At Northrop Grumman, diversity is a way of life. We live and breathe different perspectives here: we’re curious about the world, accepting of each other, and well aware that the more ideas, backgrounds, opinions, and experiences we bring to our work, the stronger that work will be.

To support this commitment to diversity, we partner with diversity-based organizations like the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers, and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society to help us reach talented engineers from all skill sets and disciplines. We attend conferences, offer scholarships, and sponsor workshops. We also encourage Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that foster networking, community outreach, professional development, and recruiting. We have ERGs for African Americans, Asian-Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, women, people with disabilities, veterans, lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgendered employees (LGBT), new hires, and many others.

Most of all, we listen with respect to every single employee—regardless of race/ethnicity, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, creed, age, gender, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, including pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions, disability, military service, veteran status, and genetic information.

Our efforts are paying off: our workforce is about 28 percent women and 29 percent people of color. The numbers look even better for our future: 50 percent of our new college hires are women and minorities. We also encourage awareness and sensitivity among our current employees. Last year, more than 18,500 employees attended diversity and inclusion training, and approximately 1,200 employees, including management, attended inclusion leadership training.

We’re also excited to be named one of the top 50 companies by DiversityInc since 2010, 2011 and 2012 - in fact, we were the first defense company to make the list.