Our Commitment to Diversity
When we started our company Kindur we set out on a mission to support the millions of Americans in their 50s and 60s who had been underserved by the tech community. Over 79 million Americans facing some of the most complex health and wealth decisions were being ignored. Powered by this mission we set an early value for the company that ‘diversity was our best chance of doing something different.’ For us it started with age diversity in our mission. And since the start it’s meant being purposeful about our hiring- seeking diversity of thought, background and experience. As a female founder and immigrant to the US this was personal for me. During our short time as a company we have had
- A 50% female leadership team
- More than half of team being first generation Americans
- A team that skews older than most tech teams
And while diversity has always been central to how we have hired at our company, and build product, we know we can still do more.
This summer we came together as a team to increase our commitment to diversity. This time with a specific focus on ethnic diversity. Here is what we as a team agreed to focus on so that we could address the systematic biases in American culture against the African American community in particular.
1. No short cuts as we hire.
As a young company we have to be more purposeful as we build our networks for hiring. When you move fast you risk going back to (closed) networks of similar minded people or experiences. We’ve committed that whether it’s searches we are leading ourselves or with recruiters, we’re going to take the time to evaluate a diverse pool of candidates. We need to take a step further than gender diversity to ensure we also are also prioritizing racial diversity. We will tap into networks that encourage diverse hiring practices and hold our partners and teammates accountable for creating a diverse pool of customers candidates to evaluate. We also commit to mentoring new hires to help them unleash their potential.
2. Inform and encourage our customers to vote.
During an election year unlike one most of our team had ever experienced, we committed to both promoting voting and importantly informing our customers how they could safely vote during COVID. We did this throughout September and October 2020 and will continue to pursue opportunities that encourage our customers to vote. Having our voices and our customers voices heard is a powerful step to ensuring that everyone in America has a right to be heard and to take a stand. We gave all employees Election Day 2020 off so that they could safely exercise their right to vote.
3. Identify underserved populations and serve them.
Early on we found that we had created a gender inclusive design resulting in a 50–50 split between men and women. Given the additional challenges women face as they embark on retirement this was extremely gratifying. And we committed as a team to double down on supporting this demographic. We don’t currently track our customers race but have fished in a pond that likely doesn’t result in a racially diverse customer base. As we look out to 2021 we commit as a team to ensure that our marketing spend include efforts to acquire a racially diverse customer base. All Americans deserve an opportunity to be educated and informed about their foundational retirement benefits and our choices of acquisition channels influences who we reach. We know that African American and Latino populations have been underserved when it comes to retirement preparedness and we can do more to help inform them about the critical choices they will make as they embark on their next act.
At Kindur we’re on a mission to help Americans retire fearlessly. Fully unleashing this potential goes hand in hand with supporting diversity in our workforce and customer base. In partnership with the Fintech Equality Coalition we’re excited to do our part to build a more inclusive financial services community.
