Brian Snyder

How would you describe your time at Whirlpool?

From products to business processes, innovation is at the heart of Whirlpool Corporation's success. In early 2006, a group of employees relatively young in their careers (0-5 years of full-time work experience) gathered to discuss "barriers to inclusion," the factors that inhibit their full contribution at work. Using the industry-leading Whirlpool innovation methodology, the group articulated a clear need within the organization to provide a unified voice for young professionals and to strengthen the company's talent pipeline.
Peter Lamberta, Brian Snyder and Benjamin Wojcikiewicz came together from very different parts of the company to develop this need into a concise proposal for a new diversity network to carry the voice of young professionals at Whirlpool.
With the support of Mark McLane, director, Global Diversity, the three worked over the next year to gain momentum for their idea. They found an executive sponsor in David Binkley, senior vice president, Global Human Resources. Binkley played a key role in creating the Young Professionals Network by championing it at the highest levels of the company. YP!, as it has come to be known, is the company's first and only diversity network to focus outside the federally protected groups of gender, race and sexual orientation.
"The Young Professionals Network represents far more than age," said McLane, "Its membership cuts across gender, ethnicity, age, and professional and educational background to present a very unique and important dimension of diversity: the diversity of thought. The members of the network are united by the shared belief that they can always do more to improve Whirlpool and the surrounding community."
The Whirlpool Young Professionals Network strategy encompasses all three phases of the Whirlpool employee experience:
* Business Impact: Providing young professionals with expanded and unique opportunities across the company to develop leadership capability and strengthen their sense of meaningful work.
* Talent Attraction and Development: Partnering with the human resources function to better recruit and retain young professionals through on-campus and at-work programming.
* Community: Working with local government, business and nonprofit institutions in Southwest Michigan to make the area a more attractive home for young professionals.
By establishing itself as a resource to the company and the surrounding community through their innovative work, the Young Professionals Network provides Whirlpool with a sustainable competitive advantage. Since its inception, the network's membership has grown to total nearly 500....