Last year, Cloud for Good started thinking about diversity and inclusion, and what it means to us as a company. A few internal meetings led us to launch our first ever “Diversity and Inclusion Working Group” to focus on these issues. The group has about 10 members now, from different departments and job functions, and represents a cross-section of our organization.
Why Diversity and Inclusion?
Although a mouthful, we decided that both diversity and inclusion are unique and important to who we are as a company and team. Diversity means having many different voices and views at our table. Inclusion means that we create an environment where everyone can participate and is acknowledged.
Both qualities are important to us. By being a diverse and inclusive company, we benefit from the multitude of perspectives, ideas, and strengths that our team brings to the table. And we create a welcoming place where these strengths can be shared. That makes Cloud for Good an awesome place to work and a great partner to work with.
Changing policies
Our working group formed in September 2017, and by the end of the year we had already made some structural changes to support our vision.
We decided to start with reviewing our benefits packages and making sure that they were inclusive of individuals and families of different structures. A few highlights of the family and parental benefits changes we made:
- Extended our parental leave policies to apply equally regardless of gender. There is no longer a different policy for primary caregivers – the new policies apply to all parents regardless of gender or whether they gave birth to the child.
- Created an adoption expense credit – this is a financial boost to help with the costs of adoption, which can be very expensive and not covered by insurance policies.
We also expanded our time off policies to encourage employees to take advantage of volunteer time off.
Measuring diversity
We discussed the many types of diversity that we value on our team – gender, race, age, sexuality, nationality, and more. And we realized that the first step to working toward a more diverse company is to know where we stand. We have started measuring our diversity, so we can track our progress over time.
Extending a welcome
Finally, we took to heart the goal of being an inclusive and welcoming place for all employees, but especially those who are new to Cloud for Good (we are hiring, so we have new faces joining us frequently!)
Our group’s next initiative is to update our on-boarding process and add a mentoring component to the mix. New employees will be assigned a staff buddy who can help answer their questions, get them up to speed, and help them understand the ins and outs of being a Goodie.
Next steps
We’re excited to continue our work in 2018, and beyond, to ensure that Cloud for Good remains an excellent place to work, and an excellent partner to nonprofits and higher education institutions.
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