The Thousand Solutions Blog

Our 2022 progress on diversity Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity (DEI)

Apr 21, 2023

Diversity equality, equity and inclusion (DEI) isn't just a checkbox test.

We strive to incorporate DEI methods into our daily activities as fundamental principles to developing high-impact teams as well as products. Why? because we believe in creating a culture that is fair as well as transparent and grounded in belonging will allow each employee to perform their best work and deliver superior results for our clients. That in turn leads to greater outcomes for our organization as well as our shareholders and our community as a whole.

We know that meaningful improvements can only be made with accountability and transparency. As we reflect on 2022 and 2022, we're satisfied with the achievements we've made on key issues We also recognize that we also have some areas that need to be improved.

Team demographics

Below is a summary of our team demographics as of the 31st of December, 2022 which shows our progress year-over-year between 2021 and 2022 in terms of the global representation of gender and U.S. race & ethnicity representation.

pie chart showing race & ethnicity breakdown of 's U.S. workforce
Table showing percent change in race representation at between 2021 and 2022
Table showing percent change in gender identity at between 2021 and 2022

Progression areas

The importance of representation is to have the diversity of our workforce and we are proud of the progress we've made to date.

Last year, we continued the goal of creating an open and diverse pipeline of applicants for new positions, in the hopes that at least 30 percent of applicants who participate in our process of interviewing come from minority groups that are underrepresented.

Also, we know that transformation starts at the top, therefore we have made an explicit commitment to increase representation of women on the executive committee.

Bar graphs showing representation of women in managerial roles and employees from underrepresented minority groups

We believe these actions helped us reach the results we have achieved. On December 31, 2022:

  • 44% of our team identify as ladies (4 from 9)*
  • The number of women employees across the globe has increased by 4.6 percent from 35.7 per cent in 2021 to 40.3 percent by 2022.
  • Women who hold managerial positions globally (Manager degree +) increased by 3 percent from 33.7 percent in 2021 to 36.7 percent in 2022.
  • The number of U.S. employees who identified as an Underrepresented Minority Group (URM) increased by 3.3% from 18.3% in 2021 to 21.6 percentage in 2022.

In addition to the progress made in our team representation We also introduced a number of initiatives designed to foster more equitable and inclusive environment, which includes:

At the time of publication of this report the executive team of our company consists of 7 people. We're pleased to report that 60 percent of our team (4 of 7) are women. In addition, we've appointed a new Senior Director of DEI, Renee MacLeod, who will oversee the DEI strategies and programs.

Employee Community Groups (ECGs)

At , ECGs are employee-led and organizationally-supported groups of employees that are drawn together by shared characteristics or interests. Every ECG is a resource, point of connection, and community for underrepresented employees along with their colleagues, and these groups are crucial to establishing and maintaining an equally multi-cultural, and diverse workforce.

In 2022, our ECGs allowed our team members to grow, learn, and celebrate by organizing over 20 different events and initiatives ranging from discussions on entrepreneurship, burnout and mental health, to hosting a panel on careers that included NYC students, to attending an evening class in cocktail making from an African-owned company.

To further strengthen our community engagement, we partnered to strengthen our community engagement, we partnered First Tech Fund an NYC-based non-profit that focuses on supporting local high school students from various backgrounds. They hosted an evening of speed networking on October. More than 50 volunteers took part with representation from every department at and the students walked away having a new sense of self-confidence, excitement and excitement around pursuing a career in technology.

Furthermore, our ECGs together donated more than $20,000 to organizations that empower and support diverse communities as well as many minority- and woman-owned firms:

Report highlight: Supporting Ukraine

In early 2022, our team members gathered to help Ukraine after the Russian invasion of Russia. Through the generous support of team members and our company matching donations, we raised over $54,000 for nonprofits aiding Ukrainians looking for safety and relocation support. These funds were distributed to Ukraine-specific campaigns with UNICEF, International Medical Corps, as well as UNICEF, International Medical Corps and the US Association for UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency).

