Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Conversica

As part of my commitment to push for change, Conversica is sharing our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) goals for 2024, as well as our progress against those goals. This is a reminder for all of us to continue bringing awareness to the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion for all.

The power of diversity is real.  This year in 2024, Conversica has organized ourselves around six discrete initiatives—our pillars for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion:

1. Employee Days for Diversity: Set annual goals for diversity, equity, and inclusion within our organization each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and revisit those goals mid-year in June on Juneteenth. As part of this pillar, we will celebrate different cultures for diversity including Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian Pacific Heritage Month, and more.  Conversica hosts company-wide virtual events to promote awareness.
2. Training for Diversity:  We promote management training on various topics covering diversity, inclusion, and equity annually, and maintain zero discrimination complaints by employees. Additionally, we focus on company-wide training to raise awareness about different cultures and backgrounds, how to communicate respectfully and help uncover unconscious bias. 
3. Recruiting for Diversity: We achieve our employee diversity mix targets by requiring a diverse selection pool of candidates for every role.  Our focus is to engage various sourcing resources like universities, job boards, and social media to attract and build diverse pools of applicants for managers to recruit from. 
4. Community Support for Diversity: Encourage employees to volunteer in external diversity events and recognize them for their community service. Conversica will sponsor events and webinars to support our continued education and community participation in diversity, inclusion, and equity topics.
5. Metrics for Diversity: Report Conversica’s progress on its diversity KPIs to employees and the public, ultimately holding ourselves accountable with transparency. Key Metrics we are tracking:
   • Conversica’s Retention and Advancement for Diversity: Increase career development for underrepresented group members, as well as retain employees and measure/manage the time and rate of promotions.
   • Employee Demographics: Race, Gender, etc. 
6. Trusted Exchange for Diversity: Offer an environment where all ideas are welcomed, and employees feel comfortable and empowered to have discussions about diversity, equity, and inclusion.
   • Continue monthly DE&I meetings and encourage employee participation
   • Continue to leverage internal Slack channels encouraging employees to share and post topics, articles, and resources around DE&I
   • Survey employees to solicit feedback around inclusivity and partner with the leadership team to ensure this is a priority.

We’ve made important strides in each of these areas and continue our efforts for change, equity, and diversity. As a company, we strive to continue to make progress within our employee base from a gender mix to the ethnic makeup of our employee population.  In the past year,  I’m happy to announce that 33% of our promotions were female and 28% were people of color.

At Conversica, we proudly celebrate the rich diversity within our team through vibrant virtual events that honor Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Pride Month, and many more cultural milestones. Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) goes beyond events; we empower our team with awareness training and encourage the sharing of personal experiences on our #Conversica Connects Slack channel. Our #Diversity and Inclusion Slack channel is a hub of education, featuring valuable resources and videos to foster understanding.

Our monthly DE&I meetings are a cornerstone of our culture, dedicated to open discussions about diversity at Conversica. These initiatives are more than just awareness—they are a testament to our dedication to creating an environment where every employee feels valued and included. We aim to build a culture of engagement that resonates deeply with every team member.

In our recruitment efforts, we proudly partner with various HBCUs and organizations that champion minority groups, ensuring our team reflects the diversity we celebrate. Additionally, Conversicans actively give back to the community by partnering with organizations focused on ending hunger and homelessness, making a tangible difference in the world around us.

Together, we are building a workplace where diversity thrives, inclusion is the norm, and every voice is heard and celebrated.

As part of our commitment to transparency, we are reporting on our progress within Conversica itself. So, here it is…

Let’s set the mid-year baseline. How many people within our company contribute to our diversity goals as a company? Answer: 168

Here is our progress on gender diversity. We have a goal of 50% male and 50% female across all functions—the Board, our executive team, our broader leadership team, and the company as a whole.

Here’s where we landed at the end of May 31, 2024. Our company is composed of 62% male and 38% female Conversicans. See the details across groups below.

Now, the equally important measure of success in our diversity efforts at Conversica—our progress on racial diversity. At the company level, we are 57% white workers, followed by Asian at 28% and Hispanic or Latino at 13%. See the details across groups below.

As we continue to grow Conversica, we have aggressive initiatives to drive recruiting and, ultimately, our selection of new team members to achieve our targets for race as follows:

• White: 55%
• Asian: 20%
• Hispanic or Latino: 15%
• Black or African-American: 10%

In talking to my peers, creating the right pipeline of diverse candidates coupled with blind resumes, pre-defined interview questions, and ranking by role, helps. Also, with fewer requirements around geography should allow us to recruit a richer set of diverse candidates.

Here’s to diversity as a superpower,

Rafael