.svg){kind=small}
Why is DEIB so important to us?
We truly believe that investing in a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment will empower our team to do their best work at Auror. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and feel a sense of belonging at work. Watch the video and/or read the blog post below to learn more about our journey from our CEO, Phil Thomson.
Video supplied courtesy of The Good Day Matrix
Read more about our journey towards creating a diverse and inclusive company
“Achieving DEI in any form requires a strategy that dismantles historical inequities and meets people’s unique needs, building, leveraging, and maintaining stakeholder trust.”
Improving DEIB takes a multi-pronged approach, and for us it felt important to do this work in an ongoing and developmental way, starting with Listening.
We start every DEI-related initiative with active listening. In 2021, we launched the first of an annual company-wide “DEIB at Auror” survey. We use the survey insights to stay informed on the demographic makeup of our team, and to analyse and measure different perspectives on how we’re enabling a more diverse, inclusive and equitable environment at Auror.
We learned of four consistent themes, or improvement areas for the company, which emerged from the surveys that we have conducted so far:
Effective
DEI strategy
A desire to see a clear strategy around our DEI work, and visibility of our goals, data and metrics.
Balanced representation
An interest in addressing areas of imbalance across our leadership team and other teams lacking diversity, with a particular focus on ethnicity and gender.
Transparent salary bands
A call for a consistent and transparent approach to career progression and pay across all levels of the company.
Listening to underrepresented groups
An articulated need for spaces for people from groups that were typically under-represented in the tech industry (such as women, gender-diverse folks, LGBTQIA+ community and BIPOC) to gather and be heard.
We know that the act of unlearning is just as important as learning, when it comes to DEI and cultivating a sense of belonging. Here are some areas we identified as unlearning opportunities:
1. Conflating intentions with impact
We needed to acknowledge that anyone might act in a way which was not inclusive, even if that wasn’t their intention. We also needed to challenge ourselves to take action whenever we witness acts of discrimination, prejudice or harm - even if the person causing these acts was a friend, leader or peer.
2. Having an inconsistent process for decision-making
After reviewing the way we made decisions in key areas such as hiring, we realised that we needed to standardise some of these processes in order to make them more equitable.
After listening, learning, and unlearning, we knew that it would all be meaningless unless we took action and pushed for positive change in the improvement areas identified. Here are some of the things that we have started doing, and will continue to do, as we go into the next round of listening exercises with our team:
We listen and act with intention
At Auror, we’re people first. We know that putting people first means there needs to be a high level of trust and open, honest two-way communication at every level within Auror. We share perspectives, and when we share our perspectives, they’re valued. Our team’s perspectives guide everything we do, from product decisions to hiring, even to investment decisions. We take responsibility for seeking perspectives of others to solve problems.
We have voices that are heard, listened to, and that matter.
We act with intention on the voices and perspectives we hear. We provide safe spaces for underrepresented groups to share their experiences, and action collaboratively and appropriately.
Our team feels a strong sense of responsibility for our DEIB and alongside committed leaders they are actively involved in shaping and delivering experiences that contribute to the success of our DEIB strategy.
We’re committed to taking an equitable and transparent approach to career progression
We care about sustainability and we commit to paying our people fairly and in line with our company size and stage. Our company Progression Framework provides a consistent way to manage career progression and compensation across the company, and includes inclusive behaviour and commitment to DEIB as measures of success.
We take an equitable approach to pay and recognise that transparency is the first step towards that. We share our salary bands for different role groups and levels at Auror so our team feel confident they are being paid fairly and know what they need to do to progress.
We build in support for our people
We are building a place where people are valued for the work they do and supported every step of the way. We want everyone to thrive, and feel excited about their future. We value motivation and we actively encourage continuous learning and development.
We believe people do their best work and deliver the greatest results when they are able to live healthy, balanced lives. And our lives outside of work, if we choose to share openly, are valued and celebrated.
This means: Our people can safely prioritise themselves, their family/dependants, and/or their pets when they need to. We openly share our commitments in our calendars and Slack statuses, to set each other up for success when it comes to collaboration.
We enjoy Shorter Work Weeks, where *everyone* gets Friday afternoons off, so they can start their weekend early and do more of whatever it is that makes them happy.
We partner to change lives, challenge systemic bias, and contribute to a broader purpose
We believe that together we go further. We know the importance of investing in partnerships with external organisations, to help us understand different perspectives on how to provide a more inclusive environment for under-represented groups.
We all play an active role in Auror’s mission to reduce crime, and keep communities safe. We value our partnerships with police, retailers, and social impact organisations (including organisations like TupuToa) to challenge biases together. Read more about our approach to ESG here.
We’re committed to being a place where everyone feels like they belong. If you’d like to find out more about joining our team, click below to learn about working at Auror.
.svg){kind=small}
.png)
.png)