work.
• Women and ethnic minorities currently make up about half of HNI’s U.S. workforce, with new hires reflecting an increasing diversity.
• Women and ethnic minorities hold at least 50 percent of the positions in many functional areas across HNI, including finance and accounting, law, supply chain, sales and marketing, and product management.
• In 2018, more than half of HNI’s summer interns—a key pipeline for entry level talent—were women or represented diverse populations.
• We continue to make inroads through early career development programs, with strong female representation among engineering, operations, and finance and accounting development program participants.
• We recognize diverse views are important to effective corporate governance. Five of HNI’s nine outside Directors are women or ethnic minorities.
Inclusion
Diversity is not just about bringing people of different backgrounds together. To truly harness the power of diversity, HNI proactively and intentionally fosters a culture of inclusion.
• We regularly train all members on issues related to diversity, fairness and respect, including focused guidance for managers and leaders.
• We prioritize transparent communication across all organizational levels. All members have frequent opportunities to join two-way discussions with company leaders, where concerns are openly invited to be expressed and addressed.
• All members also participate in quarterly meetings to learn more about our business, ask questions, and hear updates directly from leaders.
• We invest in a compensation and benefits package that provides broad choice for members at all life stages, including generous time off and leave policies, comprehensive healthcare
coverage, numerous wellness programs, and financial benefits such as substantial retirement contributions.
Career Growth
Our commitment to career growth without limits means all members have the opportunity to achieve and succeed as far as their aspirations, skills, and abilities will take them.
• We support member growth and development through hands-on experience, access to leaders, and opportunities to gain business insight.
• We invest in apprenticeships, on-the-job training, robust performance and talent management processes, and leadership development programs. Our unique approach encourages all members to experience a variety of functions across multiple operating companies.
• We have experienced increasing diversity in supervisory positions, with women and minorities comprising one-third of HNI’s managers.
• HNI is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer, and each of HNI’s operating companies in the office furniture segment completes an annual Affirmative Action Plan and evaluates opportunities for further progress.
• We regularly review compensation equity corporation-wide and within each operating company, and address any issues identified.
• When recruiting, HNI strives to present diverse slates of candidates, and we have strong community and university partnerships with groups such as the Society of Hispanic Professionals and Society of Women Engineers.
• Our approach to career growth led the business publication Chief Executive to twice recognize HNI as one of the best companies in the world for leadership development (2016 and 2018)
We have made progress to expand diversity, foster inclusion, and support career growth opportunities for all members. Like most companies, we acknowledge diversity and inclusion as areas of further opportunity and are committed to continuing to include more diverse perspectives. We will maintain a focus on processes throughout our business—from recruitment and hiring, to development, advancement, and communication—as we seek opportunities to further our progress.