Diverse teams perform better. That’s not an opinion; it’s a fact—and it’s one that we at Guru have focused on for years. As we started to see our headcount grow quickly in the aftermath of our Series A round, we realized it wasn’t just enough to hope for a more diverse company. We had to create an intentional and deliberate strategy to ensure we were actively building one.
We gave people a sneak peek into our plans around DEI in January, and we’re proud of the progress we’ve made so far in creating a more diverse and inclusive company.
We’ve expanded our hiring pipeline and are dedicating ourselves to cultivating a more diverse hiring pool. Our new implicit bias training program has taught our team how to identify problematic behaviors and thought patterns and given them the tools they need to self-correct.
Hiring and training are a big part of our DEI initiative, but we also want to do what we can to give back to the community at large.
Throughout February and up until March 15th, we put on a donation match drive. For every dollar our employees donated to chosen organizations, we’d happily match the amount. Our DEI team, in collaboration with the Black at Guru Employee Resource Group, was able to pick three great organizations for the company to support:
The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights works locally, statewide, and nationally to shift resources away from prisons and punishment and towards opportunities that make our communities safe, healthy, and strong. Some examples of their work are:
Running local campaigns to demand that elected officials enact budgets that reflect their values
Supporting state policies that reduce sentences, remove barriers, and restore opportunities
Working to change the national narrative about public safety to be less focused on fear and punishment, and more focused on having a living wage job, healthy food, and affordable childcare, healthcare, and housing.
The Last Mile prepares incarcerated individuals for successful reentry through business and technology training. Their programs are designed to help participants develop highly marketable personal and professional skills that are relevant and competitive in today’s business environment. The core curriculum includes HTML/CSS and JavaScript, WordPress, Node, AngularJS, React, and D3.js.
Black Girls Code's mission is to increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 7 to 17 to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology.
Guru employees raised over $8,100.00, which meant that the company donated over $16,000.00 to three excellent organizations!
Techqueria
We’re proud of the work we’ve done to help national organizations, but we’re also doing our part locally. Our recent partnership with Techqueria allowed us to work with an organization that shares our core values around diversity and inclusion.
Techqueria is a non-profit that serves Latinx members of the tech community. They have chapters in 7 different cities, and they recently started one right in our hometown of Philadelphia. We love partnering with organizations that share our values, which is why we decided to help them throw an awesome Cinco De Mayo event.We had a truly fantastic night hearing music from DJ Leon Xavier and listening to talks from members of the Philly Latinx tech community. We even had the chance to fit in a quick salsa lesson.
Events like the Cinco De Mayo party from organizations like Techqueria are essential because they showcase how vital diversity is at all levels for our company.
At Guru, our team of engineers come from an array of backgrounds. Some have a traditional background in computer science, others are self-taught, and a few even landed here after pivoting from a completely different career path.
A few of our team members were able to use our time with Techqueria to share their stories about how they got into tech. Their unique backgrounds show that we value diversity in education and background and welcome any and all people to apply to Guru. Everyone, regardless of their background or career experience, deserves a voice in tech. We want to do everything we can to make sure those voices are heard.
As reflected in our Seek and Share Knowledge company value, we embrace diverse experiences, backgrounds, and skillsets to make us stronger and smarter.
We understand that diverse views create better business outcomes, and so we continuously refine our hiring practices, track metrics, educate our team, and partner with the community.
As Guru grows, we are committed to creating a work experience where all employees feel a sense of inclusivity and belonging.
We mentioned a lot of great organizations in this post, but we always want to add more to our list. Let us know about any organizations you love that could use some support from Guru!
Diverse teams perform better. That’s not an opinion; it’s a fact—and it’s one that we at Guru have focused on for years. As we started to see our headcount grow quickly in the aftermath of our Series A round, we realized it wasn’t just enough to hope for a more diverse company. We had to create an intentional and deliberate strategy to ensure we were actively building one.
We gave people a sneak peek into our plans around DEI in January, and we’re proud of the progress we’ve made so far in creating a more diverse and inclusive company.
We’ve expanded our hiring pipeline and are dedicating ourselves to cultivating a more diverse hiring pool. Our new implicit bias training program has taught our team how to identify problematic behaviors and thought patterns and given them the tools they need to self-correct.
Hiring and training are a big part of our DEI initiative, but we also want to do what we can to give back to the community at large.
Throughout February and up until March 15th, we put on a donation match drive. For every dollar our employees donated to chosen organizations, we’d happily match the amount. Our DEI team, in collaboration with the Black at Guru Employee Resource Group, was able to pick three great organizations for the company to support:
The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights works locally, statewide, and nationally to shift resources away from prisons and punishment and towards opportunities that make our communities safe, healthy, and strong. Some examples of their work are:
Running local campaigns to demand that elected officials enact budgets that reflect their values
Supporting state policies that reduce sentences, remove barriers, and restore opportunities
Working to change the national narrative about public safety to be less focused on fear and punishment, and more focused on having a living wage job, healthy food, and affordable childcare, healthcare, and housing.
The Last Mile prepares incarcerated individuals for successful reentry through business and technology training. Their programs are designed to help participants develop highly marketable personal and professional skills that are relevant and competitive in today’s business environment. The core curriculum includes HTML/CSS and JavaScript, WordPress, Node, AngularJS, React, and D3.js.
Black Girls Code's mission is to increase the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 7 to 17 to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology.
Guru employees raised over $8,100.00, which meant that the company donated over $16,000.00 to three excellent organizations!
Techqueria
We’re proud of the work we’ve done to help national organizations, but we’re also doing our part locally. Our recent partnership with Techqueria allowed us to work with an organization that shares our core values around diversity and inclusion.
Techqueria is a non-profit that serves Latinx members of the tech community. They have chapters in 7 different cities, and they recently started one right in our hometown of Philadelphia. We love partnering with organizations that share our values, which is why we decided to help them throw an awesome Cinco De Mayo event.We had a truly fantastic night hearing music from DJ Leon Xavier and listening to talks from members of the Philly Latinx tech community. We even had the chance to fit in a quick salsa lesson.
Events like the Cinco De Mayo party from organizations like Techqueria are essential because they showcase how vital diversity is at all levels for our company.
At Guru, our team of engineers come from an array of backgrounds. Some have a traditional background in computer science, others are self-taught, and a few even landed here after pivoting from a completely different career path.
A few of our team members were able to use our time with Techqueria to share their stories about how they got into tech. Their unique backgrounds show that we value diversity in education and background and welcome any and all people to apply to Guru. Everyone, regardless of their background or career experience, deserves a voice in tech. We want to do everything we can to make sure those voices are heard.
As reflected in our Seek and Share Knowledge company value, we embrace diverse experiences, backgrounds, and skillsets to make us stronger and smarter.
We understand that diverse views create better business outcomes, and so we continuously refine our hiring practices, track metrics, educate our team, and partner with the community.
As Guru grows, we are committed to creating a work experience where all employees feel a sense of inclusivity and belonging.
We mentioned a lot of great organizations in this post, but we always want to add more to our list. Let us know about any organizations you love that could use some support from Guru!
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