Good design is relative.
Equality isn't.
At MetaLab, we aim to be honest, not perfect. Throughout our history of doing things a little differently, we’ve tried to be open about the mistakes we’ve made and lessons we’ve learned along the way. As we reckon with the realities of systemic racism and our role in it, our commitment to transparency and accountability remains the same.
2020 Company Statistics
age
Gender identity*
orientation
race /ethnicity**
*Non-Binary: < 1%
**Black: <1%
**Indigenous: <1%
This data was sourced from an anonymous survey of the MetaLab team in April 2020. The response rate was 85%, so while we feel confident in the conclusions of this data, it may not exactly match the general MetaLab population. We will update this data annually.
Designing products for billions of people is a privilege that we’ve been taking for granted. Our predominantly white perspective has created blind spots in both the quality of our work and the culture of our company. To do right by our clients, our team, and everyone who uses our products, we’re taking systemic, measurable action to promote greater diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at MetaLab and beyond. It’s our moral obligation to build products that serve people from all walks of life.
Gender Identity & Job Level
Ethnicity & Job Level
Our Commitments
Representation, Equity, & Growth
We will maintain equitable pay across all roles and examine promotion and growth opportunities for BIPOC employees, reducing any barriers that may exist
We will shift our hiring mentality to “culture add“ over “culture fit” in order to diversify and thereby strengthen the range of perspectives that exist on our team
We will increase equal representation throughout the organization by focusing our recruitment and outreach efforts on a more diverse range of communities
We will continue to update our hiring processes and policies to reduce unconscious bias by providing training to all interviewers
Training & Education
We will engage an external Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion consultant to help us shape a sustainable and systemic strategy for long-term action and growth
We will require mandatory DEI training for all employees, starting with leadership
We will reimburse employees for the costs of all antiracist educational materials
Organizational Change
We will establish an internal DEI Work Group to encourage employee participation and action, protecting dedicated time and resources for their involvement
We will support the formation of Employee Resource Groups to better foster a culture of inclusion and belonging, providing these groups with dedicated budgets and resources
We will invest in tools and processes that allow for more psychological safety in competing viewpoints and self-expression
We will conduct annual DEI surveys to understand how we’re missing and/or meeting the mark with our team, as well as define a shared DEI vocabulary to better understanding the intent and meaning behind the words we use
Community Investment
We commit $1M in services over the next two years to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)-led startups and social impact products
We will award Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM)-focused scholarships to two BIPOC students in design and technology
Measurable Outcomes
As we continue to expand our understanding of how to get this “right,” we’re extremely grateful for resources like the one developed by Project Include. They’re setting industry standards for the tech community and beyond, and their list of recommendations is accessible and clear. Inclusion, comprehensiveness, and accountability are the path forward.
To that end, we’ll be tracking and sharing our progress internally on Notion, outlining our goals, plans, actions, and measurable outcomes. Publicly, we’ll be updating this page as well as our social media to keep everyone else up to date. Ultimately, we hope to reflect on this inflection point in history as a moment in time when we did the right thing, individually and together.
We hope you’ll join us.
