Leading corporate wellness company committed to building diversity in the workplace.
Redmond, WA, December 17, 2020 – Aduro, a leading provider of corporate wellness solutions, has been ranked the 6th Most Equitable Workplaces in Washington state by the Puget Sound Business Journal in their special report conducted by GEN (Gender Equity Now).
Aduro is passionate about building a culture of belonging — a place where people feel welcomed, have equal opportunity and are accepted for their strengths, flaws and uniqueness. A culture of humanity that is built on trust and curiosity create psychological safety and offers opportunities for open dialogue and continuous learning.
This award is validation that we’re moving in the right direction, which is encouraging, but we also know that the work doesn’t stop here and that we need to continue to take the appropriate steps to continue to grow as an organization.”
KayCee Perron, Aduro’s Director of People Development
Puget Sound Business Journal leveraged The GEN Index to provide a standardized measurement of workplace equity. Employees were given an anonymous survey to rate their employer’s commitment to a fair and equitable workplace. GEN then evaluated the companies according to standards of excellence across five tenets of workplace culture: bias neutrality, employee resonance, accessibility, gender perception gap and visible advocacy.
Aduro will take the GEN Index report findings and identify opportunities where the company can continue to improve and create a more equitable workplace.
Read the official press release here.
Aduro’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Aduro is committed to supporting diversity, equity and inclusion in our workplace. These are some of our initiatives demonstrating this commitment.
Starting Inside with our Belonging Index™
In our efforts to understand where our company currently ranks on belonging and inclusion with our own employees, we have developed our own proprietary Belonging Index. We have utilized aspects of the Workplace Belongingness Scale and SurveyMonkey & Paradigm’s Belonging and Inclusion Template in our research to develop a tool to determine a baseline of belongingness and inclusion in the organization. The assessment was delivered via our proprietary survey tool, Heartbeat™, and the results are currently being analyzed to develop plans to make improvements.
Reshaping Workplace Culture through our Happy(8)Hours Program
Aduro’s internal employee wellness program, Happy(8)Hours, is centered around the thinking that the eight hours spent working should be the focus of celebration, not only the hour when we leave. This program includes a digital-to-human approach that offers every Firestarter (Aduro employee) the opportunity to measure their personal well-being, performance and overall flourishing. This program becomes a portal to access the various tools are resources available to Firestarters centered around inclusion and belonging. Our in-house coaching and content teams take part in diversity, equity and inclusion training to focus on their own self-awareness and how it shows up for our members through one-on-one coaching and inside or our interactive digital content.
Learn more about Aduro’s employee well-being solutions here.
Focus of improvements and support:
- Leave plans – from family leave to mental health and medical leave, to support our employees that need it during these unprecedented times.
- Remote work environment – to allow for greater flexibility and peace of mind, employees now have the option to work remotely.
- Mental Health support – new mental health coaching and self-guided programs for stress management, mindset, financial support and leadership are available through our well-being program.
- Support groups for parents – parents with similar aged children meet up to share ideas, support one another, and grow together, with the support of a coach.
Ensuring a Diverse Workforce
We have updated all of our hiring policies and procedures to ensure that we are using neutral language in our job postings, that we have diverse hiring teams and that we have clear decision-making criteria that ensures diversity of thinking and background. We upgraded our applicant tracking software to provide us a greater reach into diverse populations, increasing our visibility beyond our local neighborhood and current employee referrals.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Coalition
Our grassroots DE&I Coalition meets on a monthly basis to have real and uncomfortable conversations. The group’s charter is to raise awareness and foster belonging in the workplace.
The DE&I Coalition is laying the foundation for meaningful change; we examine our own stories, identities and biases, and begin to understand how we can speak out and act against injustice.”
Ardith Daly, a Leader of Aduro’s DE&I Coalition
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy Council
The DE&I Strategy Council involves representatives from across the organization to develop our point of view and strategic plan for initiatives, including but not limited to audits and improvements of:
- Internal and external content: language, images, vendors and partnerships, contracts and agreements
- Internal people process and policies
- Recruiting, interviewing, and hiring practices
- Product accessibility
- Board-level diversity
2020s Impact on our Approach to Equity
2020 has offered up a number of opportunities (how we like to view challenges) to grow and improve as an organization. Discover the new initiatives we have brought on in response to what 2020 has brought to the workplace and our lives.
Leadership Training
We are conducting a 6-month long leadership workshop series grounded in recognizing the infinite worth of each human being that works at Aduro as well as those we serve, democratizing growth and development across the organization and developing adaptive leadership competencies in order to build and foster a culture of belonging and inclusion.
What I’ve found inspiring is the depth of vulnerability achieved within our leadership groups. They are learning to get comfortable with the uncomfortable – normalizing this experience.”
– Jyotica Barrio, workshop facilitator and a Leader of Aduro’s DE&I Coalition
With this work we are focused on developing psychological safety, understanding our employees’ collective and differing experiences at work and in life, recognizing our individual biases and company policies and patterns of behavior that may cause inequity.
Implicit Bias Workshops
Additionally, we have run several implicit bias workshops across our employee base with over 85% of our employees attending. The goals of these workshops are to help employees understand what implicit bias is, and how it might show up in life and work. This helps employees understand that bias is normal human behavior, but we must become aware of how they show up.
Ensuring Equity in Executive Roles
We have benchmarked all roles and ensured that salaries are decided based on the work expectations and balanced by tenure. All executive bonus plans are the same and payouts are measured based on company performance with clear key performance indicators and measurable goals as the deciding factor. We utilized diversity recruiters to attract a broader range of prospects for our top-level roles. Most importantly, we have put a strong focus on developing, coaching and mentoring people within our organization to prepare them for executive roles as they become available in the future.
Join us on our Journey
While we are honored to receive this award from PSBJ and GEN, we acknowledge there is still much work to be done to continue to foster a level of inclusion and belonging at Aduro. The initiatives discussed here are just the start. As we learn from our different assessments, and more importantly from direct feedback from Firestarers, we can cultivate a diverse and inclusive culture.
Learn more about our mission, values and open positions available, and become our newest Firestarter