The change we want to see starts with our own actions

In July, we shared Bench’s first comprehensive accessibility guide for people leaders called Benchmarks of Inclusion. It was followed by launching a series of leadership training aimed at equipping people leaders to gain the skills and competencies in order to create and sustain an inclusive workplace. Topics include; how to facilitate inclusive meetings, how to navigate difficult conversations, with a module on neuro-inclusive communication techniques, and how to foster a  feedback culture that promotes inclusivity. 

Our senior leaders continue to meet monthly to support. We have adopted the Inclusive Leadership framework which will guide how we integrate DEI into all we do and how we lead. Inclusive Leadership emphasizes the importance of senior leaders connecting DEI efforts to strategic business priorities, and then modeling the behavior that would help to achieve desired outcomes—making inclusion a deliberate and conscious effort.

We are committed to cultivating a workplace that belongs to us all—and that includes creating visibility and support structures for celebrations and commemorations that are significant to our Benchmates.

Here’s what we got up to:

• Disability Pride Month

July was disability Pride Month! As part of our celebrations, we gathered for a disability-themed screening of an Oscar-award winning short film called The Silent Child. Based on a true story, it showcases so many important topics: ableism, audism, and oralism; our expectations for disabled individuals; being a disabled person surrounded by those who are able-bodied; the social implications of disability; disability in education, and so much more. We highly recommend you watch it too! 

• National Day for Truth and Reconciliation ‍

As part of meaningful reconciliation work, it is important for us to reflect on the ongoing impacts of colonialism, in Canada, through education. We observed this day by learning about the residential schools through the stories and work of Indigenous artists, human rights advocates, politicians, and survivors who have made it their lives work to heal the legacy of residential schools.

We are committed to greater representation of women and BIPOC in our senior leadership roles. In order to achieve this goal, we now have a specialized role on our recruitment team who will solely focus on sourcing diverse candidates.

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Bench is using diversity sourcing as a process to recruit candidates that are underrepresented within our company in order to create a workplace that reflects the world we live in. This does not mean we are haphazardly hiring people to fill diversity gaps. We are approaching diversity sourcing in a systematic process where we use data to determine what groups are currently represented and create a plan to address any shortfalls in staffing.

Our leaders in Engineering, Product, and Design (EPD) continue to prioritize gender representation on their teams. Representation on teams has increased from 31% to 47% and representation of women in senior roles on the EPD teams has increased from 31% to 40%. Our hope is that this reinforces greater and greater empowerment and growth for the women and genderqueer folks on our EPD teams.

Gender pay equity

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‍In the last quarter, our unadjusted pay gap increased by $0.04—from $0.15 to $0.19. This quarter it dropped to $0.18. We are hopeful that through new, clearly defined executive leadership DEI representation commitments in FY23 (including the already more intentional succession and development planning through our extended leadership team), we will address this shortcoming head-on in the year ahead.