Inclusion is part of our company’s Enduring Values and core to our fundamental beliefs. It’s not something that we need to justify or have a business case for—it’s simply the right focus for our company and employees. If we want to create a culture where everyone can thrive, we need to practice inclusion every day. This means celebrating our differences and, more importantly, recognizing the value those differences bring to our organization.

Marc Bitzer
Chairman & CEO
Whirlpool Corporation

Diversity & Equal Opportunity

Inclusion & Diversity is one of Whirlpool Corporation’s Enduring Values and remains a critical strategic priority for our organization. Our global strategy for Inclusion & Diversity is focused on three pillars.

First, we are focused on creating and maintaining an inclusive workplace that brings out the best in our employees, where all employees feel welcomed, valued, respected and heard. Second, we must continue to build a diverse workforce that represents the diversity of our consumer base, with a specific focus on female representation globally and Black representation in the U.S. Third, we are focused on creating a vibrant marketplace by building the right strategic partnerships and relationships with diverse organizations. This includes our own supplier network as well as our partnerships in local communities around the world.

Inclusion & Diversity—Strategic Focus Areas

1

INCLUSIVE WORKPLACE

A culture where every employee feels welcomed, valued, respected and heard.

diverse WORKPLACE

A workforce that represents our diverse consumer base at all levels of the organization.

Strategic focus areas: female (globally) and Black and Underrepresented Minorities (URM) (U.S.) representation.

2

3

vibrant marketplace

A diverse supplier network, strong community and business partnerships and a positive reputation in local communities.

In an effort to significantly increase female diversity among operators at our India plants, an entire semi-automatic line in Whirlpool Corporation’s plant in Faridabad, India, is now run by 100% female operators. In order to create an inclusive environment for new female employees, several new policies and programs were implemented to ensure access to transportation and a safe environment. Additionally, training sessions for employees and supervisors were provided in order to ensure that female employees feel respected and valued.

Launch of I&D Councils

After establishing our Executive Inclusion & Diversity Council (composed of senior executives from across the company) in 2020, we began launching Regional Inclusion & Diversity Councils in three of our four regions in early 2021. These Regional Inclusion & Diversity Councils are responsible for translating the Global Inclusion & Diversity Strategy into a five-point action plan that will have the greatest impact on increasing diverse representation and creating a more inclusive workplace. Each Regional Council consists of approximately 8 to 10 Director and above leaders who gather input from local Employee Resource Groups and ensure the right strategy and resources are in place to meet their goals. Through their leadership, the Councils have helped Whirlpool Corporation continue to make progress on all three strategic focus areas described above.

Global Inclusion Week

The company held its third annual Global Inclusion Week in October 2021. The focus of the week was to help create a culture of belonging through interactive activities, shared experiences and creating a dialogue about inclusion throughout our global workforce. The activities featured leader-led discussions as well as industry-leading keynote speakers. Many of Whirlpool Corporation’s salaried workforce attended at least one event, and all global regions participated. In a post-event survey, 94% of responding employees said they would participate in Global Inclusion Week again, and 88% agreed that Global Inclusion Week influenced them to behave and/or act more inclusively in the future.

All In for Inclusion

A powerful new “All In for Inclusion” campaign was launched this year for employees and external stakeholders, reinforcing the importance of inclusion in the workplace and championing Whirlpool Corporation’s inclusion behaviors: Welcomed, Valued, Respected and Heard.

There is power in owning who we are and confidently expressing our true selves.

Knowing we are welcomed, valued, respected and heard within Whirlpool Corporation where Inclusion and Diversity is an enduring value.

We are more than perceptions. We are individuals, proudly proclaiming our unique contribution to the connection we all share.

Employee Resource Groups

Whirlpool Corporation’s Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) adapted to the COVID environment by sharing specific programming based on the needs of their members. As an example, the Whirlpool Asian Network (WAN) played a critical role in supporting their members this year given the racial unrest and violence against Asian Americans. Based on learnings from our African American employee network, WAN hosted a session for their members with an expert who shared advice on how to mitigate the impact of discrimination and racial violence on mental health and well-being.

