New 43-story IBM office building in New York City (model below) will be occupied in 1981 by more than 2,000 IBM marketing and service people now in leased space. Prominent feature will be glass-enclosed public plaza with trees and flowers. The five-sided polished granite structure, located at Madison Ave. and 57th St., will be highly energy-efficient.

**Equal Opportunity Activity**

IBM's worldwide Equal Opportunity Programs continued their emphasis in 1978 on providing equal opportunities in employment, training and advancement. Of the more than 16,000 employees hired in the U.S. during the year, 38% were women and 20% were minorities. At the end of 1978, IBM had 1,973 minority managers and 1,780 women managers in the U.S.

At present, IBM employees are on loan as teachers at 21 predominantly minority colleges. IBM also expanded its support of outside programs for job training of minorities and handicapped persons in 1978. The company is now aiding more than 300 such programs with loaned equipment or personnel.

In addition, more than 50 employees are on social service leaves, working with minority and community organizations.

In cities across the country, IBM buys many products and services from minority entrepreneurs – black, Asian, Hispanic and American Indian. The number of minority-owned suppliers to IBM has grown from 7 in 1968 to more than 420 companies doing more than $35 million worth of business with IBM in 1978.

**Aid to the Handicapped**

Additional accommodations for handicapped employees were installed at many IBM locations in 1978. The new Santa Teresa, Calif., laboratory, for example, has such aids as widened elevator doors, braille elevator signs, lowered telephones and water fountains, and other forms of assistance. The design of all future IBM buildings will have the aim of reducing barriers for the handicapped.

Among the special accommodations for individual IBM employees are telephone amplifiers, recorded machine instructions, and typewriter hand and arm rests.

Today, handicapped employees hold managerial positions in programming, marketing support and scientific studies, as well as professional positions in a variety of fields.