2030 Impact Strategy and Goals

Why It Matters

Building a diverse and inclusive workforce is the right thing to do, both for NI and society. Our teams should reflect the diversity of our customers and the communities where we live and work. And collaborating with people from different backgrounds opens our minds and spurs innovation. Additionally, the global technology sector is projected to have a shortage of 4.3 million workers by 2030, and attracting more diverse people to our industry helps us keep up with this growth while providing more equitable access to high-paying jobs.

UN Sustainable Development Goals Supported

5—Gender Equality, 10—Reduced Inequalities

What We’ll Do

Instead of setting an easily attainable goal based on the current talent pipeline, we challenged ourselves with a moonshot goal based on what's needed for our business and our society. We know we have a long way to go, and this goal's ambition will fuel our innovation. We’re advancing our recruiting strategy to include more diverse colleges, community organizations, and events. We’ll retool our hiring processes to eliminate potential biases, and we’ll also expand our existing inclusion initiatives, such as our employee resource groups and our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council.

We’ll work diligently to increase ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity worldwide. However, our 2030 goal measures racial diversity only in the United States due to legal constraints on data collection in many other countries. We’ll focus on increasing Black and Latinx1 representation because these groups are the most underrepresented in our workforce when compared to U.S. demographics.

Why It Matters

Diversity of leadership ensures important company decisions reflect a wide variety of experiences and perspectives. It also provides positive role models for employees of all backgrounds, showing them that they too have a path to the top. This is especially important in the technology industry: Companies with diverse management teams have 19 percent higher innovation revenues (revenues from new products and services) on average.

UN Sustainable Development Goals Supported

5—Gender Equality, 10—Reduced Inequalities

What We’ll Do

Like our workforce diversity goal, this goal is a moonshot based on what's needed rather than what's easily achievable. To cultivate greater diversity in our leadership, we’ll ensure our talent acquisition and development programs provide equitable advancement opportunities for all NIers. We’ll audit our performance review process, leadership development programs, and promotion pipeline for potential biases. And we’ll expand our programs for educating and developing hiring managers and mentoring employees.

While we’ll work diligently toward greater ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity among NI management globally, the racial component of our 2030 goal focuses on the United States because this is where we can obtain complete data. For this goal we’re focusing on people of color* to address underrepresentation of non-white racial and ethnic groups among our U.S. managers.

^{*DEFINED BY THE U.S. CENSUS BUREAU AS ANYONE OUTSIDE OF THE SINGLE-RACE, NON-HISPANIC WHITE POPULATION.}

Why It Matters

At NI, our definition of an inclusive culture is one where all employees feel welcomed, valued, respected, and heard. It’s critical that NIers of all backgrounds feel comfortable bringing their true selves to work. That means not hiding their identities or affiliations but instead confidently sharing their diverse perspectives. This sense of belonging helps increase our employees’ wellbeing, engagement, and innovation, which in turn helps us attract and retain the best talent.

UN Sustainable Development Goals Supported

5—Gender Equality, 10—Reduced Inequalities, 16—Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

What We’ll Do

Our culture is the sum of our employees’ behaviors. To develop tools and programs that promote inclusive behaviors, we have a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion cross-functional working group comprised of several business functions including talent development and employee engagement. Initiatives include launching a new inclusion training and scaling our employee resource groups (ERGs). ERGs provide members with opportunities for professional development, networking, and shaping company initiatives. Their events and programs also foster discussion and understanding among all NIers.

We’ll measure NIers’ sense of belonging through our “inclusion index,” which aggregates relevant questions from our annual employee engagement survey. We’ll use our 2020 survey results as a benchmark. While we strive for 100 percent, achieving an 87 percent measure would put us among the top 10 percent of companies according to Newmeasures.*

^{*BENCHMARK DATA INCLUDES 1,200 ORGANIZATIONS, 1.5 MILLION RESPONDENTS, AND 86 COUNTRIES.}

Why It Matters

As society becomes increasingly technocentric, the work of engineers will continue to shape every facet of our lives. That’s why it’s important for engineers to reflect the diversity of the people they’re creating solutions for.

