Equality Plan V1.1
Mission
We are committed to operating our business in a manner that promotes equality,
fairness, respect, and continued ethical and moral behavior.
It is our mission to put in place a plan that can be easily adopted
and operationalized. We recognize that this plan must be data-driven,
thus holding our leadership and employees accountable for the outcomes.
Inclusion
At Tentacle, we are making it our mission to maintain an inclusive
environment in order to guard our business and ourselves from the
corrosive effects of bigotry, prejudice, and discrimination. We believe
that an inclusive culture results in a far more respectful and enjoyable
work environment for everyone involved – which inevitably leads to heightened
innovation, productivity, and overall performance in all categories of our
business. We very much hope that our experience in this realm can serve as an
example for other organizations exploring a similar path.
Core Elements
Standing Commitment
Continual Improvement
Ongoing Transparency
1. Standing Commitment
Element
We will provide a Standing Commitment to operate our business with a
core focus on equality and inclusion, while treating everyone we work
with (coworkers, customers, vendors) with respect and dignity. We will
strive to promote equity. We will prohibit discrimination based on:
- Age
- Disability
- Veteran status
- Gender identity
- Sexual orientation
- Race
- Color
- Religion
- National origin
Actions
We will hold ourselves accountable to our commitment by:
- Communicating our commitment to all Tentacle employees, shareholders, and customers via our employment offer letters, Employee Handbook, and our website.
- During the recruiting process: Utilizing a diverse interview panel; Requiring all interviewers to complete anti-bias training.
- Taking concrete steps to promote wage equality across gender and race.
- Implementing benefit policies to support same-sex couples, employees with children, and members of the military.
- Using our web platform to regularly celebrate diverse communities.
Targets
Our business will target the following outcomes by the time we reach
20 employees:
- Female/non-binary representation:
- At least 50% of all Tentacle employees.
- At least 50% of Tentacle Leadership positions.
- Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC*) representation:
- At least 40% of all Tentacle employees.
- At least 40% of Tentacle Leadership positions.
- Equity pay ratio:
- Equal average salary for female/non-binary and male employees.
- Equal average salary for BIPOC and white employees.
* BIPOC includes: African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian
Americans, Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, Pacific Islander
Americans, Native Hawaiians, Middle Eastern Americans, and multiracial
Americans
2. Continual Improvement
Element
We will pursue Continual Improvement as we strive to learn,
understand, and embrace all aspects of diversity both in and out of
the workplace. We recognize that we still have much to learn – and to
implement. We welcome the honest internal reflection necessary to
assess whether our actions are in-line with our Mission.
Actions
We will hold ourselves accountable to our commitment by:
- Participating in ongoing education and training on matters related to equality, diversity, and inclusion.
- Taking regular steps to navigate our workforce towards our diversity targets.
- Regularly assessing opportunities to improve our Equality Plan.
Targets
Our business will target the following outcomes:
- All employees participate in education and training on matters related to equality, diversity, and inclusion, on a quarterly basis.
- Members of senior management participate in education and training on matters related to equality, diversity, and inclusion, on a monthly basis.
- Quarterly improvement towards reaching our diversity targets.
- Establishment of an Equality team that can provide honest and direct feedback to the CEO on a monthly basis.
- Implementing systems to facilitate anonymous feedback throughout our organization – including from our colleagues, customers, and vendors.
3. Ongoing Transparency
Element
We will provide Ongoing Transparency regarding our progress towards
hitting our equality, equity, and ongoing educational and improvement
goals. We are hopeful that our journey may serve to inspire others
outside of our organization, as well.
Actions
We will hold ourselves accountable to our commitment by:
- Publicly sharing our progress towards our diversity representation and equity pay ratio goals (for the overall employee base and at the leadership level).
- Sharing our key takeaways from our Continual Improvement training sessions and from the anonymous feedback mechanisms.
Targets
Our business will target the following outcomes:
- Posting our Female/non-binary and BIPOC representation statistics vs. our Targets on our company website, on a quarterly basis (once we reach 20 employees).
- Posting our equity pay ratios vs. our targets on our company website, on a quarterly basis (once we reach 20 employees).
- Sharing Continual Improvement lessons learned on our company website, on a monthly basis.