We also provided help with relocation, such as accommodations and transportation to more than 70 persons, which included our employees and their relatives. We arranged a volunteer team of nearly 20 Vimeans, who provided 24/7 on-the-ground support to family members and employees who require assistance with relocation which included assistance for travel logistics, logistical assistance as well as foreign language demands, firsthand knowledge of local communities and much more.

The month of December was when we partnered with Razom for Ukraine, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting Ukraine and amplifying Ukrainian voice. We provided video production and streaming services for their sold-out Notes from Ukraine concert that marked the 100th anniversary of Mykola Leontovych's "Carol of the Bells," and its return in Carnegie Hall. It featured four renowned choirs which included Shchedryk Children's Choir. Shchedryk Children's Choir, and was hosted by Academy-Award-winning director, Martin Scorsese, and Ukrainian-American actress, Vera Farmiga. The concert was presented in conjunction with The Ukrainian Institute and the Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival has been viewed by people all over the world and received more than 76,000 views.

Future-looking: DEI priorities in 2023

Although we're extremely proud of our progress in 2022, we're committed to moving the needle further in 2023. The focus of our efforts is two main priorities this year:

  1. Diversifying our team with increased representation
  2. Creating an inclusive culture for every Vimean

 Team representation goals

To determine our representation objectives for 2023 and beyond, we reviewed our feedback and data from our annual employee survey, "Voice of the Vimean" as well as our latest information on our demographic distribution; and sources like this report from the EEO* on representation and the most recent research on representation in tech such as these Statista report and this report by Womentech. Based on these data, we've identified 3 opportunities that are crucial as well as 5 goals to improve representation.

 *Benchmark data is based on EEOC data that has been filtered by industry

 Culture of inclusion

With these representation goals with us, we'll introduce new programs in 2023 focused on developing employees as well as creating the workplace a place for diversity and talented individuals.

70% of our DEI budget will be put in internal programs and driving equality and accessibility for employees from historically underrepresented groupings. The remaining 30% will be devoted to future recruiting and development efforts for our workforce. Tangibly this will look like:

  • Introducing internal programs focused on inclusion in leadership as well as career path guidance and help
  • Advancing our diverse supplier efforts
  • Transparency is improved through our leveling and compensation structure to current and future Vimeans
  • Increased access to resources in order that can make our processes more inclusive. This includes access to tools on accessible language, in-person interviews, meetings and best practices for accessibility

Our goal is to use DEI principles to build the most impactful teams and products. The lessons we've learned have been invaluable and made progress in achieving that objective, and we're moving into 2023 with a clearer vision and an eye on ways to make a greater difference, faster. We can do this in a way that makes DEI practices a seamless element of our daily routine. All of us are accountable for this work, and we look forward to discussing our results in the near future.

Continue scrolling to get a complete look at our workforce data by gender, race, and ethnicity in 2022.

Love, with love.

The Team

Other demographic information and categories definitions

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2022 Report Terminology

 Self-identification is not allowed.

Giving "self ID" demographic information is not mandatory. In the end, a few employees have chosen to not share their personal details about their personal characteristics with .

 Hispanic and Latina/o/x

The word Hispanic was first introduced in the late 1970s within the United States. It was a novel method of categorizing people with heritage from Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas that includes Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The term Latina/o/x, which often is used interchangeably with Hispanic, emerged in the early 1990s as way to specifically highlight the gendered nature of the word and be more inclusive of gender, extending beyond the gender binary. (Source)

 Technical role

Technical role in this context is defined as roles aligned to engineering and product.

 Unrepresented minorities

The term "underrepresented minority" has a variety of definitions. But generally, it is the people that belong to a particular race, ethnicity, gender, or other particular identity that is small in a particular field or context compared to their representation in the general population. In this report, gender-related demographics are global. Racial and ethnic demographics included in this report are restricted only to U.S. employees.

The purpose of this report, the following demographics are included to make up our categorization of minority groups as underrepresented. A person who is:

  • African American / Black
  • Hispanic / Latina/o/x
  • Native American / Alaskan Native
  • Native Hawaiian / Other Pacific Islander
  • Two or more races