Tech

Why MLK Day is not a fixed holiday at Intel: CEO

Why diversity is important: Intel CEO
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Why diversity is important: Intel CEO

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich told CNBC on Friday that he's committed to revisiting for 2016 whether Martin Luther King Jr. Day should be a "permanent holiday" at the technology giant.

"We've typically not observed it," Krzanich said in a "Squawk Box" interview, as Monday's Martin Luther King holiday approached. "We actually use floating holidays much more than fixed holidays [for] Easter, Martin Luther King Day, many of those days."

"We wanted to give employees the most amount of choice," he added. "We've allowed people to take as floating days so they could choose when to take [them] off based on their families."

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Technology companies have come under pressure for the lack of minorities and women in their workforces. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who's been pushing Silicon Valley on this problem, recently told CNBC that locking out diversity limits creativity and growth.

But Jackson did praise Intel and Krzanich for strides being made by the chipmaker, which announced earlier this month at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas a $300 million investment in programs to help employ more women and minorities.

"If you look at our female population [for example] ... we're actually right in-line with what's available," Krzanich told CNBC on Friday. "We're hiring about 25 percent. But what's happening is they're dropping out, not advancing at the rate we want them to."

He added the stated mission to reach full representation of women and minorities in Intel's workforce by 2020 will "push us as a company ... to achieve that goal."

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