Diversity & Inclusion initiatives are on everyone’s mind in 2020. Among the year’s other historic challenges to our society, the final gauntlet has seemingly been thrown down in terms of unfair practices based on racist and sexist principles that have no place in a world surging forward twenty years into the 21st century. The workplace – remote or otherwise – is a major flashpoint in this discussion, as it doesn’t take too deep a dive to discover that many long-established American companies are still running off of mid-century policies designed to keep workplaces distressingly white and male. But things are finally changing, at long last, thanks to companies like these. Here are ten companies that have effective, progressive D&I initiatives in place. These businesses are working towards a workplace future of equality, open-mindedness, and the other benefits of having a truly diverse employee base.
How does RingCentral create a diverse & inclusive work environment, and why is it important to your company?
It starts with ensuring that all employees can bring their whole self to work. This is more than just word for us – we measure our work culture via survey on a weekly basis. From developing an inclusive culture, we also focus on bringing more diverse talent into the company. Fortunately for us, our work culture is a real strength and it is helping us bring in amazing, hard-to-find diverse talent. The bottom line for us is that we know that highly diverse and inclusive companies are happier and more productive places to be. It’s all part of what brings people together at RingCentral!
How have diversity & inclusion initiatives benefited your company and what actions does RingCentral take to consistently improve D&I?
Our DEI efforts are directly linked to our ability to innovate and collaborate effectively to bring the best products to market. Having a diverse and inclusive culture is fundamental to who we are and we know it has a positive effect on our success as a business. We measure our work culture regularly to ensure that RingCentral is a place where all our employees are respected and valued for who they are. We also look very closely at the people we hire into the company. We are always looking for people who can bring a fresh perspective.
RingCentral employees rated their diversity an A.
“There are a lot of ways to look at diversity. There’s cultural diversity among Americans, different religions, and people from other countries,” says Sangeeta Walsh. “We’re global, and diversity in our workforce provides us with a more global perspective. Diversity is driving our ability to scale globally.”
-Sangeeta Walsh, Senior Director, Product Marketing, RingCentral
How does KeepTruckin create a diverse & inclusive work environment, and why is it important to your company?
At KeepTruckin, we embrace diversity and intentionally make it a business priority. We know that Diversity drives innovation and improves an organization’s ability to adapt to rapid change. In line with our core values of seeking improvement and creating trust with one another, we insist on equity and inclusion of our teammates and ensuring all voices are heard. We do this by:
- Amplifying the voices and stories of our employees externally and internally.
- Creating spaces for underrepresented employees to connect, collaborate, and develop their careers.
- Regularly discussing identity in the workplace at all levels of the organization.
- Providing training on how to create inclusive environments and mitigate biases.
- Holding regular demographics data and insights reviews with business leaders.
- Integrating diversity and inclusion best practices into all candidate, employee, customer, and vendor programs.
- Connecting with the communities in which we work to drive an inclusive employer brand, provide best practices, and recruit diverse talent.
How have diversity & inclusion initiatives benefited KeepTruckin, and what actions does your company take to consistently improve D&I?
Our inclusion efforts educate and empower our employees to be better communicators and teammates.
KeepTruckin employees rated their diversity an A.
“When I joined KeepTruckin, I was genuinely surprised to find a rapidly growing mid-level startup had begun its journey with embracing diversity, not as an afterthought or obligation, or because of squeaky wheels like me.
Embrace Diversity was a company value personally written by KeepTruckin’s founders on day one, and it remains one of its six core values today.” -Kelly Gonzalez, Diversity and Employee Experience
How does Drift create a diverse & inclusive work environment, and why is it important to your company?
Drift is part of the just 2% of VC backed start-ups led by LatinX founders, so diversity and inclusion are extremely important to us. At Drift, we are actively seeking diversity in our talent by using hiring processes designed to increase representation of underrepresented groups in our candidate pools and mitigate bias in hiring decisions. We are also currently hiring a recruiter that will focus specifically on diversity. This intention continues in the remaining areas of our employee lifecycle. We use performance data, attrition data, salary data, and onboarding feedback to ensure equity in our promotion practices. Further, we’ve recently created a mentorship program to support the growth of our underrepresented employees.
How have diversity & inclusion initiatives benefited Drift, and what actions does your company take to consistently improve D&I?
We continuously seek more diversity in our talent pool because we believe that true innovation reflects varying perspectives, skills, and backgrounds. We are intentional about our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts because we believe that by cultivating an environment where our diverse employees can thrive, we will be able to better serve our organization and our global customers.
Drift employees rated their diversity an A.
