Here’s how six companies have continued to grow their DE&I initiatives during 2022, continuing to work on the societal problem with new ideas and new understanding of the value of a diverse group of employees.
Please tell us about your new DE&I initiatives. What makes them fresh ideas for your company?
Fivetran has recognized the diversity gap in the technology industry and saw an opportunity to create a program to address the challenge. With that, we have launched the Fivetran Tech Equity Pipeline Program with the goal of expanding diversity and bringing exposure of the industry to historically underrepresented groups. This full-time paid opportunity is a 6 month program designed to attract, mentor and train underrepresented talent in the fields of engineering, product, sales and beyond. We’ve reimagined success and have done away with the typical factors that a program in this competitive field usually require, such as a 4-year degree or a traditional STEM background. We don’t care where you’re from, how you got here, or how you learned your chops. Whether you taught yourself to code between shifts, participated in a bootcamp to pivot your career, or decided to take your hobby to a professional level, you’re invited to apply!
Can you encapsulate for us your DE&I journey over the last few years?
One of our CEO’s biggest priorities is making Fivetran an inclusive workplace given our global footprint and employee base. Fivetran sets goals every year to continue to raise the bar with its diversity and inclusion initiatives. Within the past few years, Fivetran established employee resource groups (ERGs) that help create communities for women, Black, Latin, Asian, parents, people with differing abilities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Fivetran also started an initiative called Tech Equity Pipeline Program (TEPP), an internship experience with the goal of increasing equity and diversity in the technology industry.
Check Out Fivetran’s Careers Page Here!
Please tell us about your new DE&I initiatives. What makes them fresh ideas for your company?
Here at Vertafore, diversity, equity and inclusion are a critical part of our workplace. We believe our differences make us stronger – that excellence comes from equity and teamwork across different perspectives, values, and backgrounds. In service of this commitment, we are launching a Diversity Council! This council will be focused on bringing diverse perspectives and elevating voices of our workforce – helping us prioritize the most important things first. We believe it’s going to strengthen our global culture and have a huge impact on our company, people, and communities. Launching the Diversity Council is part of committing to things that matter, making a more inclusive workplace at Vertafore and beyond. This is an evolution, not just checking off a box. Our goal is that ultimately, we do the right things so that people feel they can bring their whole self to work.
Can you encapsulate for us your DE&I journey over the last few years?
Vertafore’s CEO Amy Zupon and SVP of Human Resources Kristin Nease joined an exciting group called the Colorado Inclusive Economy (CIE). CIE is a movement of intent, design, and action toward a more equitable economy in Colorado and beyond. The commitment includes monthly meetings of business leaders getting together to help to make Colorado better. These are lessons and initiatives that will go well beyond just what is happening in Denver, as we think about all of our locations and communities. Over the last two years we’ve also hosted a series of Voices for Change Fireside Chats. The goal of the Voices for Change initiative is to elevate important and diverse voices, and to examine how the Vertafore community can positively contribute to progress. We’ve also held an annual summer internship which brings diverse candidates from underrepresented communities to STEM internships around the country, and introduced a new company-observed holiday with Juneteenth.
Check Out Vertafore Careers Here!
Please tell us about your new DE&I initiatives. What makes them fresh ideas for your company?
At Realtor.com®, we aspire to build an inclusive culture where employees feel supported, enabled to succeed, and encouraged to be their whole self. It’s important to us that we drive meaningful change in areas that support our growth as a diverse and inclusive workplace. This year, we’re working to enhance our Employee Resource Groups’ (ERGs) structure, support, and processes. We’re also expanding our reach in the area of fair housing to make housing more accessible and affordable for everyone through community partnerships and philanthropic efforts. We’re creating new DE&I learning pathways for employees and leaders, as well as establishing a robust portfolio of inclusive benefits.
Can you encapsulate for us your DE&I journey over the last few years?
We’re proud of our work to date in advancing our DE&I goals, despite the challenges and uncertainty we’ve faced during the pandemic. Our efforts have focused on establishing and fostering our ERGs and supporting them as they drive awareness, education, and change; prioritizing the recruitment of diverse talent with the creation of our Inclusive Talent Attraction Council; partnerships with diverse talent advocacy organizations; establishing talent communities to nurture diverse candidates and establishing our Emerging Talent program; and aligning our philanthropic efforts with our company purpose. We look forward to building on this meaningful progress through innovative talent attraction strategies and partnerships, creating new opportunities for career growth for all, expanding our fair housing education and impact, inclusive benefits, and much more.
Check Out Realtor.com’s Careers Page Here!
Please tell us about your new DE&I initiatives. What makes them fresh ideas for your company?
