This week PubMatic released our Annual Diversity & Inclusion report for 2021, the fifth that we’ve published. Each of these have served as a data-driven call-to-action that challenges us to respond in a new way to the diversity and inclusion goals we established for the company, the intention of which is to drive meaningful and sustainable change.
It takes an ongoing effort to create an inclusive company culture where differences are celebrated and outwardly valued; and where underrepresented groups feel represented at all levels of the organization and inspired by opportunities for their own career growth. As inclusive hiring practices help diversify our team, it is important that we support equity and inclusion throughout the full employment cycle of the employee. In 2020 we called upon all PubMatic employees to participate, influence, and nurture an inclusive culture, and the team has engaged over the past 12 months in greater numbers and with greater effort than ever before.
In 2020 we established the first Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council at PubMatic, which led to several new Employee Resource Groups to support the advancement of underrepresented minorities and women. The council’s mission statement established the need to foster a safe space to engage in open dialog around DE&I issues, address unconscious bias, support allyship and establish executive champions among PubMatic leadership. One of the key initial objectives for the council was to establish diversity and inclusion as a core aspect of our corporate culture at PubMatic. In December 2020 we introduced a new cultural principle:
We will encourage diversity and inclusion of ideas and people, creating a high-trust and high-performance workplace.
Employees who demonstrate exceptional effort in the area of diversity and inclusion are also recognized quarterly during our all-hands company meetings.
We set about bringing the other elements of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council’s mission statement to life via an Inclusion Action Plan that established programs, resources and communication channels to:
- Educate our leaders
- Celebrate our differences
- Champion our female role models
- Listen to our employees
- Cultivate a culture of allyship
- Support socioeconomic change by supporting women- and minority-owned businesses
- Communicate goals and measure progress
Employee engagement in DE&I programs has been impressive. As of the time of publication of our 2021 Diversity & Inclusion Report:
- 87% of our global people managers have participated in Inclusive Leadership Training to address unconscious bias and microaggressions in the workplace.
- 100% of our employees have completed Halting Harassment training.
- 111 employees have engaged in our Courageous Conversations listening events to share their personal experiences and reactions to racial violence and injustice.
- 325 employees have participated in Allyship training.
- 66 female employees are currently participating in our career mentorship program.
- One Joy in the Journey roundtable discussion was facilitated with female leaders at PubMatic, to motivate and inspire junior employees through sharing stories of their own career experiences.
- Two PubMatic Diversity, Equity & Inclusion newsletters have been published.
- We have surpassed our financial goal established for supporting women- and minority-owned businesses.
In the coming months we plan to expand our DE&I efforts to promote awareness of neurodiversity, in addition to addressing the stigma associated with learning differences. PubMatic intends to supplement current mental health offerings with new wellness resources. We will also host a roundtable discussion with our CEO, Rajeev Goel, who will be joined by one of the founders of One Mind at Work.
Comprehensive engagement in our employee-centered programs has been key to our success in driving inclusion throughout the organization: from inclusive hiring practices to providing equal opportunity for advancement. We are innovating and fueling the success of our customers – as well as our team – through the celebration of the ways in which we are different and through the culture of empowerment that we have built together.
