Michelle Zohlman
writes on December 2, 2020
Our social justice work is never done. Whether it is as individuals or a company as a whole, we know at Treehouse that we need to do this work continuously. We are nowhere near perfect, which is why we are always seeking ways to be more intentional around our equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) work.
This is why, at the beginning of 2020, we began having discussions with our team members about how we can not only continue to improve around EDI but intentionally infuse it into our DNA and every department. This led to discussions on an EDI strategy for the company.
This isn’t something that can be thrown together. An EDI strategy is the glue and compass for making innovative and meaningful changes to our company. This process took months of research, discussion, and editing, to arrive at the final product. We want this strategy to be known not only within our company but within the public. We want folx to understand what we’re working on and to hold us accountable.
We wanted this to be a collaborative and inclusive process, which lead us through many rounds of brainstorming, feedback, and edits. The HR team, EDI Squad, Leadership Team, and our CEO were all part of the process to ensure that this would not only include different perspectives but be implemented from the top down.
Our EDI Strategy is broken down into four areas: People, Culture, Content, and Communities. We found that these areas not only encompass where we currently are as a company but also where we’re going. All of our work will be mapped to one of these areas.
You’ll see that we took this a step further by explicitly acknowledging each employee’s role and how it connects to our work and the strategy. Our mission at Treehouse is to diversify the tech industry. There’s no way we can accomplish this if we aren’t internally working on it ourselves. Each employee is responsible, in different ways, for upholding our mission and contributing to our EDI strategy.
Additionally, each department will be required to have an OKR mapped to an aspect of the EDI strategy. Many of our departments are already doing this work, but we want to be transparent and ensure we measure our progress.
You can look for our full EDI Strategy to be live on our About Treehouse page!
Thank you Michelle. It is comforting to see these efforts to evolve and advance in becoming a culture of diversity and inclusivity. It feels like you are trying to spread the love, acceptance and knowledge to every person. No matter what. Thank you for that!