“Drift is part of the just 2% of VC-backed startups led by Latinx founders. Diversity is baked into our culture —
because it’s baked into who we are as people. Our goal is to be the new face of tech and corporate America, and we believe our roots are an advantage in a competitive environment. A diverse team means diverse opinions and solutions. But if you’re looking to attract diverse talent, don’t just talk about it. Live it. ” -David Cancel, Co-Founder & CEO
How does Concentrix create a diverse & inclusive work environment, and why is it important to your company?
Our commitment is that Concentrix will have an inclusive culture where our diverse workforce thrives, by empowering our staff to feel valued, a sense of belonging, make positive contributions to the communities in which they live and work , and are proud to work for Concentrix. Our vision: An equitable and inclusive workplace where everyone belongs.
We create a diverse and inclusive work environment by intentionally investing in four areas:
Culture: We’re fanatical about our culture, which is the way we work and engage in our organization. We’re doing work to creating an even greater staff experience as an evolution of our culture. We’ve launched culture champions who are across our entire organization and are sprinkling our culture locally.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: We continuously strive to create a culture of inclusion through continuous listening, committing to share and learn from our experiences, fostering a nurturing workplace and workforce that accepts our Concentrix values, and celebrating the diversity of our staff. Concentrix commits to sustaining an environment that welcomes and respects each staff and allows each of us to be our authentic best selves every day. We’ve recently launched global listening circles where staff can share their stories on how they’re celebrating and honoring differences.
The LGBTQIA inclusive culture at Concentrix works to develop a work environment where both LGBTQIA and non-LGBTQIA employees understand and are engaged in the initiative as part of a long-term culture change strategy to support engagement and inclusion for all employees across all identity groups. We recently changed our benefits to offer expanded benefits to same-sex couples. Concentrix has also been proactive in understanding and removing the barriers that discourage people with disabilities from applying to our jobs. We have made changes to our application format, online accessibility, and the language of job descriptions. Accessibility and inclusivity go beyond our recruiting processes. Concentrix enables staff with disabilities with accessible tools and technology and offer empowerment through mentoring and coaching initiatives, as well as upskilling and reskilling programs, to ensure that our staff continues to grow and succeed. Last year, we committed to putting disability inclusion on our business leadership agenda by joining the Valuable 500.
Ethics Sustainability & Responsibility: Our vision is to be a leader in building the future of the communities we serve. Concentrix actively works to integrate social and environmental responsibility with our everyday business practices. Our strength lies with our 250,000-person team across multiple geographic regions, including North America, EMEA, Asia, Australia, and Latin America, remains committed to ethics, social responsibility, and sustainability. We continue to set goals, track progress, and report our outcomes. Working together toward mutual goals unites our community and creates greater global good. Our staff not only volunteer as teams, but we also partner with local organizations that make an impact.
Wellbeing: Concentrix is known for its mental health and wellness and we provide programming and support specific to the needs of our staff populations. With the understanding that healthier, engaged employees who feel a sense of belonging are more likely to have a higher level of energy and increased concentration, the Concentrix Total Wellness Program promotes healthy lifestyles, preventive measures, and modern, efficient healthcare for everyone to achieve health goals in all 8 dimensions of wellbeing. Staff can enjoy a Wellbeing Toolkit for resources from resiliency, fostering gratitude, physical and nutritional support, and crisis intervention. We’ve dedicated a website platform, hosted webinars, and a wellbeing podcast to scale access to all our staff. Through the enhancement of all aspects of health, the program seeks to increase awareness and importance of overall health; to motivate employees to voluntarily adopt healthier behaviors; to provide opportunities and a supportive environment to foster positive lifestyle changes. To-date, our global mental health partners have saved 43 lives.
How have diversity & inclusion initiatives benefited your company, and what actions does Concentrix take to consistently improve D&I?
Through our focus on DEI, we’ve created a differentiated staff experience. We’ve been able to identify areas where we can show up to better support our staff and our leaders continue to invest in resources. Concentrix recently welcomed an experienced Senior Director of Community and Culture tasked with moving our work forward. In the wake of racial awakening in the United States, we have launched Executive Leadership Listening Tours and an Uncomfortable Truths Campaign. We have also developed a prioritized plan to evaluate and update Concentrix policies with a bias and equity lens. In the next 6-12 months, we will design and launch an initiative to get a pulse on how inclusive our environment is, develop an integrated diversity recruiting strategy to increase the diversity of talent, create a global structure and funding for Concentrix Staff Resource Groups (SRGs), complete a global gender-pay equity analysis, launch multi-year racial and gender equality campaign and operationalize and connect supplier diversity program to Concentrix procurement processes.
