Commerce Experience Management Provider Sets Aggressive Targets, Makes Strategic Investment in Gender Equity and Ethnic Diversity of Internal Teams
Salsify, the Commerce Experience Management (CommerceXM) platform empowering brand manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to win on the digital shelf, announced the findings of an inaugural report, “Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Leading With Equity”.
This landmark report is a critical first step to outline Salsify’s ED&I strategy that includes four essential pillars: attraction, recruitment, development, and retention.
Additionally, the report benchmarks Salsify’s current ED&I progress and sets aggressive goals. For example, by 2024 Salsify is committed to:
- Senior leadership positions in the U.S. will be at least 20% persons of color (POC).
- Senior leadership globally within each department will be at least 30% female or nonbinary.
- The representation of POC in the U.S. workforce will increase to 30% — with at least 7.5% Black representation and at least 7.5% Hispanic/Latin(o/a) representation.
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“The U.S. population is more racially and ethnically diverse than ever, a trend that is expected to continue for decades,” said Jason Purcell, CEO, Salsify. “At the same time, there have been no shortages of examples that demonstrate our communities haven’t kept pace with these shifts. We’ve spent the last year examining these events in the context of our company and our employees and are committed to elevating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as a business imperative.”
“In the past year, we’ve invested in creating a strong foundation of ED&I awareness,” said Colleen Habeski, Chief People Officer, Salsify. “Now, we’re committed to adding to that foundation by working to ensure a sense of belonging for all employees. We’re committed to being an organization that tackles complex problems and empowers our people.”
Initial Salsify investments for reaching these goals include:
- Created a new function for ED&I Strategy and Programs. This function will be responsible for developing and executing Salsify’s strategy around advancing equity, increasing the diverse hiring pipeline, and fostering a culture of belonging for the underrepresented within the tech industry.
- Launched a partnership with Hack.Diversity, a talent provider that partners with employers to tap into the full potential of the talent landscape by bridging Black and Latin(/a/o) technologists into the field and helping organizations evolve systems-wide practice to drive retention and promotion of that talent.
- Launched a partnership with Resilient Coders to recruit young people of color from Boston and the surrounding area to train in software engineering, website development, and app design with a 14-week tech bootcamp.
- Increased investments in the Salsify Employee Resource Groups to build community, connect, share information, increase cultural awareness, recruit and retain diverse talent, and strengthen our employees’ professional and personal growth. Specific investments focused on LGBTQIA+ awareness around Pride Month, brought awareness to topics including race, allyship, anti-Asian racism, multi-racial identity, race, and gender identity, and facilitated conversations on the importance of mental health continued challenges that women face in tech.
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As a result of the partnership with Hack.Diversity, Salsify hired new employees, including Gilberto Del Busto. After a 10-year career as a successful accountant, Gilberto wanted a change. He took several self-study workshops to learn software development and enrolled in the eight-month Hack.Diversity Program.
“When I started at Salsify I felt that I struck gold,” said Del Busto. “From my experience as a consultant and seeing different companies, I could not believe how such a successful and relatively new company can be full of amazing people, and show so much care for their employees. Salsify is full of amazing talent, everyone is so smart, humble, and willing to help each other grow.”
“One size no longer fits all in creating high-performing teams who are both engaged and focused on greater innovation,” said Tricia Montalvo Timm, Salsify Board Member. “Diversity of people, background, experience, and perspective form a proven approach to help organizations excel.”
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