We believe that to have a global impact, we must be a truly global organization. The diverse backgrounds and varied perspectives of our employees around the world are essential to our continued breakthroughs in wireless technology. That’s why we’ve made diversity an inherent part of our culture.

We offer employee resource groups for employees who are female, Asian, Black, Hispanic or Pacific Islanders. We also offer groups for disabled employees and for employees who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. Our employee resource groups offer their members:

• Professional development, including events and support related to career enhancement and development of leadership skills
• Mentoring, including support that enables new hires to acclimate to our Company culture and current employees to discover opportunities for professional and personal growth
• Recruiting that promotes diversity among new hires
• Outreach that connects members with volunteer opportunities as well as networking events
• Alliances with other diverse organizations nationally

You can find out more about our ongoing efforts to create a diverse workforce here. Read our policy on equal employment opportunity and affirmative action here.

We take steps to ensure all people, including people with disabilities, have the opportunity to be considered for all facets of employment.

In 2010, we were honored to receive the Higginbotham Corporate Leadership Award from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Named for pioneering federal judge and civil rights advocate A. Leon Higginbotham, the award recognizes exemplary corporate leadership in advancing diversity and equal opportunity. Our Chairman and CEO, Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, accepted the award at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., where former president Bill Clinton was the honorary dinner chairman. At the ceremony, we announced the Parental Readiness and Empowerment Program (PREP), a new collaboration with the Lawyers’ Committee to improve K-12 student achievement by increasing parental engagement with schools and teachers. PREP will launch in San Diego and will eventually expand nationally.

The Higginbotham Corporate Leadership Award was established in 2000. Previous recipients include General Electric, Microsoft, The New York Times Company, PepsiCo, Time Warner and United Parcel Service.

A perfect score on the HRCF Corporate Equality Index

We are proud to have scored 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index Report. This survey and report are released each fall and provide an in-depth analysis and rating of large U.S. employers and their policies and practices pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

Reaching out to create opportunity

We support various internal and community-based initiatives to create opportunities for groups that historically have been underrepresented in the workplace.

Opportunities for women: Qualcomm’s Board of Directors is composed of 15 percent women, and we are proud to have many women leaders within our senior executive ranks.

Throughout 2010, we worked jointly with Athena, the National Council of Women in Information Technology, Women in Technology International and The Society of Women Engineers to offer learning and networking opportunities to our female employees. We were sponsors and booth exhibitors at the Women in Technology International’s conference in San Jose and for San Diego Women’s Week, and Qualcomm employees were on speaker panels at both events. We also participated in the Women’s Conference in Long Beach.

QWISE—Qualcomm Women in Science and Engineering—is our internal resource group for female employees. QWISE offers members mentoring, support and resources for professional development. It also offers networking opportunities and collaborates with our staffing department to recruit female employees. QWISE celebrated its fourth anniversary in 2010 and established two chapters in India.

Opportunities for veterans: The approximately 700 U.S. military veterans who work for Qualcomm bring valuable experience, knowledge and perspective to our Company. Our Military Veterans Employee Resource Group provides current and former military personnel with information about career opportunities at our Company. Additionally, we recognize and support Qualcomm veteran employees and their families at flag raisings and other special Veterans Day and Memorial Day ceremonies on our campus.

In 2010, acknowledging our initiatives in support of veterans and to promote diversity, the Veterans Museum & Memorial Center of San Diego County selected Qualcomm as the sole for-profit company to receive its Meritorious Support of Veterans Award.

Opportunities for people with disabilities: Providing opportunities for people with disabilities and gaining from their skills and experience is a win-win proposition. We’ve supported the San Diego Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities since 2003. Our employees have served on the committee and donated time to the committee’s annual Jobtoberfest Job Fair, where we have been a presenting corporate sponsor for several years.

We take steps to ensure all people, including people with disabilities, have the opportunity to be considered for all facets of employment. Our accommodations for U.S. employees include:

• Supplying voice recognition and other assistive software
• Providing alternative transportation for employees between our buildings and meeting sites, ranging from electric carts to handicap-accessible vans
• Reducing work schedules and telecommuting
• Modifying work stations to allow employees to sit, stand or recline as necessary
• Ensuring that disabled employees have identified escape routes in case of emergency

In addition, we do our best to meet all accommodation requests related to our fitness facilities and programs. Efforts in the past have included increasing accessibility to our swimming facility by installing a lift to assist with pool entry and exit.

Advocating for the disabled

We are involved with the U.S. Business Leadership Network (USBLN), an organization that promotes best practices in hiring, retaining and marketing to people with disabilities, and one of our employees serves on its board of directors. As the lead employer for the San Diego BLN Chapter, we hosted several employer forums to promote the business case for employing people with disabilities among other employers.