Concentrix employees rated their diversity among the top 5% of similar-sized companies on Comparably
“We are in this together! Our strength is in our diversity of people and diversity of thought. At no time has it ever been more important to be One Team, One Company, One Concentrix.”
-Chris Caldwell, CEO
How does Banfield create a diverse & inclusive work environment, and why is it important to your company?
Banfield is a community of people characterized by diversity of thought, background, preferences, and approach, and bonded together by our commitment to our purpose: A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS. Our pledge, achieved through the health and well-being of our associates, is to create an inclusive environment where all associates can be themselves, so that we can find value in our differences. All of our associates are encouraged to support and participate in any of our several Diversity Resource Groups (DRGS).
How have Banfield’s diversity & inclusion initiatives benefited your company, and what actions does the company take to consistently improve D&I?
Our Banfield EI&D initiatives have made Banfield a more inclusive workplace. We’re continuing to focus on providing Culturally Competent Care by adding Interpretation services in our hospitals & expanding existing partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
“I am so proud to work for an organization that puts the health and well-being of its people first. Banfield offers a unique set of programs, tools, benefits, and services that address our associates’ mental, emotional, and physical safety and well-being—from ‘ASK–Assess, Support, Know,’ our first-of-its-kind suicide prevention training designed specifically for veterinary professionals, to our Veterinary Student Debt Relief Program”
— Tiffany King, Inclusion and Diversity Director
How does Instacart create a diverse & inclusive work environment, and why is it important to your company?
At Instacart, we aim to develop a diverse workforce, foster an inclusive culture, and continue building an environment where people can bring their authentic selves to work.
As part of this work to help amplify the voices of underrepresented groups, we partner with our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) throughout the year to celebrate cultural heritage months company-wide including Women’s History Month, Black History Month, Latinx Heritage Month, Pride Month, Trans Awareness Week, Bring Your Kid to Work Day and more. Each cultural heritage month has a full-month of programming dedicated to raising awareness for underrepresented and traditionally marginalized groups through education, guest speakers, social impact projects, social connection, learning, and development.
Here are a couple of examples from recent cultural heritage months and recent efforts to support diversity, inclusion, and belonging virtually over the last few months:
Supporting Parents (April) – In April, we traditionally host “Bring Your Kid to Work Day” but this year with shelter in place, every day is “bring your kid to workday.” We centered the entire month of April around uplifting and supporting parents and their children as we transitioned working/schooling/daycare from home. We hosted virtual playdates and storytime, kid-friendly cooking classes over zoom and shipped crafts kits to fellow Instacart parents to keep their little ones occupied. We also hosted a panel of teachers of all grade levels to share tips on how parents could best tackle “distance learning” at home.
Supporting the Black Community (June-July). In response to the tragic current events and Black Lives Matter movement, as a company, we came together and partnered closely with our Black employee resource group (Nightshades) to listen, learn and determine how to best show up for the Black community. We believed this work started by supporting our internal teams as well as helping Black communities across North America and committed to investing $1 million to help support actionable change within the Instacart family – including shoppers and employees – and the broader community. We prioritized the safety of our shoppers by investing $500,000 to support this important community. This investment went towards compensating in-store shoppers and teams for any disruption to their shifts due to store closures or local curfews, as well as additional tools and features that support shopper safety. Additionally, we believe we have an opportunity to more prominently show up for communities of color that are disproportionately struggling with food insecurity. Through our work with Feeding America and Food Banks Canada, we are in a unique position to support underserved counties with the highest food insecurity rates in North America. To better support these communities, we made a $250,000 donation to go to food banks in the Feeding America and Food Banks Canada network. As a company, we’re committed to speaking up and taking action against discrimination. In the spirit of this commitment, we donated $250,000 to the Equal Justice Initiative – a non-profit organization that challenges racial and economic injustice on behalf of marginalized communities by confronting inequalities within our criminal justice system – offering support to those wrongly convicted, denied a fair trial or offered poor legal representation. Our CEO also co-signed a letter from the Silicon Valley Leadership Group along with 125 other tech CEOs that are committed to using collective voices to eradicate racism and standing up for racial justice and equity. Lastly, we continued this momentum and took “Time For Action” as a company – a half-day focused on volunteering, participating in peaceful protests, researching and donating to organizations that support the Black community, learning about Black history across North America, or attending safe space discussions.
