Diversity Policy

Igor is dedicated to fostering and preserving a diverse and inclusive culture, where every employee feels valued and respected. Our company strives toward innovation and evolution, and a diverse workforce brings unique perspectives and talents to drive our company toward new possibilities. It is within our best interest to promote diversity and eliminate discrimination in the workplace.

Our most valuable asset is our team. Our company embraces the strengths of our diverse workforce and encourages employees’ differences to be valued. Diversity includes characteristics that make each individual unique, and these characteristics go beyond gender and race. Diversity also includes age, education, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, seniority, political affiliation, physical ability, background, and all the other characteristics that make our employees who they are.

Our company strives to maintain equitable treatment of all employees through diversity initiatives including recruitment practices, advancement opportunities, compensation and benefits, and professional development. All employees will be treated fairly and with respect and will be given encouragement to reach their full potential and utilize their unique talents. Selection for opportunities will be solely based on each individual’s own merits and abilities.

To help individuals contribute to their full potential, Igor encourages and enforces:

• Respectful and inclusive communication among all employees
•  Flexible work schedules to accommodate employees’ varying needs
• Professional development and opportunities available to all employees
• Regular review of practices and procedures to ensure fairness is maintained
• Recognition and appreciation of individual differences and contributions of all employees

Fostering an inclusive and equitable culture will require buy-in from each and every employee, and we wish for our company leaders to thoughtfully recognize and eliminate any potential biases in their actions and communication. Our company requires all leaders and employees to abide by these guidelines, and all employees always have a responsibility to treat others with dignity and respect.

Our company opposes any form of unlawful and unfair discrimination. If any employee believes they have been subjected to any kind of discrimination, they should seek assistance from a manager. Any employee found to have breached this policy will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination.

Igor seeks to acknowledge and eliminate any inequalities with our policies, systems, and practices, and compensation. Our company will continuously monitor and review these items to ensure that diversity and equality are being endlessly enforced in the workplace.

Educational Information on Diversity

Recognizing Unconscious Biases

In recent years, psychologists have done significant research on the impact of systemic racism. Specifically, researchers including Wong et al. (2014) and Bilotta et al. (2019) have explored two kinds of systemic racism—overt and aversive.

Overt racism is the type exhibited directly in the form of racial slurs, castigation of others and explicit bias against a racial group. Aversive racism is typically performed by "well-meaning" individuals who have an espoused aversion to being perceived as racist, while nonetheless acting with bias. Aversive racist behaviors typically manifest as microaggressions, a term coined by Pierce in 1970. 

Microaggression refers to brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral or environmental indignities, intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative prejudicial slights and insults toward any group, particularly the culturally marginalized or a racial minority. A microaggression, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is a comment or action that subtly, and often unconsciously or unintentionally, expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group.

The American Psychological Association and researchers such as Sue et al. (2007) recognize three forms of microaggressions:

Microassaults: Conscious and intentional actions or slurs. Examples: using racial epithets; displaying swastikas; in a restaurant, deliberately serving white diners before black diners.

Microinsults: Verbal and nonverbal communications that subtly convey rudeness and insensitivity, thereby demeaning a person's racial heritage or identity. Examples: an employee of color is repeatedly asked how she got her job, with the implication it was through an affirmative action or quota system and not on her own merits; a Latino male speaking fluent English is addressed as "señor" by a non-Spanish speaker.

Microinvalidations: Communications that subtly exclude, negate or nullify the thoughts, feelings or experiential reality of the target person. Example: Asian-Americans are asked where they are "from," implying that they are perpetual foreigners in their own land. When microaggressions are coupled with consistent overt racism, including physical assaults (as seen with the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many others), it becomes
absolutely critical for Americans—including employers—to have an open and honest conversation about race.

What is Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity?

Diversity is the presence of difference within a giving setting. In this case the workplace is the setting and the differences typically refer to identity like race and gender, and sometimes ethnicity, religion, nationality, or sexual orientation. A person isn’t diverse. They’re unique. They can bring diversity to a group though. You’re not looking for a diverse candidate. Diversity is about a collective or a group.

Inclusion has to do with people with different identities feeling and/or being valued, leveraged, and welcomed within a given setting (whether that’s a team, workplace, or industry). Longtime Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion educator, Verna Myers, said: “Diversity is being asked to the
party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.” Inclusion isn’t a natural consequence of diversity. You can have a diverse team of talent, but that doesn’t mean they feel welcomed or valued or are given opportunities to grow.

Equity is an approach that ensures everyone has access to the same opportunities. Equity recognizes that we don’t all start from the same place because advantages and barriers exist. It’s a process that acknowledges uneven starting places and seeks to correct the imbalance. Diversity and inclusion are both outcomes. Equity is not. It refers to the process an organization engages in to ensure that people with marginalized identities have the opportunity to grow, contribute, and develop.

Why is this Knowledge Important?

It’s not enough to simply have a policy in place. We need to actually use it and strive to do better. We must build the core values of diversity, inclusion, and equity and model these values throughout everything we do. Diversity brings unique perspectives that shapes and blends our mission and enhances our culture. It can also boost the quality of decision making and foster enhanced innovation. For real change to happen, every individual leader needs to buy into this value. Only when every single person steps up to own diversity and inclusion will the company’s diversity and inclusion initiatives thrive.

Benefits of Diversity & Inclusion in the Workplace

• Allows for better innovation
• Promotes creativity and the implementation of new processes
• Faster problem solving and better decision making
• Higher employee engagement and reduced employee turnover
• Better company reputation and increased profits
• Improves culture and appeals to a wider range of talent

How to Implement Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives

• Continuously update policies and practices
• Ensure job descriptions are inclusive and free of bias
• Focus recruiting efforts towards underrepresented groups
• Interview a wide range of candidates for each job opening
• Be aware of unconscious biases
• Continuously educate yourself and others on diversity, inclusion, equity, and similar
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