{"id":44763,"date":"2023-10-20T15:38:29","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/envato-becomes-the-first-australian-startup-to-release-its-diversity-figures-encourages-others-to-do-the-same-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:38:29","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:38:29","slug":"envato-becomes-the-first-australian-startup-to-release-its-diversity-figures-encourages-others-to-do-the-same-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/envato-becomes-the-first-australian-startup-to-release-its-diversity-figures-encourages-others-to-do-the-same-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Envato becomes the first Australian startup to release its diversity figures, encourages others to do the same – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Envato has become the first Australian tech startup to release comprehensive workforce diversity figures.<\/p>\n

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Of the company\u2019s overall workforce, 71% are male and 29% female, with a similar divide in leadership roles, 72% of which are occupied by men.<\/p>\n

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The contrast is even starker in tech roles, with 93% of roles occupied by men. Women are considerably better represented in non-tech roles at 42%.<\/p>\n

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Co-founder and chief executive officer Collis Ta\u2019eed says the company is actively trying to improve its diversity, and hopes one day the company can look back on the figures and see how far they\u2019ve come.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey\u2019re not figures we\u2019re proud of, but it fits our value of transparency,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt also shows potential applicants that this is something that we take seriously, acknowledge we could be better, and not pretending we have got it all figured out.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cI have an especially strong belief that diversity leads to better outcomes, the more varied the opinions in the room, the more different backgrounds and experiences at the table, the more likely you\u2019re going to get the best answer. I feel like it\u2019s about getting a strong team.\u201d<\/p>\n

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When Envato examined its job application statistics, it found that only 5% of applications came from women. Ta\u2019eed says in light of that fact, the company is rethinking the way it approaches recruitment.<\/p>\n

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Like Google, LinkedIn and Twitter before it, Envato admits there\u2019s a problem and hopes the release of its figures will form a solid basis for meaningful discussions about ways to address to gender imbalance in technology.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s the furthest any Australian tech startup has gone so far.<\/p>\n

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Freelancer releases a small snapshot of diversity in its annual report, while 99designs and Campaign Monitor maintain a level of transparency by including photos of each and every one of their employees on their websites.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it\u2019s a broader issue than Envato,\u201d Ta\u2019eed says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut at the end of the day all we can really work on is our own backyard. But I\u2019d certainly encourage other companies to take a transparent approach. It helps the conversation by providing actual stats so it becomes more than anecdotal evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Envato has implemented a number of policies to try and address its diversity problem. Late last year it created a dedicated group that brought together men and women from across the company called The League of Extraordinary Inclusiveness, which is working on ways to make Envato a more inclusive workplace. It was created after some of Envato\u2019s employees pointed out the diversity problem.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe have a culture of reflection built in,\u201d Ta\u2019eed says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHenry Ford said \u2018I always get a brain when all I wanted is a pair of hands\u2019. We\u2019re the opposite, we want a thinking human; someone who actively wants to improve their work environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Some of Envato\u2019s initiatives include improving flexibility for employees, supporting events encouraging women to enter technology, encouraging staff to mentor women in technology, and rethinking recruitment with a focus on inclusiveness rather than closed network.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOur very first employee was a software developer, a man, the next two were people that he knew and that trend carried on,\u201d Ta\u2019eed says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe primarily relied on the existing staff\u2019s own personal networks, for better or worse, if they happened to know lots of women, it might have been a different story.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSo we\u2019re choosing to cast our net further and deliberately go to places where female tech developers and software programmers go. We recruit top talent, we always go to where the top talent is, so we thought if female tech talent is not coming here, let\u2019s go to where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Follow <\/em>StartupSmart on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Envato has become the first Australian tech startup to release comprehensive workforce diversity figures.   Of the company\u2019s overall workforce,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,24,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}