However, the engineering talent pipeline hasn’t diversified much in the past 20 years. In the United States, only 21 percent of engineering majors and 19 percent of computer science majors are women, and only 22 percent of all science and engineering bachelor's degrees go to Black, Latinx, or Native American students. It’s critical to increase access to STEM education among students from groups underrepresented in our field—girls, people of color, and economically disadvantaged students. This will not only increase innovation in our industry but will also enable us to meet the demands of the marketplace.

UN Sustainable Development Goals Supported

1—No Poverty, 4—Quality Education, 10—Reduced Inequalities

What We’ll Do

We’ll focus our giving—monetary donations, product donations, and volunteer time—on supporting STEM education initiatives serving underrepresented or economically disadvantaged students. We’ve already pivoted our longtime partnership with FIRST,® a global robotics competition, to focus on increasing access to underrepresented and underserved students.

We’ve donated millions of dollars of NI products to FIRST over the last 15 years and in 2020 signed a six-year commitment to renew our partnership. We’ve also committed to invest $3.4 million over the next four years in STEM education initiatives serving underrepresented or economically disadvantaged students.

Why It Matters

Every NIer has the potential to change the trajectory of a young person’s life. That’s why we highly encourage our employees to volunteer with STEM education initiatives in their communities. Mentoring students is especially important, as this provides young people from all backgrounds with role models as they work through challenges and discover their strengths. In addition to helping the community, volunteering helps increase camaraderie, creativity, and engagement among our teams.

UN Sustainable Development Goals Supported

1—No Poverty, 4—Quality Education, 10—Reduced Inequalities

What We’ll Do

NIers are passionate about giving back to the next generation of engineers and creative problem solvers. This is evidenced by the thousands of hours NIers spend mentoring student teams around the world during the annual FIRST Robotics Competition season. Also, many NI executive leadership team members serve on the boards of STEM nonprofits.

Our new volunteer matching tool will help NIers connect with nonprofits that can benefit from their unique skills, with an emphasis on virtual activities such as mentoring. We’ll use this tool to track volunteer hours toward this goal. We’ll also encourage managers to promote volunteering among their teams. We see this as a way employees can develop new capabilities and perspectives.

Why It Matters

Our employees drive our every success. We’re committed to rewarding them competitively and fairly, with equal rewards for equal performance and impact. Pay equity increases employees’ financial wellbeing and helps us attract and retain the industry’s best talent. Additionally, it has a long-term ripple effect throughout our families and our communities, helping boost prosperity and close wealth gaps.

UN Sustainable Development Goals Supported

5—Gender Equality, 10—Reduced Inequalities

What We’ll Do

For this goal, we’re striving for equity of not just base pay but total rewards: base salary, variable pay, and benefits. We began this journey a few years ago by standardizing our job levels across functions and determining their associated base salary ranges using market benchmark data. We recently redesigned our incentive plans to be more competitive, with criteria focused on both company and individual performance. To eliminate unconscious biases, we’ve analyzed base salary by gender and are now analyzing our total rewards by other demographics and performance metrics.

We’ll make continual, data-driven improvements, and we expect to meet this goal well before 2030. We’ll transparently share our progress through employee communications and our annual corporate impact reports.

Why It Matters

At NI, our core value of “be kind” means we’re good to ourselves and to each other. We invest in wellbeing programs because we want NIers to be healthy, happy, and successful in every aspect of their lives. Not only does this make life more enjoyable, but it also makes us more resilient as individuals and as a company. Total wellbeing is associated with lower health care costs, higher levels of organizational engagement, lower employee turnover, enhanced performance, and overall business success.

UN Sustainable Development Goals Supported

3—Good Health And Well-Being

What We’ll Do

We foster employees’ wellbeing through initiatives such as our comprehensive health care and benefit programs, employee assistance program, and wellbeing programs. To build upon these programs, in 2020 we began developing a global wellbeing strategy focused on NI's holistic wellbeing pillars: community, emotional, physical, financial, and purpose.

We also launched a central component of our strategy: NI Thrive, an online hub for all wellbeing programs. It will enable NIers to complete self-assessments, receive customized improvement programs and content, and engage in virtual wellbeing challenges. It will also enable us to standardize our communication and scale our best NI site initiatives to all employees worldwide.