Pride month (June) – this year, we partnered with our Rainbow Carrots (our LGBTQ+ ERG) and Nightshades (our Black ERG) to co-plan a full month of virtual programming with Nightshades to center on uplifting queer and trans people of color. Virtual programming included a cooking class with legendary drag queen Juanita MORE!, access to RuPaul’s Masterclass “Self-Expression & Authenticity”, a financial planning session on how to prepare for the unexpected, and a Juneteenth meditation with a member of our Care Team and Regina from Wolf Medicine Magic. Rainbow Carrots were also mailed shiny new swag to show that they are loud and proud while sheltering at home. We also worked with the Rainbow Carrots ERG to identify non-profit organizations that serve the QTPOC population and made monetary and grocery donations. Read more in our blog post recap – https://news.instacart.com/queerantine-ing-with-our-rainbow-carrots-pride-2020-be0445af61ab
How have diversity & inclusion initiatives benefited Instacart, and what actions does your company take to consistently improve D&I?
Our commitment to diversity & inclusion has helped shape and foster our culture of inclusivity and create a sense of belonging at Instacart. It’s through this commitment and our D&I efforts to support employees, shoppers, and customers that our company recently became certified as a Great Place to Work – with 85% of employees agreeing that Instacart is a Great Place to Work. We also received a score of 87% in the category of “Justice.” Additionally, we ranked on the Axios Harris Poll 100, ranking favorably in the category of “Companies who acted like activists, overperformed on values, and spoke out on important societal issues.”
As a company, we are continuing to focus on how we can make meaningful changes to ensure the diverse voices across our employees, shoppers, and customers are heard and represented. Recently, we’ve launched a new initiative to further our diversity and inclusion efforts, launching our partnership with Textio – an AI writing platform that detects and flags unconscious bias and gendered language across candidates and internal communications. The tool has been used by teams in their communications both internally and externally such as internal emails, job descriptions, job postings, new hire orientation comms, and email outreach to candidates. Currently, our Recruiting Team is working to include their pronouns in email signatures and LinkedIn. Our intention with this practice is to help make non-cis identifying candidates comfortable voluntarily disclosing their pronouns when interviewing. It’s a small but important step in making the candidate and interviewing experience better for everyone.
Instacart employees rated their diversity an A-.
“At Instacart, we aim to develop a diverse workforce and foster a supportive, inclusive culture where people can bring their authentic selves every day. We’re proud to invest in our teams and unique programs that create a true sense of belonging and community across the company helping our teams to thrive.”
-Nilam Ganenthiran, President of Instacart.
How does your Chipotle create a diverse & inclusive work environment, and why is it important to your company?
Having a strong purpose and mission of cultivating a better world drives all of Chipotle’s decision making. It’s not only about ‘Food with Integrity’ but also ‘People with Integrity’. As a people-first, values-driven organization, we stray off the beaten path to create an exceptional workplace for everyone.
How have diversity & inclusion initiatives benefited your company, and what actions does your company take to consistently improve D&I?
Communication has been the common thread between understanding our culture and people to further strengthen our diversity and inclusion strategy. To view all of the steps Chipotle is taking to create a more inclusive environment where employees can thrive and pursue their passion, visit: https://newsroom.chipotle.com/featured-content?item=24
Chipotle employees rated their diversity an A-.
“Our investments in diversity and inclusion signal our commitment to our employees that we see them, we have heard them and we care about them.
Not just at work but with their families and as people.” – Marissa Andrada, Chief Diversity, Inclusion and People Officer
How does GitLab create a diverse & inclusive work environment, and why is it important to your company?
Diversity, inclusion, and belonging (DIB) are fundamental to the success of GitLab — so fundamental that they make up one of our six core company values. As an all-remote company with team members in more than 68 countries around the world, we strive for a transparent environment where all globally dispersed voices are heard and welcomed. Our goal is to create an environment where people can show up as their full selves each day and can contribute to their best ability. After all, GitLab’s mission is that “everyone can contribute.” With more than 100,000 organizations using GitLab across the globe, we want to have a team that is representative of our diverse set of users. There are many ways in which we bring this philosophy to life at GitLab, including recruiting initiatives, inclusive language and benefits, training, team member resource groups, and a Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Advisory Group.
How have diversity & inclusion initiatives benefited your company, and what actions does your company take to consistently improve D&I?
For GitLab, diversity complements our other core values, specifically Collaboration, Efficiency, and Results. Diversity in our leadership supports innovation, promotes better decision making, and improves financial results.That said, like all tech companies, we have a lot of room for improvement in our metrics. Here’s a blog post we published earlier this year where we’re holding ourselves accountable publicly (at every level within the company) to doing better: https://about.gitlab.com/news/2020/06/16/our-journey-to-a-diverse-and-inclusive-workplace/
GitLab employees rated their diversity an A+.
“When thinking about a DIB strategy, plan, or philosophy, you have to consider all the things you can’t see and you don’t hear. Start by asking and having candid conversations. Treat people like people, it’s the best way to get the best results.”