At Nav, we celebrate what makes our employees unique because the businesses we serve are progressively diverse and distinctly original. Navericks are entrepreneurs, immigrants, veterans, queer, and we push generational boundaries. We are college dropouts, PhDs, special needs parents, allies, pet owners and community leaders. “Inclusion” and “Belonging” are more than just words for us. It’s our identity and at the epicenter to how we build our teams, cultivate leaders and create a company that is the right fit for every person inside of it. To put it simply we want you to be proud to be you.
Can you encapsulate for us your DE&I journey over the last few years?
In 2020 we began building Community Network Groups where employees volunteered to led inclusive work groups aligned with Nav’s strategic priorities. Groups included Pride, Women, and connected cultures. What we found was that running the monthly meetings was cumbersome for the leads in a small org as Nav experiences extraordinary growth; and did not offer as much connection and learning from members outside the groups. In 2022, we launched days of belonging led by our employees based on what was important to them! Just like Nav, these events were a mix of development, belonging, and some just for fun. 2022 we have/ will celebrate 3 Kings, Epiphany, Orthodox Christmas, Lunar New Year, Women’s International Day, Holi Day, International Transgender Day of Visibility, Autism Day, National Pet Day, Gathering of The Nations, Star Wars Day, Cinco De Mayo, GAAD, Pioneer Day ( celebrating some fun Utah heritage), National Coming Out Day, Day of The Dead, Men’s International Day, Veteran’s Day, Transgender Awareness Day, and World Cup. These days offered a variety of trainings, experience sharing, team building, gifts ( like a May the 4th shirt) and even a few cocktails/ mocktails for Cinco De Mayo. Our DE& I strategy focuses on letting our employees drive meaningful connections and allyship around the topics that are most important to them. All of our days of belonging are voluntary, but average a 50% -70% employee participation.
Check Out Nav’s Careers Page Here!
Please tell us about your new DE&I initiatives. What makes them fresh ideas for your company?
Our DEI Council includes three task forces that are a pathway for engaging employees in our equity and belonging work. These communities provide spaces to discuss issues and craft solutions while creating leadership and professional development opportunities for members. Please see below for the 2022 initiatives – 1) Community – Build new hire mentor program – Promote volunteer experiences through outlets such as the community updates/newsletters – Promote and see increase in used volunteer hours 2) Cultural Competence – DEI calendar of days/commemorations/months – Monthly email featuring commemorative days and feature posts in Community – Build DEI resource library with resources, explainers, videos and courses 3) Culture of Belonging – Monthly Themed “Virtual Watercooler” events – Quarterly Webinars opening discussion for more personal story sharing. – Meetups for geographically close employees – Resource library of recorded DEI Lunch & Learns We looked at our DEI council’s goals and objectives in January 2022 and refreshed our current programs. We called for new volunteers to join the DEI council.
Can you encapsulate for us your DE&I journey over the last few years?
The council was created in 2020 in response to the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter movement. From the beginning, our executive leadership team had a vision of an employee-led group from various backgrounds, experiences and perspectives to create meaningful action both internally and externally. Our CEO, Jennifer Litterick announced the creation of the Diversity and Inclusion Council and invited everyone in the organization to become a member. Membership included our CEO, CPO, and other executive and senior leaders in addition to management and individual contributors. Once the council was established, our first challenge was establishing a framework to inform discussion and a thoughtful approach to diversity, equity and inclusion. A survey was deployed & after several revisions, the team agreed on a definition of how EnsembleIQ defines diversity and inclusion, a strong value statement and a logo. The council brainstormed ideas for first-year goals and created task forces to focus on each one. Members were asked if they were interested in a task force leadership opportunity. The leaders selected could be in individual contributor roles through executive leadership. The company provided the council members with a membership to the Network of Executive Women to show appreciation for their work. In 2022, we added equity to our council name to become the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council.
Check Out EnsembleIQ’s Careers Page Here!
Please tell us about your new DE&I initiatives. What makes them fresh ideas for your company?
Gainwell continually seeks to improve our existing programs and introduce new diversity initiatives to support our commitment to fostering an inclusive work environment. Some of the latest offerings include a company-wide discussion to review commonly used Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) terminology in an effort to bring awareness and education, as the language is constantly changing. We’ve also recently added a new Employee Resource Group called Abilities, which brings attention to supporting employees and potential candidates with visible or invisible disabilities. There are a variety of other initiatives and ways we’ve incorporated DE&I into our daily operations, like adding new training modules to our annual compliance training requirements. At Gainwell, we integrate inclusive behaviors into the fabric of our organization’s culture.
Can you encapsulate for us your DE&I journey over the last few years?
Having recently celebrated our two-year anniversary, Gainwell is at the formative stages of our DE&I journey. Within the last year, we’ve identified the need for a Head of DE&I and begun building a team to support that growing department. We have also implemented a multi-year strategy to streamline the focus on diversity initiatives and maximize the impact for our organization. Our initial rollout of this strategy has been positively received by employees and colleagues alike. Ultimately, we hope to foster an environment where all employees can be their authentic selves and thrive.