Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Building a Diverse Culture
Research shows that diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizations outperform other companies. Novanta has firsthand experience with this. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are embedded into our strategic framework and The Novanta Way. We are developing a corporate culture where diversity, equity, and inclusion are intrinsic to our ways of working and where our leaders lead by example. To mainstream DEI across our business units, each business unit’s General Manager and Human Resources Business Partner are accountable for integrating DEI into their culture. We carry out a quarterly review with business unit leaders to assess progress on our DEI goals.
In 2021, we hired a Vice President of Leadership Development and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and codified our DEI True North framework articulating our long-term DEI aspirations. Our True North framework consists of four aspirations that will guide our journey and actions for the next several years.
We are Diverse
We are Equitable
We are Inclusive
We are Lifelong Learners
These aspirations guide how we act with each other, our suppliers, and customers, and in the communities where we work and live. They serve as a reminder that our success is interdependent on the world and people around us.
Our DEI goals are to:
- Cultivate a welcoming, diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture where all employees experience a sense of belonging and are lifelong learners.
- Increase the representation of women and people from underrepresented groups at all levels of the organization so our workforce reflects the demographics of the local communities where we are based.
- Actively engage with and support community organizations and business enterprises owned by people from underrepresented groups.
An underrepresented group in the U.S. is anyone who self-identifies as Black, African American, Hispanic or Latinx, Asian, Native American or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, or two or more races or ethnicities, as defined by Nasdaq.
DEI Targets
- Advance our maturity level on the Global Diversity Equity Inclusion Benchmark maturity model;
- Enhance engagement by increasing Inclusion and Belonging scores on employee surveys;
- Increase the number of women, people of color (POC), and underrepresented ethnicities in leadership positions;
- Increase the representation of historically excluded talent at all levels through the hiring, retention, and promotion of employees from underrepresented groups; and
- Increase the number of employees utilizing PTO to volunteer and provide community service.
In 2022, we made significant progress towards our DEI targets. We increased the representation of women globally, underrepresented groups in the U.S., and underrepresented groups in U.S. leadership roles. We also nearly doubled the number of women who were promoted over the previous year.
Culture Council
Our Culture Council is comprised of employees with diverse identities, backgrounds, and job positions from our various business units. The Council provides governance on our Employee Resource Group (ERGs) and Working Teams, advises the Novanta Leadership Team, and helps execute DEI initiatives. In 2022, Novanta launched one new ERG and scaled our two existing ERGs. Unconscious bias training was rolled out to 1,400 employees across our global sites with the help of our Culture Council’s Localization & Deployment and Learning & Development Working Teams. These teams also played a critical role in ensuring our DEI education was customized and contextualized for employees across cultures and learning styles. Council members also collaborated with business units to achieve our community outreach goal (see below for more).
Diverse Recruitment
We are actively taking steps to improve the diversity of our workforce beginning at the recruitment stage. In 2021, we launched a new six-step diverse recruitment strategy to widen our pool of potential applicants. This included the creation of gender-neutral job postings, using recruiting platforms that include more diverse candidates, partnering with academic programs to build a diverse recruiting pipeline, and more. In 2022, we attended job fairs for women and minority professionals hosted by organizations like the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). We partnered with NSBE to sponsor an internship program and hired 24 young professionals as college interns and full-time employees. In 2022, we achieved our goal of over 50% representation from women and underrepresented candidates in the final interview slates.
Employee Resource Groups
- Women’s ERG
- Multicultural and International ERG
- Novanta Professionals Network
ERGs provide support to employees in the areas of both personal and career development. They also help create a safe space where employees can bring their whole selves to work. In 2022, our ERGs brought employees together for educational and informational activities, including lunch and learn events, recruitment sessions, wellness events, and celebratory activities. Our ERGs have grown rapidly since launching in 2021 with regional chapters at all significant Novanta sites.
Employee Engagement
We believe that our employees should have a meaningful role in helping us to develop our culture. We utilize survey feedback mechanisms for employee engagement and organizational health to measure our current situation and gain insight into areas where we can improve. We have conducted surveys of our entire employee population in the last five years, and we compare our employee engagement and organizational health scores against benchmark populations with our survey vendors. Our employee satisfaction score in 2022 was 90% of the benchmark score. This is an improvement of 3 percentage points compared with 2021. Following each survey cycle, we review the results with our teams and develop specific action plans across the Company based on the direct feedback we receive from the survey. We are executing on our action plans with the expectation to improve our overall organizational health and employee engagement.
Benefits
We strive to recruit and retain the best talent by creating a welcoming working environment and attractive benefits package commensurate with the local employment market. For example, full-time employees in the U.S. are offered a multitude of benefits, including:
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverages for employees and qualified dependents;
- Health Savings Account with an annual employer contribution and Flexible Spending Account;
- 24-hour telemedicine services for all employees and their dependents for acute and behavioral health services;
- Access to an on-site health clinic at our Bedford, Massachusetts and Mukilteo, Washington sites and virtual health coaches;
- Employee Assistance Program and an online mental health support app;
- Company-provided life, accidental death or dismemberment, and long-term disability insurance;
- Up to 16 weeks of paid parental or family leave;
- Up to 20 weeks of paid medical leave;
- Optional voluntary and supplemental insurance plans;
- 401(k) retirement savings plan with a competitive matching program;
- Competitive paid time-off program for non-exempt employees;
- Flexible paid time-off program for exempt employees which offers unlimited paid time-off based on employees’ needs and their manager’s approval;
- Back-up care support for child, adult, and elderly care; and
- Tuition reimbursement for job related studies.
Similarly, our full-time employees located outside of the U.S. are offered competitive benefits that are consistent with market practices and local regulations.