Global Employee Representation

Whirlpool Corporation establishes annual representation goals for each of our Executive Committee members for gender (globally), underrepresented minorities (U.S.) and Black employees (U.S.) for both Director and above and Manager/Sr. Manager levels. Specifically, each Executive Committee member has a goal for his or her organization in terms of the percentage of women, underrepresented minority and Black employees at the levels described above. Overall, we are seeing good progress on our gender goals, and we are seeing moderate progress on our underrepresented minority goals. However, we have the most opportunity to continue improving our Black representation, which is why we remain steadfast in our commitment to delivering the actions outlined in our Racial Equality Pledge.

employees by region

employees by level

1 Decline in total number of employees from 2020 to 2021 primarily attributable to the Whirlpool China divestiture.

Representation Metrics¹

Racial Equality Pledge

Actions & Results, Year One of Five

In 2021, we have been focused on laying the foundation by establishing our Racial Equality Pledge Steering Committee (which includes four members of our Executive Committee), Workstream Leads (which include at least one vice president and ERG Lead for each workstream), and establishing project teams for each workstream. We have made strong progress across all workstreams in terms of taking meaningful actions in both our community and company. That said, we have not yet seen the impact on Black representation across all levels of the organization, and we expect that our actions will begin to translate into increases in Black representation in 2022 and beyond. To view the Racial Equality Pledge in its entirety click here.

Equality and Fairness Within Our Company

Training:

• “Teach & Discuss” leader-led sessions on Module 1 of 3 on Unconscious Bias and Empathy training completed for 86.3% of eligible People Leaders.
• Required online module on Identify Bias completed by 92.3% of eligible People Leaders.
• 90% participants said in the post session survey that the “learning experience helped them to be more aware of Unconscious Biases and Empathy.”

Pay Equity:

• We completed our regular pay practices review for 2021, examining pay between employees of different gender and racial demographics doing similar work. Whirlpool Corporation’s compensation philosophy is to be market competitive, reward individual and company performance, and provide fair pay opportunities for all employees. Where we found differences in pay, for whatever reason, we worked with the business to research those differences, determine whether there are any factors that explain the differences and, if appropriate, take action that may include making adjustments to pay when appropriate. We will continue to engage in this pay practice review process on a regular basis in an effort to uphold our compensation principles and our commitment to equity.

Equality and Fairness Within Our Community

Education:

• We launched the P@th Internship Program “Possibilities at Home” for local college-aged youth pursuing a 4 year degree.
• We expanded the Apprenticeship Program for local Benton Harbor/Benton Township-based high school graduates. We’ve certified two new programs and now have apprentices in our Consumer Experience Center, Model Shop and Labs.

Housing:

• We broke ground on a $20 million 80-unit multi-family housing development in August, 2021, with plans to open in the Fall of 2022. This development is located in the heart of the City of Benton Harbor. Both the City and Whirlpool Corporation are looking to provide housing that will be attractive to a diverse pool of employees and city residents. The program is expected to assist Whirlpool Corporation in recruiting high-quality talent. Success for our community and our company will only be achieved if more underrepresented minorities, including Black and other minorities, go to work in our area and choose to live in this new development or anywhere else in the city of Benton Harbor.

Business & Community:

• We worked with all 13 organizations receiving more than $50,000 in grants from the Whirlpool Foundation to ensure that each have a Racial Equality Pledge and/or related impact metrics in place.
• We launched the Benton Harbor First initiative, awarding business to three new Black-owned suppliers.
• We led the first-ever Benton Harbor Pitch Night in partnership with local organizations. BIPOC entrepreneurs pitched their business plans and three Black Owned businesses were provided with grants and enrolled in a support program.

Benton Harbor Housing Unit

Pitch Night & Winners

In partnership with local organizations, Whirlpool hosted Pitch Night to support Black-owned businesses.

More than 30 Ideas Submitted

14 Ideas Pitched

$9,000 in Startup Funding Granted to Black-Owned Startups, Small Businesses and Social Enterprises in Our Local Community

First Place $5,000 NF Cosmetics

Second Place $2,500 Benton Harbor
Beauty Academy

Third Place $1,000 Sticky Spoons Jam