Diversity, equity & inclusion

Be Bold for Change

Glassdoor Team

Glassdoor Team | Author & Career Expert at Glassdoor | Apr 9, 2017

Hotwire is making a commitment to #BeBoldForChange and investing in initiatives to open up conversations surrounding equality, diversity, leadership and innovation. This is no surprise as this follows parent company Expedia’s announcement that women at Expedia, and all of Expedia’s child companies, make $1 for every $1 men make. On International Women’s Day, Hotwire hosted a panel to discuss gender balance and innovation and how these industry leaders tackle these challenges every day within their organizations. Taking part in the conversation, Hotwire welcomed:

Amy Weaver, President, Legal & General Counsel at Salesforce
Peter Merholz, VP of Design at Snagajob
Polina Raygorodskaya, CEO of Wanderu
Ruzwana Bashir, Founder & CEO of Peek
Henrik Kjellberg, President of Hotwire

In the spirit of Equal Pay Day, we wanted to share some of the biggest takeaways from the panel – and how you can turn them into positive change at your company. Failure Breeds Innovation Amy Weaver shared that one of the secrets to innovation at Salesforce is not fearing failure. “You have to embrace that there is going to be failure and that if it doesn’t work out it's not failure, it’s finding a way of doing something that doesn’t work,” Weaver said. She credited CEO Marc Benioff with being a driver for change and challenging teams to make large overarching changes to products and design regularly. “To continue this system, you have to continuously be looking for new people with new ideas,” Weaver said. Creating an environment conducive to innovation can seem like a daunting task, but there’s a lot you can glean from Salesforce’s model. First, embracing failure empowers your employees to take risks. Whether that’s sharing an idea that would be challenging to execute during a brainstorm or applying for an open position within your company outside of their job description, empowering employees to take risks is part of creating a culture of innovation. Second, you can’t constantly drive innovation in a room of like-minded people. Being sure to get people from different backgrounds is an investment in your company’s creative resources. This means making a diverse workforce a top priority for your recruiting team. It Helps to Start Thinking About Diversity from the Beginning...But if You Haven’t It’s Not Too Late Peter Merholz echoed Weaver’s sentiment about innovation in saying, “In order to have divergent thinking, it requires divergent perspectives which requires a range of people in the room.” He told a story about how he inherited a design team that had grown from one man in his 20s to 12 men in their 20s. They had a very narrow definition of what a designer was and it constrained who they could bring into the company. The first thing Merholz did was relax the arbitrary standards they were using to hire designers. They immediately had a much more diverse candidate pool and were able to hire two female senior leaders. “When the people around you are different, you are challenged, said Ruzwana Bashir. She made the case that it’s important to build teams made up of different kinds of people, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but it will also make your business more successful, and she’s right. According to Glassdoor research, gender-diverse companies are 15% more likely to earn above-average revenue (Glassdoor Research, March 2016). The key takeaway for small companies is to make gender equality a priority from the minute your company starts to scale. Think about the standards you hold your candidates to, and consider who those filters weed out. Merholz said that by relaxing the parameters for hiring he didn’t lower the standards, he adjusted them to be inclusive of a wider range of highly qualified candidates. For large companies, the lesson learned is that it’s not too late to course correct if you’ve fallen victim to the kind of hiring practices Merholz described. Make the necessary adjustments to make sure your job descriptions, careers page, Glassdoor profile and interview process are conducive to hiring different people from different backgrounds. Measure it to Make it Count Hotwire President Henrik Kjellberg said that making gender equality a priority at Hotwire means measuring and reporting on it similar to any other business metric. “It’s not just about how many VPs we have that are women, it starts with how many senior managers and managers that we have that are women,” Kjellberg said. Salesforce made strides in hiring a Chief Equality Officer that reports directly to CEO Marc Benioff. “You have to constantly be looking at the numbers,” Weaver said. He’s figuring out how to measure and track the current landscape at Salesforce and change over time. It’s key to take stock of what leadership looks like at your company. If women aren’t moving up, you’ll need to evaluate why. Each company will have to determine their key metrics for success and the unique goals you’d like to achieve when it comes to gender equality. #BeBoldForChange Gender equality initiatives all start with open and honest conversations. Follow the lead of these companies and have the uncomfortable conversations that bring your company closer to eradicating gender bias in the workplace.

Share this post on Twitter Share this post on Facebook Share this post on LinkedIn Share this post through email

Glassdoor Team

Our team of savvy experts are here to help you, whether you’re navigating your career or working to make your company culture shine. Glassdoor has the unique insights and guidance you need to experience your best worklife. Stick around to learn how to prepare for an interview, negotiate your salary, develop DEI programs, engage your employees, understand the state of the job market, and more. Check out our community to share and learn from professionals just like you too.

Tags:Transparency

Blog Home Diversity, equity & inclusionBe Bold for Change

Be Bold for Change

Keep Reading

Diversity, equity & inclusion

Glassdoor Announces Awards Criteria for the Best Places to Work 2026

Diversity, equity & inclusion

Beyond Equal Pay Day: Closing the workplace gender gap

Diversity, equity & inclusion

The future of DEI: Rebrand or rollback?