-Candace Byrdsong Williams – Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Manager @ GitLab
How does Carbon create a diverse & inclusive work environment, and why is it important to your company?
Carbon takes a broad view of diversity. We believe diversity increases productivity and betters our outcomes. We encourage and strive for diversity in the typical areas of race, gender, and sexual orientation. We also think diversity includes many other things. Were you the first one in your family to go to college? Did you serve our country before you started your current career? Did you take a gap year? Cool! What did you learn?
We have a strong ERG presence at Carbon. Our POC, Women’s, and Pride ERG’s are just an example of how we acknowledge and support our employees. Many ally’s of these groups also actively participate in the meetings and activities to foster ongoing learning and support. Pride month is a highlight for Carbon with fun activities and thought-provoking round tables and company-wide panel discussions. Similarly, we celebrate and learn from our employees during Black History Month, Asian Heritage Month, and National Hispanic Heritage Month. We turned National Women’s Day into an entire week of celebration. CarbonTalks is our lunchtime speaker series. We have been lucky enough to have inspiring CEOs, professional athletes, groundbreaking scientists, and many more to expose our employees to new ways of thinking. Carbon likes to keep a pulse on how our employees are feeling. We have really doubled down on this during COVID and the new challenges a remote workforce can bring. We are using pulse surveys to keep in touch and use the feedback to fine-tune how we do business and the support we are offering our teams. Working parents, which make up a large part of our workforce are facing unprecedented challenges right now balancing kids and their careers. Carbon has made flexibility the number one priority for managers to keep front of mind with their teams. We are working towards certain parts of the day being a meeting-free zone to help with this. Our Women’s ERG has been holding parenting support groups and the People team is continuing to explore options for additional support.
Our CEO, Ellen Kullman is a founding member of Paradigm for Parity, an organization that is encouraging companies to take the pledge to catalyze change and enable committed companies to more effectively increase the number of women of all races, cultures, and backgrounds in leadership positions.
Carbon employees rated their CEO an A+.
“Systemic racism needs to be condemned and addressed. Now, more than ever, we need collective commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging. Change will take all of us. We need to use our voices to condemn injustice and support organizations working to bring meaningful change.”
-Ellen Kullman, CEO
How does Confluent create a diverse & inclusive work environment, and why is it important to your company?
Through sustained commitment to the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), Confluent aims to build a workplace where every employee has the opportunity to grow and thrive. Our three-prong approach: hire, develop, and retain a diverse workforce; evaluate and reward all employees fairly; and foster a culture of inclusion that recognizes and celebrates the unique identities of all Confluenteers.Our commitment to DEI not only creates a richer, more engaging employee experience, but it is also essential to achieving our company’s mission: in order to put our event-streaming platform at the heart of every organization around the world, our team must reflect and embrace the diversity of the global community. While we are early in our DEI journey, we are making a significant investment now in this work so that it can shape the company, our people, and our culture as we scale.
How have diversity & inclusion initiatives benefited Confluent, and what actions does your company take to consistently improve D&I?
As Confluent continues to grow rapidly and globally, it is imperative that we keep diversity and inclusion at the forefront of our people processes and company culture. In 2020, we are investing in the building blocks of a strong DEI strategy. To establish a common language around this work and reinforce behaviors of inclusion, we facilitate company-wide unconscious bias and inclusive culture training. To ensure that our people processes are equitable, we are auditing and refining our existing infrastructures, and, where needed, building new ones. And, to recognize and celebrate the diversity of our global employee population, we are creating a robust Employee Resource Group (ERG) Program. We currently have six ERGs that center the voices of various underrepresented communities at Confluent, Confluenteers’ varying communities, ethnicities, while also fostering meaningful action from allies. Initiatives thus far include community-building events, lunch-and-learns with senior leaders, intersectional book clubs, and more. Later this month, we will kick off our Latinx & Hispanic Heritage Month, complete with a newsletter, educational resources for allies, and an external speaker from the tech community. As we launch this work at Confluent, we are proud to have the full support and advocacy of our Executive leaders. Each Executive is currently developing a DEI action plan for their department and is co-sponsoring one of our ERGs. This level of engagement is crucial to ensuring the success of our overall DEI strategy.
Confluent employees rated their overall culture an A-.
“I’m seeing the Confluent community as a whole talk about things more openly as we start to offer programming around DEI.I feel comfortable being who I am, saying what I stand for, and why those things should matter from a DEI perspective — and I can champion my beliefs across the company.”
-Christian Glason, Lifecycle Marketing, Blackfluent ERG Co-Lead