Doing More to Fuel Our Engine for Good

Since WP Engine was founded in 2010, creating a workplace that fosters diversity and inclusion has been a company-wide priority, and we’ve worked hard to make sure it permeates our entire organization. 

The belief that each person is welcome at WP Engine and encouraged to be their true self is a pervading one for us—it’s enshrined in our Core Values, it’s supported through our social responsibility program, Engine for Good, and it’s maintained through the activities of our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), which serve as ongoing sources of advocacy for every single one of our team members.

In 2018, we created the Represents ERG, with the mission of increasing awareness of the different perspectives and experiences underrepresented racial and ethnic groups face within the tech industry today, all with a focus on increasing the number of opportunities for all.

To date, Represents has held meet and greet events, celebrated the lives of people who have created lasting change in our world, hosted panel discussions focused on leadership and building lasting mentoring relationships, and fostered conversations that allow people to share first-hand accounts of their own experiences as people of color in the tech community.  

WP Engine’s CEO Heather Brunner is also a signatory of the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge, the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion in the workplace. As part of this affiliation, WP Engine employees have taken part in the Day of Understanding, which began as a day designated for discussion around inclusive cultures inside and outside of the workplace several years ago, but which was recently expanded into a monthlong format in order to offer more immersive experiences for employees. 

One such experience, in early March of this year, included the Check Your Blind Spots tour—which was a mobile experience that WP Engine employees participated in so they could learn about and explore ways to mitigate unconscious bias in their everyday lives. 

While all of those activities have been extremely valuable in guiding us on our mission, the recent events that have occurred in our communities have made it clear that our mission, our efforts, and our impact, are not enough. We must do more. 

There’s no question that an ongoing effort is needed, but taking action—even small steps—is important right now, and today, members of Represents met with Heather to discuss ways we could respond to the situation unfolding around us. We’re extremely grateful for her steadfast support as we aim to create a safe—and brave— space where real conversations can happen, and where advocacy can turn into action and ultimately, change. 

To spearhead this effort, we’ve reached out across the company to make sure every employee knows they are welcome to join those conversations. We have internal Slack channels that are dedicated to fostering open conversation, and we’ve created other internal communication tools that will help us offer open, and, if preferred, anonymous options for sharing thoughts or asking questions. 

Some of those conversations will also serve as the basis for upcoming virtual forums that we will hold companywide, in an effort to provide employees with an opportunity to come together and share their thoughts, questions, and messages of support with one another. 

On a longer-term basis, we plan on increasing our level of ongoing communication with employees to help them learn about additional actions they can take and ways they can get involved. This will include reading material, non-profits or other organizations they may choose to support, as well as upcoming volunteer opportunities. 

But there’s more that we can and will do under our corporate social responsibility program, Engine for Good. Our ERGs currently fall under our Engine for Good Open Doors pillar, however, another equally important part of that pillar is how we as a company continue to attract, hire, and grow as a way to provide opportunities for all

We’re proud to work for a company like WP Engine, which incorporates the broadest possible view of diversity into its DNA, and goes beyond visible differences to include the backgrounds, experiences, skills, and perspectives that make each person unique. 

We will continue to imbue these ideals in the way we build our company and in the way we commit to all our employees and the communities in which we live and work.