Between 250-300 contractors work every day to finish construction on KLA’s Ann Arbor, Michigan campus as the ribbon cutting ceremony approaches. While they have been making progress on the physical building, talent acquisition teams have been working hard to build the workforce at the company’s second headquarters.

The number of employees hired for the Ann Arbor location recently surpassed 330. Receiving an average of 12 accepted offers a month, we are expecting to exceed our hiring goals for the year. We also continue to make progress on our goal to make the Ann Arbor office as inclusive as possible as we search for qualified, diverse talent to fill the 130+ technical and non-technical roles available. Since opening our Ann Arbor office in 2019, we have achieved 57% female representation in site leadership roles and 30% overall female representation in our Michigan workforce.

Employees Foster Inclusion in Ann Arbor

A key component of KLA’s inclusion and diversity strategy are employee resource groups (ERGs)—a collective of employees who come together with common diversity interests to foster awareness, respect and inclusion. KLA’s current ERGs include Women In STEM Empowered (WISE), Konexión, Black Employees Leading Excellence, Inclusion, Values, and Education (BELIEVE) and Mosaic.

Originating in KLA’s Ann Arbor site, the Mosaic ERG is a diverse group of employees who work together to build a culture of belonging through a variety of inclusion and diversity activities. The goal of Mosaic is to engage the diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and points of view that KLA employees have to offer. Some of the events Mosaic has organized include an educational speed networking event to introduce employees to the group, a roundtable with KLA female leadership and celebration of the Lunar New Year.

Outside of Mosaic’s activities, every month, the Fun Ann Arbor Team (FAAT) offers virtual speed networking sessions. These virtual sessions allow remote employees to meet fellow employees from across the business. FAAT has also arranged a variety of socially distanced, in-person events. One of these events included an opportunity for employees to design tiles that will be displayed on a wall in the new headquarters campus. KLA partnered with Motawi Tileworks to complete the design and execution of this exciting 140-tile art showcase, giving KLA employees an opportunity to etch their own artwork for our new campus.

Cara Young, a talent acquisition coordinator for KLA, facilitates the FAAT. She said that because so many people have joined KLA and remained remote due to the pandemic, it’s more important than ever to help employees feel connected to one another.

“I think everyone really enjoys having the opportunity to create connections with people outside of their own team, since we don’t have the opportunity of chatting in the lunchroom. We really want to foster an environment where everyone feels like they can call KLA home.”

KLA is eager to continue establishing connections within our Ann Arbor community and welcome employees to the new headquarters. Employees will have the opportunity to tour the new campus on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 and participate in a livestream of the ribbon cutting ceremony on Nov. 5.

To learn more about the opportunities available in Ann Arbor, browse our careers page. To see how the Ann Arbor campus has taken shape, read the previous Ann Arbor Update article and enjoy the time lapse video.