CXO INSIGHT
We work with some incredible entrepreneurs that have amazing business ideas , so it ’ s really uplifting to be a part of their journey . I recently spoke with one of our sellers , Dimeji , the owner of Vegan Shack which has restaurants in both London and Manchester , who said that Square has helped him achieve 130 % approximate growth year-on-year since starting out , demonstrating the impact our technology can have .
How do you ensure diversity and inclusion practices in your workplace ?
Inclusion and diversity is at the core of what we do , as we aim to give all sellers equal access to opportunity through our offerings . We strive to live by these same values in the workplace , which is done through a number of initiatives .
At Block , embracing diversity – in all its forms – is key to building a high performance team and culture . We carefully monitor how we ’ re doing in terms of diversity and inclusion , and this helps us inform our hiring strategies and grow our teams .
To remove bias and level the playing field in promotions and pay , we ’ ve got multiple built-in safeguards . These include prompts to help managers consider their full bench of talent and checklists to reduce the influence of bias before decisions are finalised .
When it comes to hiring , we ’ ve also set a Block-wide commitment to consistently interview candidates from backgrounds underrepresented in tech , FinTech and finance .
Finally , we have multiple inclusion and diversity focused communities at Block that serve as safe spaces or offer development opportunities and mentorship . These communities support people of multiple religious and ethnic backgrounds . We also have regional pride-focused groups and groups dedicated to supporting employees who may have additional needs , such as neurodivergent employees or parents .
Could you share how you empower and mentor female leaders in the payments industry ?
I ’ ve been fortunate to have great mentors throughout my career and it gives me real joy to be able to pay that forward . I am a mentor at Square , in a newly refreshed programme bringing talent from different business units and markets together . I also started the Women in Leadership programme at Visa , which was adopted across APAC , when I identified a gap to support more women in leadership and create a platform for allies . I really believe that it ’ s important to use your platform to share stories , wisdom and be vulnerable to help women and other minorities feel seen in their career journey in the payments and tech industry . x
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