In 2021, we established our Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Council as an offshoot of our Great Places To Work (GPTW) Committee. The Council’s mission is to foster an inclusive working environment and ensure equal opportunities for all employees regardless of race, tenure, gender, sexual orientation, and age. Its purpose is to embrace diversity and benefit from a variety of perspectives when it comes to effective problem-solving, innovation, and better business outputs.
Partnering with HR and leadership to ensure employment decisions are based on merit and abilities, the D&I Council strives to achieve its mission and purpose by celebrating our differences, embracing what makes us unique, and ensuring that every employee feels comfortable bringing their true selves to work each day.
The Council also works to raise awareness for marginalized groups through initiatives including:
- Lunch and learn sessions
- Email campaigns
- Sharing useful resources such as podcasts, books, documentaries
As a business that contributes to how laws, regulations, and standards are enacted in our society, we are conscientious of our footprint on our wider community.
Building out the D&I Council
Celebrating our diverse workforce
As an offshoot of our GPTW committee, the D&I Council utilizes the results from the GPTW survey to review satisfaction levels amongst employees, and we use the GPTW Culture Audit framework and external best practice laws and guidelines to plan for future initiatives. In 2021, we obtained a 98 percent satisfaction score for the category of Diversity and Inclusion and have set a goal to maintain a score of a minimum of 95 percent.
Our D&I Council meets monthly to plan and organize initiatives across five focus areas.
1. Culture, Race and Ethnicity
With 44 percent of our employees originating outside of Ireland, we are conscious to celebrate all nationalities and cultures that we belong to. The D&I Council regularly consults our diverse workforce to ensure that we are marking meaningful occasions for everyone, such as Kwanzaa, Diwali, Black History Month, and Tłusty Czwartek.
2. Gender Equality
We are proud to have both male and female Council members championing a focus on women in tech and leadership. Propylon fosters a culture of gender equality internally through campaigns for International Women’s Day and Men’s Health Awareness Month or ‘Movember’. In 2022, our D&I Council is also looking forward to establishing a partnership with Teen-Turn, a non-profit organization that works to encourage girls in second-level education to pursue a career in STEM.
3. LGBTQ+ Allyship
4. Enablement and Disability
Propylon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the grounds of disability. We also support employees by raising awareness and destigmatizing conversations around disability. In 2021, we supported Make Way Day, a public awareness event that highlights the needs of people with disabilities in shared public spaces. In addition, we held a lunch and learn sign language session on both the Irish Sign Language and American Sign Language for our global workforce.
5. Age Equality
Relocation support
With company headquarters located in Dublin, we want to make sure to support our team members who are working in Ireland for the first time. To that end, we developed New Hire Orientation guides to help our team members navigate society and culture in Ireland.
C# Software Engineer, Dimitrios Kaletsaris is from Greece and was living in France before coming to work at our Dublin office.
“Relocating, in general, is not an easy task,” says Dimitrios. “This is my second time switching countries and it was a different experience this time around. Propylon’s New Hire Orientation Guide is very concise, covering all the steps I would have taken myself when settling in Ireland and includes additional information.
“The real challenge for me was finding accommodation. I didn’t get very far because it was hard to attend viewings. This is where Propylon showed true camaraderie, asking people internally if they knew of any places to let, thus landing me in my current home.
“Since I’ve arrived in Ireland and started working at the company, Propylon has been by my side, for example, through the many aspects of relocation that cannot be initiated before having a fixed address and attending appointments in person (like obtaining a Public Services Card). In brief, relocating is stressful on its own, and receiving all the support from Propylon when needed facilitated the whole process. The Great Places To Work accreditation is really spot on. And it gets even better as time goes by.”
Equal opportunities for all
As a business that contributes to how laws, regulations, and standards are enacted in our society, we are conscientious of our footprint on our wider community. Through our D&I Council and broader Corporate Social Responsibility efforts, we strive to cultivate a progressive, innovative working environment that will advance Propylon as a business and have a positive impact on broader society.
