Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Conversica: Transparency Leads to Change

In continuing with my commitment to change, Conversica is following through on its promise to share our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) goals, as well as our progress against those goals. I also want to take this opportunity to recognize our Black Communities during June, Black History Month. This is a reminder for all of us to continue bringing awareness around the importance of Black Lives Matter, and the call for diversity, equity, and inclusion for all.

The power of diversity is real. We at Conversica have organized ourselves around nine discrete initiatives—our pillars for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion:

1. Conversica’s 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 between May 25th (the anniversary of George Floyd’s untimely death) and Juneteenth June 19th.
2. Conversica’s Services for Diversity: Provide minority-owned businesses and charities supporting minority advancement with free augmented workforce solutions.
3. Conversica’s Recruiting for Diversity: Achieve our employee diversity mix targets by requiring a diverse selection of candidates for every role.
4. Conversica’s Training for Diversity: Promote management training on diversity, inclusion, and equality will be provided annually, and maintain zero discrimination complaints/incidents by employees.
5. Conversica’s Community Support for Diversity: Encourage employees to volunteer in external diversity initiatives and reward them for their community service. Conversica will sponsor events and webinars to support our continued education and community participation in diversity, inclusion, and equality topics.
6. Conversica’s Metrics for Diversity: Report Conversica’s progress on its diversity KPIs to employees, and to the public, ultimately holding ourselves accountable with transparency.
7. 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.
8. Conversica’s 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.
9. Conversica’s Ecosystem for Diversity: Enforce our diversity, equity, and inclusion by “firing” customers or partners who don’t adhere to our values. Encourage the use of minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, LGBT-owned, and differently abled-owned businesses as suppliers to Conversica.

We’ve made important strides in each of these areas and continue our rallying cry for change, equality, and diversity.

To provide a sample of our efforts, our employees commit themselves to serve and volunteer at local community events for the underrepresented. This year, we partnered and volunteered at several organizations, to help feed the poor, some of which included Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, and Seattle Salvation Army Food Bank. In Bellingham WA, we participated in Camp Korey providing arts and crafts for families in need from minority communities. Our company also held social gatherings, sponsoring businesses from People Of Color (POC)—in addition to hosting a Juneteenth/Black history trivia event bringing education and awareness to our employees. Lastly, we held our first company-wide Pride event, in celebration of Pride Month. I get warm-hearted and happy every time I see the pictures of our employees making a difference both internally and in the community.

As part of our commitment to transparency, we have committed to 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: 241

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, 2022. Our company is composed of 60% male and 40% 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 still have a majority of white workers at 58%, followed by Latinx at 24%, Asian at 14%, and African-American at 2%. See the details across groups below.

• White: 55%
• Asian: 20%
• Latinx: 15%
• African-American: 10%

If you are a peer CEO reading this, transparency leads to change. So, what are your commitments to much-needed change, and how are you performing against your Diversity & Inclusion goals?

Here’s to diversity as a superpower,
Jim