LACK. OF. DIVERSITY.
The longer I work here, the most I realize Shopify has a horrifying diversity issue. We live in one of the most culturally/ethnically rich and diverse countries in the world, yet for some reason - Shopify loves to hire predominantly white people. And it's extremely troubling. I feel more like a "minority" at Shopify then I do walking down the street. And before you can come up with a perfect PR answer, or flat out deny this, here is just one example:
I looked at the employees in one department and it was 301 white employees vs. 104 people of colour (only 3 of which are black, by the way). That's more than double. Going through all the departments, it appears that this is a recurring theme in almost every. single. department. How is this acceptable?
How do you expect and promote diversity, if your hiring team is so predominantly white? Whether subconscious, intentional or not - racial biases DO exist in the workforce, and a lot of people of colour miss out on opportunities as a result.
How do you expect your employees to feel comfortable reaching out to HR for help, in the event they experience racial microaggressions, hear other employees saying racist things, when their are HARDLY any people of colour to turn to? I don't even feel confident in speaking up against the casual racism I hear, because I am literally surrounded by only white people who have no possible way of understanding the weight of what they say, and how harmful these things are. There are many instances where I don't feel comfortable going to HR or saying, "this isn't right."