introducing-the-diversity-and-inclusion-group
People
Mar 11, 2021

Introducing the Diversity and Inclusion Group

GetYourGuide
Careers Team

We met up with the Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) resource group to discuss their pioneering mission, learn about their key initiatives for 2021, and hear their favorite tips on how to start a D&I group. Read on to find out how to join and more.

Can you give us a bit of an introduction to why the D&I group was created? How was it formed and what decisions were taken to get there?

Our humble beginnings can be traced back to around three years ago. The group was born out of the employee desire to implement diversity at GetYourGuide. One of our core company values states “Champion diversity“ and we exist to help make this a reality. Back in those days, it was more of a consultancy group whereas we’ve now evolved into an active group — a decision that was made after the events of summer 2020 and the attention around the Black Lives Matter movement. In fact, the group has gone through many changes throughout the years as it’s open to anyone who is interested in the topic. What has remained the same is that we’re all passionate about advancing diversity and inclusion and care immensely about working towards a more inclusive GetYourGuide.

What is the key mission of the D&I group, and what are your top goals and principles? How do you work with the wider company to achieve the mission and goals?

The D&I working group is a voluntary group of colleagues who are passionate about diversity and inclusion. We are building the D&I content foundation, continuously raising awareness with certain topics and giving feedback to the Head of People and the Employee Representation Group (ERG). We act as an expert group and sounding board here at GetYourGuide.

As we are a global company whose business is built on global attractions and diverse clients and communities, it is important that we have inclusion top of mind. It is necessary that we have a deep understanding of diverse cultures and historical knowledge so that we can celebrate diversity, and foster inclusion in what we do.

Our mission is to foster a safer environment here at GetYourGuide for creativity and innovation to happen. As a sounding board, we also want to hold leadership accountable for the D&I goals and objectives. We believe that diversity and inclusion strengthen our culture, promote innovation and growth, and help us build a better product to serve our global customers.

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What key initiatives are you focusing on now?

At the end of 2020, to have a more meaningful impact, we realigned within our group so that we could reach not only executives, but more employees company-wide.

Each quarter we will have one topic of focus where we act as an executive-level sounding board and host discussion groups. This approach is highly targeted and focused, and the benefit is a greater learning and deeper understanding for employees here at GetYourGuide.

Engagement through awareness and inclusive leadership is key to creating an inclusive environment, and this was top of mind for us as we kicked off Q1 2021 with the topic of “Biases & racial discrimination”. We hosted our first open discussion — “Privilege Check'' — on February 18, 2021, and had 63 employees in attendance. The purpose of this discussion was to help participants become not only aware of their privileges and biases, but also to gain knowledge and education on how to better show up for our customers and other employees.

Why is it important that companies have a D&I focus in 2021?

It’s not only in 2021 that it’s important! We believe that having a focus on diversity and inclusion in your company has always been and will continue to be important.

We live in a diverse world and we know that having a truly representative workforce and an inclusive culture yield results not only for employee retention and happiness but for the bottom line, too. There is an abundant amount of research supporting this, for example a 2017 Boston Consulting Group study which found diversity to be a key driver of innovation (they found that companies with more diverse leadership provide 19% higher revenue innovation than other companies). According to a Forbes report, diversity is a key driver of innovation. Furthermore, the same report stresses that a diverse and inclusive environment is crucial for companies that want to attract more talent.

Perhaps what’s most evident is that in 2021, we still have a long way to go — especially in the tech industry — when it comes to diversity. It’s also a time where many people have woken up to the realities of our current landscape and there is more public pressure for companies to change. So as they say, there’s no time like the present to start focusing if you haven’t already.

What’s advice you would give others who are interested in starting a D&I group at their company?

Our advice to anyone in pursuit of starting a Diversity & Inclusion focus group would be:

  1. Form a core team: Seek out others who are passionate about the importance of diversity and inclusion.
  2. Get buy-in from the leadership team: To have a true impact, executives need to buy in, as the most impactful changes can come from policy and procedures that they have a greater say in. The Forbes report emphasizes that the success of D&I efforts lies with senior management, while the creation of diversity programs and their implementation is within all levels of the company.
  3. Set the framework: Decide what kind of group you want to be and the impact you want to make. Create OKRs and develop ways of tracking company-wide impact and feedback.

We have learned from our journey that when these three perspectives are top of mind it can streamline clarity and progression early on, creating space for impactful change.

Any final insights to share with people who want to know more?

Having the D&I focus group should not be the end goal, but more like a first step. We are here to spark the conversations, but everyone needs to be on board to create impactful cultural change. In regards to the D&I initiatives here at GetYourGuide, we are happy to see the focus on more diverse hiring in our leadership positions. We look forward to even more changes in the future of hiring.

We are ready to provide our support to achieve these goals with a number of initiatives in multiple areas. Our latest workshop on ‘Privilege Check’ was a huge success from the number of participants to the impression we left on those who attended. Here is some of the feedback we received:

I appreciate that there are people within GetYourGuide that want to discuss serious and hard topics. I usually shy away from these but that is part of my privilege and I want to face that head on.”-Privilege Check Participant  

I would love to learn more about how black people and other groups feel like they cannot bring their whole selves to work.”- Privilege Check Participant

I would like to see more advice, tips, knowledge on how I can support better, like daily practices at work, daily situations.”- Privilege Check Participant

As a white person I feel it is so important to get comfortable with being uncomfortable when checking my privilege. And workshops like these allow us all a safe space to do this. The activities and the story [one of the organizers] told were powerful and humbling and made me confront the fundamental difference between privilege and white privilege. I am ashamedly constantly discovering new ways that racism infiltrates society and how my white privilege benefits my everyday life experiences.” - Privilege Check Participant.

Interested in a career at GetYourGuide? Check out our Careers Page.

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