Why It Matters

Engaged employees—those who are highly involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work—are NI’s most valuable asset. Gallup research shows highly engaged teams are 17 percent more productive and experience 24 percent less turnover. In addition to helping NI attract and retain top talent and drive business outcomes, being engaged at work increases happiness and wellbeing for all employees.

UN Sustainable Development Goals Supported

8—Decent Work And Economic Growth

What We’ll Do

We strive to provide meaningful opportunities to NIers and a collaborative culture that fosters inclusion, engagement, and wellbeing. While NI’s leadership sets the tone, all employees play a role in improving engagement. We follow a comprehensive listening strategy to gather employees’ feedback about important topics, and managers use the insights to address issues and increase engagement within their teams. We’ll continue this listening process while also looking for new opportunities to increase engagement.

Reaching our goal of 92 percent employee engagement will put us among the top 10 percent of companies according to Newmeasures.* We’ll measure our progress toward this goal via our annual employment engagement survey and will analyze results so we can identify trends, issues, and successes.

Why It Matters

Diverse and equitable procurement is good for society. Economic growth for small and underrepresented businesses has a ripple effect throughout our communities. It’s also good for our business, keeping our supply chain nimble and innovative, so we can react quickly to our customers’ needs and marketplace trends.

UN Sustainable Development Goals Supported

8—Decent Work And Economic Growth, 10—Reduced Inequalities

What We’ll Do

We evaluate all potential suppliers fairly and equitably and will continue to do so while also encouraging more diverse and small businesses to apply for our opportunities. For this goal, we define diverse businesses as those owned by women, people of color, ethnic minorities, veterans, LGBTQ+ individuals, or people with disabilities.

We’re verifying our spend in these categories, building a robust data tracking and reporting system, and developing a strategy to increase diverse suppliers. And we’ll also work with advocacy organizations to network with diverse suppliers and share best practices with other like-minded companies.

Why It Matters

Giving back is a central part of NI’s culture and is fueled by our core value of “be kind.” Since our founding, our grants and product donations have helped charities and emerging innovators improve livelihoods around the globe. NIers have multiplied this impact by volunteering countless hours in our communities. Now we’re taking this commitment even further, strengthening our philanthropy with our 2 + 1 Giving Pledge.

UN Sustainable Development Goals Supported

8—Decent Work And Economic Growth, 10—Reduced Inequalities

What We’ll Do

To help build a more equitable and thriving society, we’ll continue our long-term nonprofit partnerships while looking for innovative giving opportunities. For example, in 2020 we made a $500,000 impact investment loan to Austin Habitat for Humanity’s affordable housing development, supported Notley Tide’s racial justice movements in the United States, and partnered with Kiva on a microloan program all over the world. We encourage NIers to volunteer for any cause they care about, and we also provide regular events and opportunities to volunteer with our nonprofit partners.

Why It Matters

Our products, in the hands of innovators, are one of our greatest assets for driving transformative change for our planet. For example, many of our customers are making renewables more efficient and affordable. We want even more organizations to have the opportunity to pursue green technology solutions. Our goal to discount or donate products to organizations developing green technology is part of our 2 + 1 Giving Pledge, as is our goal to volunteer for environmental initiatives.

UN Sustainable Development Goals Supported

7—Affordable And Clean Energy, 11—Sustainable Cities and Communities, 13—Climate Action

What We’ll Do

Through our new product donation program, which is in its pilot phase, we’ll discount or donate NI products to financially eligible nonprofit and academic organizations, B Corporations, and social enterprises developing technology that promotes environmental sustainability.

This builds on our former Planet NI donation program. That program enabled companies to develop technologies with social and environmental impact, such as smart renewable energy microgrids and a rapid milk chiller that’s preventing food waste in rural India.

NIers are passionate about environmental issues, and we’ll encourage them to volunteer for biodiversity community initiatives, whether through NI-organized events or on their own. We’ll leverage our Green Team (NIers who advance sustainability initiatives at our sites and organize volunteer events such as beach cleanups and tree plantings) as well as our partnerships with nonprofits such as Urban Roots.

Why It Matters

Achieving Zero Waste is defined as diverting at least 90 percent of a facility’s waste from the landfill through recycling, composting, or reusing materials.

