Many Perspectives, More Innovation: DEI at Waters

New generations are increasingly seeking employers that share their ideals of being inclusive and representative of the world we live in. In fact, data shows that 76% of employees and job seekers say a diverse workforce is important when evaluating companies and job offers.

This is an exciting time for Waters as we move onward with our commitment to a more diverse and inclusive workplace. Part of our focus to build teams we like, trust, and respect, is to create more awareness of employees with disabilities and develop a more accessible culture. More than 15% of the world has a disability and it takes place in all forms across cultures. A disability can be a physical, psychological, intellectual, or socioemotional impairment. Physical, mental, and neurological conditions are not always visible from the outside. Through inclusive language, socializing important definitions of disabilities, and challenging stereotypes that discriminate and disempower, we aim to deepen the understanding and culture of support for our colleagues and allies.

The Disability Circle, our new employee resource group, provides a space for employees with disabilities and allies to connect, build awareness, and support fellow teammates throughout the world. Recently, the employee circle spearheaded a company-wide celebration of International Day for People with Disabilities, encouraging peers to learn more about improving accessibilities for all. We led a virtual awareness session for employees to learn more about disability, ableism, and key issues that the disabled community is facing.

Guided and inspired in part by a visually impaired colleague, the peer group is working together to create actionable steps to not only make our products more accessible, but to ensure that our staff and our customers feel seen and represented. Focused on digital accessibility, they developed an automated accessibility test for one of our biologics software applications. They continue to identify opportunities where enhancements can be made in collaboration with the engineering teams. It has been an inspiring partnership between the resource group and our informatics team who will conduct a systemic analysis of our software in 2023.

Prioritizing employee social impact initiatives

To truly be representative of the societies we are in, we recognize disability inclusion as part of our new Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) strategy. It is designed to shift mindsets, foster inclusive behaviors, and encourage increased representation of employees with diverse backgrounds. Companies are more productive when diversity and inclusion are prioritized together. Through research, we know that diverse companies are more likely to outperform their peers and diverse teams are more productive, more engaged, and have higher retention. Here are some of our DEI accomplishments:

Providing opportunities for employees to connect with teammates throughout the world

• To build teams we like, trust and respect, we’re integrating inclusive practices into our manager trainings and talent processes. Being aware of, addressing, and disrupting biases ensures that we are building an inclusive and supportive culture.
• Like our Circles, employee Hubs encourage engagement at the local level finding common ground in similarities and gaining appreciation for differences.
• Recently, our Employee Hub in Brasov organized a Multicultural Children’s Day where local children and Ukrainian refugee children could play and explore science beyond language boundaries. Due to the war in Ukraine, there is a significant refugee community in Romania. Waters hosted 80 children from preschool to high school age of which 37 children were from the refugee community.

A workplace that is representative of the society we live in

• There’s an urgency and importance of advancing racial and gender equity in our field. We recognize that we are underrepresented with women globally and Black/Latinx employees in the United States. (Women are at 31% globally, Black employees at 3.5% and Latinx are at 6.5%.) We aim to increase our employee population of women globally and Black and Latinx employees in the US by adjusting our job descriptions and building strong partnerships with targeted universities.

Engaging with local and global communities to build stronger and more diverse pipelines

• With a special focus on students of color and women, we support programs and initiatives that promote STEM education and are making advancements in human health and well-being. This year, we partnered with three historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) on a program that combines STEM-based scholarships for five students with direct mentoring by Waters employees.
• In 2022, we also created our first Global Summer Internship Program. We had more than 150 interns across eight countries, 45% of which were women. And we were able to hire 14% of those interns for staff positions. 
• We are at work to integrate our DEI initiatives into our philanthropy programs, creating greater engagement with our communities.

Our DEI strategy aims to capitalize on our tremendous momentum and action. In the long term, we are committed to:

DEI is critically important. Our recently launched ESG Report highlights the progress we made in 2021 including how we support and develop our current employees and give back to our local and global communities.  We all must collaborate and work together to nurture a diverse and equitable culture and community here at Waters. We are more innovative when each of our perspectives and experiences are represented.

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Additional Resources:

Read more about DE&I at Waters

Blog: Turning Energy, Passion and Allyship Into Outcomes: Perfect Score from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation

Blog: Fostering An Inclusive Workplace Where Diversity and Innovation Thrive

Sources:

Glassdoor Diversity and Inclusion Workplace Survey

Valuable Truth Report