Every year, in celebration of International Women’s Day, Rewind releases our internal DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) statistics. Transparency is essential to the growth of DEI programs and the overall increased representation of individuals of a marginalized gender, especially in fields where they are historically underrepresented, such as technology and security.
A note on language: previously, we’ve used “female or non-male” to represent our efforts towards improved gender parity at Rewind. We now use “marginalized gender” to represent the broad spectrum of gender identities that face discrimination, including female, intersex, nonbinary, and more.
Last year, we shared our progress and goals for the future of DEI at Rewind. In an effort to live our value of accountability, here’s how we did.
As a recap, Rewind’s overarching goals of our corporate DEI initiatives are:
- To have 50% representation of marginalized genders within Rewind by 2024.
- To have 20% representation of marginalized genders within the Research & Development (R&D) team by the end of 2021.
- To have 25% representation of marginalized genders within the R&D team by 2024.
- End 2022 with 20% of our leadership team self-identifying as a member of a marginalized gender or another member of an Equity Seeking Group.
Please note that all data is optionally and anonymously self-reported and has been further anonymized where necessary to protect the privacy of Rewind employees.
Goal #1: Achieve 50% representation of a marginalized gender within Rewind by 2024.
This goal is still in progress. To make this goal more manageable and increase our ability to hold ourselves accountable, we decided to break this goal down into specific annual targets.
For 2022, we aimed to achieve 40% representation of marginalized genders across the organization. As of February 27th, 2023, 30.8% of employees self-identified as female or a member of a marginalized gender. Unfortunately, this marks a decrease from 2022, when we achieved 32.6% representation. Our People team continues to monitor this and has implemented several steps to reverse this trend. As always, we will update our progress toward this goal next year.
Goal #2: Achieve 20% representation of a marginalized gender within the R&D team by the end of 2021 and 25% by 2024.
Rewind did not reach this goal in 2022. As of February 27th, 2023, 19.6% of R&D employees at Rewind identified as a member of a marginalized gender. This marks an increase from 2022, when 14.8% of the Rewind R&D team self-identified as a member of a marginalized gender, although it is just shy of our stated goal of 20%. Our People team is working to increase representation, specifically within the R&D team, and we will continue to provide yearly progress updates.
Goal #3: End 2022 with 20% of our leadership team self-identifying as a member of a marginalized gender or another member of an Equity Seeking Group.
Rewind’s DEI team understands that representation must be bottom-up and top-down, meaning that a diverse leadership team is necessary to cultivate overall diversity. To align with that principle (as well as harness the power of diversified leadership), we set a goal to end 2022 with 20% of our leadership team (those at the executive or management level) self-identifying as a member of a marginalized gender. As of February 27th, 2023, 24% of Rewind’s leadership team self-identified as a member of an Equity Seeking Group, including a member of a marginalized gender.
Diversifying Rewind
While we publish our DEI statistics on International Women’s Day, there are many equity-seeking groups at Rewind whose diversity of thought and experience make them valuable team members.
Here is a complete breakdown of equity-seeking groups at Rewind:
Rewind also benefits from employees with a wide range of experience, both in terms of years in their respective industries and years of life experience.
Our current age demographics as of February 27th, 2023, are:
How Rewind is working toward our DEI goals
As #TeamRewind has continued to grow and expand, our People team has remained committed to ensuring we are retaining, attracting, and growing diverse talent at Rewind.
Increased flexibility of health and home office benefits
After employee feedback, Rewind has decided to combine our home office and health and wellness stipend. This will allow Rewinders greater choice, flexibility, and autonomy when considering what they need to support a healthy work-life balance for their individual circumstances. Rewind employees now have up to $1,000 CAD/year for health, wellness, fitness, or home office/home comfort expenses. The extreme flexibility and lack of gatekeeping (no medical notes or proof of need is required) support the variety of wellness concerns Rewind employees face. For example, an employee with a comfortable home office setup can focus exclusively on wellness needs. In contrast, an employee who needs a better home office setup can now afford quality equipment at no personal cost. As always, this benefit is outside our traditional health benefits package and healthcare spending account, making the funds accessible to more non-traditional healthcare costs. From family therapy to ergonomic furniture to ski lessons – it’s all covered under the new, more flexible health, wellness, and home office benefit.
Update on the new DEI task force
Last year, we announced the creation of the DEI task force. With an ethos of “by employees, for employees,” the task force comprises Rewind employees from a wide range of departments. Their overall focus is to create a sense of belonging rather than simply counting individuals.
Since their inauguration, the DEI task force has organized various events and campaigns. They hosted a DEI training session that incorporated specific issues threatening diversity in Canada. There was a company-wide session and a special session for People Leaders (individuals who manage other employees). Additionally, the DEI task force hosted a virtual drag show, organized a Wellness Bingo, and launched an education campaign during Black History Month (among others).
The DEI task force has also been hard at work increasing pay equity at Rewind. They hosted “Coffee and Comp” information sessions for all employees to learn more about the rewards available to Rewind employees, including compensation and salary. The task force collected employee feedback about compensation and total rewards and shared that information with managers and executives. They also hosted a company-wide lunch and learn about Rewind’s total rewards program, which includes traditional compensation and stock options, health benefits, wellness and home office benefits, professional development credits, volunteer days, and more.
DEI year-round: Continuing the work
Ally is a verb, not a noun. – Ricardo McRae, founder of BlackinCanada.com and Marketing Director at Aegon
At Rewind, we know that DEI improves all our lives, all year long – not just on March 8th. We plan to continue building a more diverse Rewind with continued DEI training and resources, improving cultural inclusivity at Rewind, encouraging People Leaders to become DEI Champions for their respective teams, and more transparency around compensation. As always, we’re committed to sharing our DEI statistics yearly.
Interested in building your career alongside our culture? We’d love to hear from you: join our talent network to be the first to know about openings at #TeamRewind.
Lauren Song">