Working toward Zero Waste will help us protect Earth’s ecosystems while potentially lowering our operating costs. Every product we use, from coffee cups to computers, consumes finite natural resources at each stage of its life cycle—extracting raw materials, manufacturing, packaging and shipping, use, and end of life. Reusing or recycling products keeps those materials circulating in the economy, reducing the extraction of virgin materials.

UN Sustainable Development Goals Supported

12—Responsible Consumption And Production

What We’ll Do

We’ll measure our current waste diversion rates in NI-owned facilities and conduct a waste audit to understand what kinds of materials are in our waste stream. We’ll also assess every aspect of our waste management systems, from procurement to employee education to disposal contracts, to determine where we can make improvements.

Employee involvement will be critical to achieving Zero Waste. This goal offers every NIer a tangible way to make a difference every day, whether by switching to reusable products, joining a local Green Team, or working on solutions such as the new composting program in our Austin cafeteria.

Why It Matters

Buildings contribute to nearly 40 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions. Extracting raw materials, constructing buildings, and operating buildings uses a lot of energy and water and generates significant amounts of waste.

Reducing the environmental impact of NI’s buildings is an important step toward reducing our overall footprint, protecting biodiversity around our buildings, and mitigating climate change. Additionally, energy efficiency and water conservation measures can also significantly lower our utility bills and reduce other operating costs.

UN Sustainable Development Goals Supported

12—Responsible Consumption And Production, 13—Climate Action, 15—Life On Land

What We’ll Do

As we build new facilities and renovate existing buildings over the next decade, we’ll follow LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and WELL standards for every project. LEED is the world’s most widely used green building rating system. It outlines strict requirements for building materials, site selection, energy efficiency, water conservation, and indoor air quality.

We have experience designing to these standards, as we have three LEED-certified NI facilities—two in Hungary and one in Malaysia—and two others built to LEED standards in Hungary. The WELL Building Standard is a newer standard that focuses on designing spaces in a way that enhances people’s health and wellness.

Why It Matters

The more that multinational companies like ours reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, the more we can mitigate climate-related risks such as drought, floods, and fires. Such events could devastate our communities and disrupt business for NI, our suppliers, and our customers. Mitigating climate change also helps protect Earth’s biodiversity, our natural life support system.

For 40 years, we’ve consistently worked to minimize our environmental footprint and protect biodiversity and natural resources. Scaling our work to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions will require us to use less energy, which will reduce our utility bills and other operating costs. The cost of renewables is rapidly decreasing, so we’ll also continue to invest in renewable energy sources to further reduce our emissions.

UN Sustainable Development Goals Supported

7—Affordable And Clean Energy, 12—Responsible Consumption And Production, 13—Climate Action, 15—Life On Land

What We’ll Do

Our ambition is to operate in a way that produces no net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We will achieve this by reducing our own Scope 1 and 2 emissions to the maximum extent possible and then neutralize the remainder via certified nature-based offsets.

To these ends, we plan to establish interim targets to keep our absolute emissions reductions on track. We also recognize the importance of addressing our Scope 3 emissions and we are committed to identifying the best ways for us to reduce these emissions throughout our value chain, with special attention on reducing the energy consumption of our products, which will also benefit our customers.

In addition to investing in certified nature-based offsets to neutralize any emissions we cannot eliminate entirely, we will support other projects that protect biodiversity, restore damaged habitats and promote climate justice. 

Why It Matters

From the time of the Industrial Revolution, the world has followed a linear, “take-make-waste” economic model: We take raw materials from the ground, make products, and then throw those products away when we no longer want them. With 7.8 billion people competing for the planet’s finite resources, this model is unsustainable. We need to move toward a circular economic model, in which we design out waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use, and regenerate natural systems so our planet can stay healthy and sustain a thriving economy.

UN Sustainable Development Goals Supported

12—Responsible Consumption And Production

What We’ll Do

We see circular design as an exciting opportunity to Engineer Ambitiously™. It’s another way to reduce our environmental footprint and help our customers do so as well. Our products’ modular design and long life cycle have already reduced waste, and we’ve significantly reduced our product packaging.

We’ll continue to assess the environmental impact of our products during design, manufacturing, customer use, and end of life. We’ll look for more opportunities to cost-effectively select sustainable materials, reuse materials, and improve the recyclability and energy efficiency of our products while maximizing their performance.