Following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, Alteryx had to confront for the first time long-standing racial tensions across its workforce. These tensions had gone overlooked for quite some time. The summer of 2020 was a turning point in the company’s culture. Employees demanded a more intentional diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy that would create concrete actions and commitments to address the lack of diversity and inclusive practices across its workforce. On top of that, it was discovered that a newly hired c-level executive had posted racially insensitive remarks on a public social media account. That discovery deeply impacted the trust our employees had in Alteryx to be an inclusive and respectful place to work.

Hired a VP of Corporate Social Responsibility to design and manage Alteryx’s DEI strategy. Established a series of Listening Circles to encourage dialogue, openness, and empathy across our global workforce. We hosted six Listening Circles attended by 1499 associates. We had 100% participation in these Circles from our c-suite. (Each c-suite member was asked to attend at least one of the meetings.)

Overwhelmingly positive feedback from our employees that these Listening Circles allowed them to feel heard by their fellow colleagues and Alteryx’s most senior leadership. Employees are now encouraged to use the Listening Circle format to come together when they need additional support, comfort, and dialogue on complex societal issues. For instance, following the verdict in the Derrick Chauvin trial, employees came together to process the event via a pop-up Listening Circle. Meanwhile, we used much of the information shared from those Circles to inform and produce a DEI playbook and framework that will guide our actions and work in 2021 and beyond.