We audited PhotoRoom : here is what they changed
💖 The purpose of The Allyance is to help both companies and candidates: companies wanting to reach excellence in hiring and candidates wanting to find the perfect companies.
➡️ Like Sqreen and Akeneo, PhotoRoom trusted The Allyance to lead a diversity audit. Cody Dority, Talent Partner at PhotoRoom unveils the entire process behind the collaboration.
__ __ __🔗 DIVERSITY IN ACTION N°17
Cody Dority
__ __ __Who are you? Tell us everything!
My name is Cody Dority, I live in Paris and I have been a Talent Partner at PhotoRoom for more than 1 year.
🌅 I grew up in San Jose, California, but France was always in the back of my mind: during my studies, I did 1 year abroad in Paris, and then, just as an excuse to come back, enrolled in a Master’s Degree at the IGR IAE in Rennes. I’ve been living in and working in Paris for less than 5 years and I’m enjoying it so much!
Before that, I have always worked in scale up companies, bigger than PhotoRoom. I started with an internship as a recruiting coordinator and fell in love with recruitment: I get to meet different kinds of people, find a place for them, which is really fulfilling.
As for my personal life, I happen to have a twin sister: we’re very different but I’m lucky to call her my best friend!
The Allyance led a diversity audit at PhotoRoom, why did you launch such a project?
At the time, we were way smaller than today: I was hired as the 25th member of PhotoRoom. Part of my role was to take on the D&I topic as a whole, notably in order to tackle our lack of diversity.
Upon my recruitment, my manager Marion Aguirre and I sat down, discussed and brainstormed how we could improve D&I at PhotoRoom. One suggestion was to contact The Allyance, as we figured out they had a rich catalog of services in this matter.
The audit caught our interest because of how it was promoted on The Allyance’s website. It would be a first step, a pulse check of what D&I looks like at PhotoRoom and then get on an action plan.
How did the audit happen?
💗 It started at the end of October 2022: I had a call with Caroline and immediately noticed how kind and personable she is.
On the phone and through e-mails, she layed out what we needed to put in place in order to get the audit started.
After communicating internally about the audit, we started sending Caroline our internal communication documentation so she’d get a solid ground of what PhotoRoom looked like: hiring process, D&I statement, etc.
💗 The quantitative part of the audit consisted in a voluntary survey created by Caroline, which I then sent to the team via Slack. She also helped create the wording around the survey to make sure I did not miss anything or say something inappropriate. Thanks to that, 22 people responded, which is a good thing!
The qualitative part was led in the form of 30-minute interviews between Caroline and 8 team people (which again, is a lot!). In 1,5 days, she carried them all out in a very efficient and useful way and got diverse information and perspectives.
💗 The final 40-50 pages audit was well-rounded: it featured her findings, observations, the issues she identified, the good and the bad, and ended with suggestions of actions to take: training, sanitary products in the bathrooms, inclusive job description…
Since the beginning of this collaboration, what have you changed at PhotoRoom ?
We now have a specific D&I discussion group which I’m part of. In this context, we sent out another survey to concretely understand the demographics of PhotoRoom.
For the moment, on the office management part, we have implemented simple actions, such as free self-service sanitary products and non-gendered bathrooms.
On the recruitment side, we’re now using a special tool called Seek Out which allows us to be more targeted when seeking out underrepresented people. Also, in order to tackle the “more Mathieus than women” situation in the Engineering team, we have started a partnership with TEC Partners. We have now hired 3 women in this department!
Is Diversity & Inclusion an important topic at PhotoRoom ?
🏳️🌈 Yes, and we are still trying to illustrate how important it is. More than an HR topic, everyone and anyone, no matter their department, will benefit from it.
In my opinion, the fast pace and competitiveness of the tech sector can often take priority on D&I. We often forget that in the end, longevity is based on who you’re hiring.
We’re nowhere near perfect and it’s my first role with such a D&I aspect, so it’s crucial to continue working on it.
How do you make sure PhotoRoom is an inclusive workplace?
I think the feedback culture and communication style is our main tool right now. Feedback is important, but we should also focus on how to make it as inclusive as possible in order that everyone receives it the right way.
Our Head of Product has introduced and implemented a great way of giving feedback, based on 4 levels showing the necessity of action: thought, suggestion, recommendation, plea. A well-given feedback will be well-interpreted, and empower the value of being each owner of our role.
Diversity is where we have approved that we have a lot to do. Indeed, it can be difficult to move against the status quo and hire people with diverse backgrounds. But the more we do, the more it moves the needle towards our objective.
How did you hear about The Allyance?
Caroline is famous in the French tech ecosystem! I did not know her before but Marion did, and heard that she was creating her own company and followed her successes.
How would you convince someone to join PhotoRoom ?
What a good question! In terms of convincing someone, it will of course depend on the values they cherish.
🌠 First and foremost, PhotoRoom is a place with kind intentions and good people. One can feel it during the interview process and when they start. This completely reflects my values.
At PhotoRoom, you get to grow and learn a lot because you’re given a lot of ownership and responsibilities, no matter your seniority. Moreover, it’s a profitable startup, a solid place to work, which is always good to note!
As an American living in Paris, what is your favorite thing to do in the city?
Well, it might sound basic (or not, coming from the US!) but I really love walking and exploring. Paris is such a walkable, beautiful city.
🍷 The novelty does not wear off: after a couple of glasses of wine, I look at the Eiffel tower… Bye Emily, meet Cody in Paris!
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CONCLUSION
A few words from Caroline, The Allyance’s CEO:
“Cody and Marion knew what they wanted and delivering a diversity audit was the right thing to do in order to support Photoroom’s path towards inclusion.
For the very first time, I witnessed a company openly share the results with the entire company. It was a true accountability and transparency move. Everyone there is kind, open-minded and eager to grow. It is striking!
True story : I did the survey and the interviews pregnant and wrote the conclusions once my daughter was born. I saw Photoroom grow as much as they supported me during a key moment of my life. I will always be thankful.”
✔️ Want more?
If you are interested in knowing more about The Allyance services, feel free to get in touch with us.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: ✒️ Léa C, The Allyance Contributor:
“I joined The Allyance after Caroline and I met at a ionnalee’s concert! I am a freelance translator and content writer (French, English, Spanish and German). I also work as an administrative employee in the health and data science sector. So, I am not far from Caroline’s core topic! I am very active as a volunteer in social and environmental NGOs, where I always try to put intersectionality at the center of actions because I am convinced that every cause is linked to one another. It is readily apparent that Caroline and I share a lot of common interests, which is why we as friends decided to work together!”