Our employees, leadership team and Board of Directors remained focused on the tasks we could control in a year when all industries saw new challenges from geopolitical events, supply chain constraints, inflation and a continuation of COVID’s impact.
Key to our company’s resilience and success continues to be the emphasis placed on strong, transparent governance at the forefront of all crucial decisions. Equally as important is our culture of innovation and operational excellence that is supported by decisions and actions based on ethical, honest and accountable practices.
Driving long-term growth and success also meant keeping our workforce top of mind. We did this by making significant financial and cultural investments in our employees. We doubled our spend on base salary increases, held employee contributions to their healthcare flat, expanded mental health and wellness benefits and made every other Friday an off day. Our 46,000 employees make our company a key mission solutions provider for U.S. and allied national security endeavors and their wellness andengagement remain a priority.
A company is stronger when it values diverse ideas. We remained committed to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at all levels and continued to focus on our goals that half the workforce will be women and at least one-third of employees will be people of color, reflective of communities where we operate. Women currently comprise 25% of our global workforce and people of color make up 28% of our U.S.-based workforce.
We also made great strides in environmental sustainability. We committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2026 and surpassed that goal with contributions from our Elm Branch Solar Farm. The solar farm’s success encouraged us to continue identifying renewable energy opportunities. We are in the early negotiation phase of two additional renewable projects.
We also made progress toward our two other 2026 goals—reducing water use by 20% and solid waste diversion from landfill by 75%.
Our environmental goals and efforts are driven and influenced by regulations, industry standards, benchmarking, data and other elements our team takes into consideration. I am proud that we continued to take meaningful action derived from analyzing important sources—all guided by a robust program within our global operations strategy.
Our value of excellence extends to the communities where we live and work—domestic and international. Since 2019, the L3Harris Foundation has supported numerous organizations with contributions totaling nearly $17 million. L3Harris employees also continued to give back significantly in the form of more than 122,000 volunteer hours on 1,400 projects last year. Activities ranged from supporting veteran-related organizations and schools with STEM initiatives to other mission aligned community opportunities. We also helped communities in need with financial support.
Following Hurricane Ian, we activated the L3Harris Cares Fund with an immediate response plan to support impacted employees. Further away, the conflict in Ukraine motivated many of our employees to donate. Between gift donations and our gift matching program, the company provided nearly three quarters of a million dollars in support.
We live in an unpredictable world, but I am grateful for the virtue of optimism and the resiliency of our exceptional team at L3Harris. What we do matters. We protect everyday life, support employees and their families and help to preserve our planet.
CHRISTOPHER E. KUBASIK
Chair and Chief Executive Officer