Diversity

People tend to define “diversity” by talking about classifications like race, gender, age and ability. But that doesn’t tell the whole story: Diversity means looking at our organization’s big, visible characteristics as well as the ones we can’t see – background, point of view, experience, belief systems. It’s the experiences we all contribute, based on both seenandunseen traits, that make our teams diverse.

Inclusion

We strive to create and foster an atmosphere where everyone feels not just welcomed, but included and engaged – and not just at the start of employees’ time with The Zebra, but throughout it. Inclusion invites everyone to the table; gives them the tools they need to make meaningful contributions; and supports them as they grow and change. Inclusion is deliberate, empowering and ongoing.

Equity

Treating people equally means treating them all the same. And that’s not a bad thing! But we should be going further, and treating peopleequitably– that means being sensitive to individual needs, preferences and motivators. Empowering team members with the tools and resources they need as individuals drives greater success for all of us.

Intersectionality

Individuals can and do belong to one or more privileged or marginalized groups, and it’s important to take into account their experiences as members of these multiple groups. We strive to honor and listen to the experiences that overlap, and not categorize individuals as single, two-dimensional group representatives.

Allyship

Members of historically privileged communities or groups have a critical role to play in building more diverse, inclusive spaces. By actively working against systems of oppression and giving voices, resources and opportunities to marginalized groups, allies can use their power to be catalysts for real change.

Thanks to LifeLabs Learning, CultureAmp, IAESTE and BuiltIn (twice!) for your thoughtful work and education in helping us to articulate these values as they pertain specifically to The Zebra and our employees.

Our business is built on many of the values critical to fostering a diverse workplace: Transparency, accessibility, trust, accountability. We’re taking steps to ensure we’re attracting and hiring employees from a wide variety of backgrounds.

That commitment doesn’t stop at recruitment practices: Once employees are here, we want to guarantee they feel included, heard and supported. And that’s bothatwork andwiththe work we do each day.

Our approach to hiring 

At The Zebra, our recruiters are all certified  Inclusive Talent Acquisition Professionals, which allows them to both lead candidates through a thoughtful, equitable hiring process and train internal hiring teams on things like: 

• Understanding common unconscious biases
• Asking effective questions
• Providing actionable feedback
• Standardized, unbiased interview and hiring processes 
• Targeted sourcing strategies for underrepresented groups and underrepresented minorities
• Referral programs focused on attracting underrepresented groups and underrepresented minorities
  

We champion recognizing everyday contributions  and celebrating wins of all sizes in our internal #gratitude channel. These can be job-specific successes or accomplishments as well as tasks indirectly related to team members’ roles, like participation in voluntary task forces, project work outside their core functions and cross-functional mentorship.

During onboarding, we deliberately foster connections across the organization for new employees to meet individuals and teams with whom they might not work on a daily basis in their roles. As we all work from home during COVID-19, we’re making these connections virtually with regular “Zeeb Hangs” to welcome new team members.

All Zebras have  open access to leadership in a variety of forums: monthly all-hands meetings, skip-level one on ones, “ask me anything” executive Q&A sessions, our #ceo slack channel, open office hours – and, during times when we’re allowed to convene in person, monthly, small-group dinners with Keith, our CEO, and lunches with Meetesh, our CTO and CDO.

We have a  cross-functional task force  on Inclusion, Diversity Equity and Action (IDEA) that meets weekly; they work to address, dismantle, educate and build in the areas of IDEA at The Zebra.

We’ve launched a  “Say This, Not That”  effort, which educates the company about words, phrases and terms that – although they could be commonly used –stem from racist, sexist, classist, ableist and other problematic origins.

As The Zebra’s oldest (founded in March 2018) and largest (126 members) ERG, The Shebras are an employee resource group of women and allies at The Zebra who provide opportunities for all Zebras to come to work as their authentic selves; we strive to create inclusive spaces for learning, growth and leadership. 

The Shebras have a busy – and growing – roster of programs. Shebra Showcases are a series of workshops for our members to showcase their skills – both work-related and not – like drawing basics, bread baking, Gmail organization, indoor houseplant care and becoming a more effective writer. #LittleWinsDay is for members to share and celebrate any successes, big or small, with our group’s Slack channel. And each December, our Words of Kindness program encourages members to share compliments with other members in the group – it’s always a huge success and a great way to celebrate.

Moving forward, we hope to make an impact in our community through volunteering with organizations that support women. Additionally, we would like to help foster mentorship opportunities for Shebras where they can learn and grow their knowledge through each other.

Affinity is a diversity ERG for minorities – which we define as people of color, immigrants and first-generation Americans – and allies. We’ve been around since February 2019 and have about 100 members. Our goals are to promote awareness and education within the company, support career development, create a community both in and outside The Zebra and to foster allyship. 

Our co-founders, Martina and Marivi, had both been thinking about a group like Affinity for quite a while – but it wasn’t until they decided to join forces that it became a reality. Understanding that conversations around minority representation in the workplace can be uncomfortable, they wanted to help to encourage and amplify those conversations, while making group members feel heard and supported. Using the development of The Shebras as a role model, we launched Affinity to provide support, inclusion and opportunities.

We kicked off Affinity’s first meeting with a world map to show all the places employees call home and highlight how diverse we as a company are. Thanks to thoughtful members and volunteers, we’ve been able to host many initiatives, from panel discussions to happy hours to cultural lunches – most recently, we launched a Minorities in Tech panel discussion series to internally spotlight some of our employees and members. We’ve also joined forces with other ERGs for workshops on effective communication and mentorship. 

Today, our mission and work are more important than ever. We’re continuing to pursue our goals and are grateful for the support and space to drive impact.

Dazzle’s mission is to promote an inclusive, active, and empowering community for LGBT employees and allies. We support The Zebra’s diversity and inclusion goals by building community internally and externally while fostering authenticity and friendship through events, workshops and advocacy. We’ve been around since summer 2019 and are 80+ employees strong! 

After the incredible support and participation we experienced while planning our presence at Austin’s Pride Parade in 2019, we decided to keep the momentum going and start an official ERG. 

This year, we are focusing on facilitation conversations, companywide pronoun initiatives and working with organizations to provide education and advocacy workshops to better support the LGBTQ community in Texas. We have a good relationship with the LGBT Chamber of Commerce and plan to do even more work with them in the future.

Supporting organizations whose missions align with our own when it comes to diversity is really important. Here are a few we’ve partnered with over the years:

• DivInc
• Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders
• Out Youth
• Code2College