Draper Announces New Commitments to Employee Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Draper today announced new commitments to employee inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility (IDEA) in its third dedicated report. The report is available at draper.com.
By 2025, Draper has committed to:
- Increase Black, Latino and Asian employees in management positions. As of July 31, 2023, Black managers totaled 4%, Latino employees 7% and Asian employees 8%.
- Achieve more than 24% representation of women employees.
“While we saw significant accomplishments overall in our IDEA efforts, we know there is more we can do. Unveiling our IDEA commitments and sharing our progress demonstrates our focus on supporting historically underrepresented populations with our employees, customers, communities and other stakeholders,” said Dr. Jerry M. Wohletz, Draper president and chief executive officer. “We at Draper remain committed to creating an inclusive and accessible work environment that allows us to attract, recruit and retain top talent.”
Highlights of Draper’s IDEA achievements include:
- Tripling investment in IDEA—adding resource programs and staff to build out an inclusive practice;
- Growing 9 employee resource groups (ERGs) serving hundreds employees and leading 108 events across 10 campuses;
- Expanding a network of strategic external partners to advance workplace impact and build a more inclusive community;
- Launching an enterprise-wide mentorship program to take an inclusive approach to employee engagement;
- Building a dedicated team of IDEA professionals;
- Launching a program using labor market data to build diverse candidate slates for recruitment; and
- Expanding and enhancing benefits to better meet the diverse needs of employees.
“As part of our long-term focus, Draper has published our third annual inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility report. Draper’s IDEA Report helps us hold ourselves accountable for making progress year over year toward our goal of being a community where anyone can see themselves contribute to our mission and pursue a meaningful career,” said Aisha Losche, chief diversity officer at Draper.
In her Note from the Chief Diversity Officer, Losche said IDEA will be vital to Draper NXT, the company’s strategy for the future. “Draper NXT is the path we will travel to ensure not only that our legacy thrives in the contemporary era, but that we make even greater impact on our customers’ success and national security going forward,” she said.
The fully digital IDEA report features data on gender, race and ethnicity across Draper’s employee population; information about strategic external partners and employee resource groups; and overviews of progress and programs aimed at continuing to strengthen IDEA at Draper. The period of the report is Draper’s fiscal year, from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023. Draper ended its fiscal year with 2,088 employees.
Draper has been publicly recognized for its IDEA efforts by the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind and the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce, and earned designation as a Military Friendly® Employer. Draper supports veteran service organizations, including the DOD SkillBridge Program, the Warrior Care Program and Run to Home Base; and participates in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index and the Disability:IN’s Disability Equity Index.