In 2021, Ulteig committed to authentic cultural and systemic change through significant strategic DEI investment and action. One of the five key strategies on Ulteig’s DEI Roadmap is to increase internal awareness and education around DEI, which leads to increased inclusion. One of the biggest challenges under this strategy has been the recruitment and retention of diverse talent. The engineering field has been predominately homogenous white, heterosexual, cisgender men, creating a challenge establishing an inclusive environment where our growing team with increasingly diverse backgrounds feel a sense of belonging. Additionally, Ulteig is a predominately remote company so creating community, support, and networking can be difficult as most interactions are virtual.

In 2023, Ulteig implemented Days of Understanding. Once a quarter, Ulteig employees gathered to learn from internal and external speakers around LGBTQ+, Women, Racial and Ethnic minorities, and veteran employees and their experiences. Days of Understanding are open to all employees in the company and are optional to participate in. In addition to our Bold Conversations, Days of Understanding are a large part of our DEI internal awareness efforts. They offer a space that promotes learning, curiosity understanding, empathy, and new understandings. Similarly to Bold Conversations, they begin with a Values moment, where a member of leadership team shares a personal story or experience that is aligned to a company core value and models vulnerability and inclusive behavior or understanding. Also, the 4 events we held in 2023 were a collaboration with one of our ERGs.

With Days of Understanding, employees are asked to rate their level of knowledge and understanding of DEI foundational topics. By the end of 2023, 90% of respondents had an increase in their knowledge and 91% in understanding. We saw an increase of 10% in knowledge scores and 12% in understanding compared to our 2022 baseline. 80% of the employee base at Ulteig attended at least one of the sessions during the 4 Days of Understanding that we had. Additionally, we conducted an employee engagement survey once a quarter, we saw an increase in our overall Inclusion Index score to 81 out of 100, which was above our goal for 2023. Most notably, we saw a sizable increase in our authenticity and belonging scores. Our plan moving forward is to assess knowledge using a pre- and post-post questionnaire so that we can get a better understanding of the impact of the Days of Understanding. We are also changing the format of the Days of Understanding to make it more accessible to employees who are interested in participating.