Back to top
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Here at Ellevation, we champion diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging. We strive to build a team that reflects the diverse communities we serve. We’re an equal opportunity employer, committed to creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values a range of ideas and opinions. We embrace all types of differences in the development of our organization. We are proud to have been recognized in prior years as “Best Tech Workplace for Diversity” from the Timmy Awards for investing in training around inclusive behaviors, microaggressions, unconscious bias, and fostering a culture of sharing educational resources across the company. We are encouraged by our progress, but there’s more work to be done. 

DEI Champions

DEI Champions is a company sponsored initiative that grew out of our awareness to create a more inclusive workplace. Ten team members either volunteered or were nominated as DEI Champions and have been trained to facilitate small group discussions about race and our personal experiences in the workplace. Our DEI Champions had the privilege of working with Dr. Ella Washington from Ellavate Solutions who guided them in crafting these discussions on topics that allowed all our employees a safe space to openly talk about race in the workplace. In these conversations, we’ve asked employees to consider how race connects to Ellevation’s mission, how they’ve seen that connection play out in their work, and how race has impacted their experience at Ellevation. These discussions, as well as an analysis of our own demographics, brought to light the need to improve the diversity of our company’s workforce.

Reviewing our Hiring Practices

We serve a large, diverse group of students across the country and we believe our organization should reflect the communities it serves. One of the first steps we’ve taken to continually improve diversity and inclusion at Ellevation is to address our hiring practices.

The Work Ahead

We are building a team that reflects the diverse communities we serve and the diversity of our country. Doing so helps to maximize the impact of different voices and ensure that the decisions we make and the solutions we develop are informed by a broad array of perspectives. This is especially important given the under-representation of non-majority ethnic populations and those that identify as women in the tech industry. Progress requires focus and a company-wide commitment. 

While we have a long way to go, we are pleased that over the last 12 months we have seen a significant increase in the number of diverse candidates we have interviewed and hired, and an improvement in the retention of non-majority team members. Ellevation is committed to continuous improvement. We will continue to evaluate our efforts, identify opportunities for improvement, and take steps that help us build the most diverse organization possible. 

Spotlight: Engineering

We want every engineer who interviews at Ellevation to know exactly what we're looking for, and exactly how we look for it. Further, we want every engineer who interviews at Ellevation to feel like they are able to fully demonstrate their skills and abilities. Rather than having candidates guess what competencies we’re looking for, we have made it a point to be explicitly clear about the skills, behaviors, and experiences necessary for success in a given role.  An example of this is our “Hitchhiker's Guide to Ellevation’s Interview Process,” which is provided to all of our engineering candidates. The guide provides a breakdown of each step in the hiring process and explains what we look for in each phase (technical skills, collaboration, ownership, leadership), allowing the candidate to truly showcase their personal and professional assets.

 

The ultimate goal is to encourage candidates of all backgrounds to help us see if they have those skills, behaviors, and experiences. Adopting this transparent method of interviewing ensures our own employees are also directly aligned with the specific needs in all roles.

Our intent is to do everything we can to create an environment of calm, supportive focus – that's what we strive for in our actual work environment and how we believe we can see people at their best performance. Fundamentally, that means treating all people, in every moment they interact with us, with a great deal of care and respect.