We’re all in

We live in a diverse world. And the tech industry needs to embrace it. But we know that real change starts with us doing our part. We’re committed to making diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) part of our global culture.

“Our diversity, equity and inclusion strategy focuses on empowering our people, creating culture and community, and amplifying equitable impact. We take a leader-led and iterative approach to tackle the work from the behavioural all the way to the systemic in order to drive tangible and measurable outcomes.”

Megan Kollar Dwyer

Head of Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Governance and Accountability

Nothing changes without transparency

For real change to happen in any organisation, it has to come from the top down. We’ve established a Diversity Council made up of our most senior leaders to ensure we’re making our company more diverse, equitable and inclusive.

This council establishes policies and practices that are conducive to the recruitment, retention and development of a diverse, high-performing organisation that fosters a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion. And to address inequity in the communities we serve, partner with organisations that are addressing DEI across the globe.

Read the stories of Skip and Brandon

People First

We’re people people

We want Zendesk to be a place where diversity truly thrives. And that begins with our people. We aspire to be an employer of choice for diverse talent, and foster an inclusive culture where differences are leveraged towards innovation. Talent from underrepresented communities have opportunities to develop their careers to match our growth as an organisation.

“As an Afro-Caribbean woman with a background outside the software industry, I experience everyday the benefits of bringing together diverse teams to solve complex problems.”

Nancy Díaz Lemmon

Read the story of Nimisha

Professional and cultural development

We’ve created programs to help employees develop new skills towards their career, as well as support our inclusive culture.

Education on racism, equity and privilege

Every employee is assigned training annually that explores racism, equity, allyship and privilege. These equip our employees with practical tools to apply what they’ve learned into their day-to-day actions.

Illuminate Leadership Program

A leadership program designed to equip people managers with the fundamentals of leading themselves, their teams and our business. The program includes meaningful integration of inclusive leadership, unconscious bias and psychological safety.

New leader onboarding

Starting on day one at Zendesk, during our New Hire Onboarding, each employee is introduced to our culture with an emphasis on DEI and the role that each employee has to play in promoting an inclusive workplace.

Ignite Development Program

Programs such as BetterUp Coaching and Ellevate encourage and enable employees at all levels to dedicate time to intentionally building their own career path.

“My coach has taught me how to approach conversations and interactions in a way that creates a really positive win-win environment and to frame challenges as a common goal to work towards together. This shift in how to approach interactions has been life-changing and will forever impact my well-being and success. I am so grateful!”

BetterUp Program participant

Fostering a diverse workforce

Every organisation at Zendesk is committed to supporting DEI goals to address organisational and location specific needs. We’ll continue to evolve how we attract, retain and support our talent.

Global gender data

Company

Tech

Leadership

United States ethnicity data

60.9%

White

18.9%

Asian

7.2%

Hispanic or Latinx

5.9%

Black or African American

0.3%

Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

3.5%

Two or more races

0.2%

American Indian or Alaska Native

2.2%

Decline to state

Global age data

22.3%

0-29

51.8%

30-39

19.2%

40-49

6.7%

50+

All workforce data as of 31 December 2021.
Leadership includes director level or above.
Due to rounding, some figures don’t total 100%.

Zendesk classifies “tech” employees by job role. Technical roles are those that rely heavily on knowledge and skills in areas such as engineering and mathematics to support the business. Examples include roles in data science, software engineering and product management.

We recognise that our current data is limited in that gender is presented as a binary. In early 2022, we took our first steps toward a more inclusive voluntary self identification (Self-ID) program by adding sexual orientation and gender identity options beyond cisgender man and woman in the U.S. This was an important first step toward better informing Zendesk of the broader diversity of our workforce.

Zendesk’s latest EEO-1 Type 2 Report can be accessed below. This document cuts data a little differently from what is detailed above, which is more representative of how we track our efforts in diversity representation. Also note that the EEO-1 report is a snapshot of one moment in time and based on categories mandated by the federal government. In addition, the EEO-1 report may measure data in a different manner than we disclose in other publications or filings.
Download the Employer Information Report EEO-1 Report
Ireland only: For Zendesk International Limited's 2023 Ireland Gender Pay Gap report click here.

Our mission

Weave DE&I into the fabric of our culture

Our DEI strategy is driven by a people first and leader-led approach.

For our employees

Create a culture where diversity is valued, and all employees feel included, supported and can be their true selves.

For our customers

Foster a diverse workforce and inclusive products that reflect our customers and their needs, leading to better experiences.

For our community

Use our resources to bring awareness to important causes, combat injustices, and support causes in our broader community.

“We’re better and stronger when we operate with a collective mindset of inclusivity with our colleagues, our customers and the world around us.”

Prelini Udayan-Chiechi

SVP Global Digital and Regional Marketing

An empathy-led strategy for change

Between a global health crisis and civil unrest, multiple crises affected our employees in the last year. As a company, we felt an urgent need to find meaningful ways to support them.

By listening to the concerns of our employees, we created our Equity Policy, programs that prioritized employee mental health and well-being, and Empathy Circles, a safe space for employees.

Empathy Circles

Empathy Circles are a safe space for employees to share their experiences — and for leadership to listen and learn. These conversations have become an important part of driving our DEI actions. So important, in fact, we created a playbook to share our insights with others.

Download the Empathy Circles Playbook

Racial equity and justice commitments

Silence is complicity — and actions are the loudest words. Zendesk remains committed to playing an active role in establishing a more equitable society, starting with necessary improvements to how we address these challenges. We want to be an active catalyst for change in the SaaS space, broader tech sector and the global community.

See our values in action

Employee experience

Employee communities

Employee Communities (ECs) play a critical role in building our culture. They teach us how we can embed inclusive practices within leadership, create communities that bring us together, and, most importantly, provide our employees with support tailored to their cultural needs.

“Our friends and neighbours fighting their own battles need us to show up as an informed ally.”

Ryan Gailey

Read the stories of Cheyanne, Jamal and Ryan

Global Veterans Network

The Global Veterans Network celebrates veterans in and out of Zendesk, helping them transition into the workforce.

Mosaic

Mosaic encourages people of colour at Zendesk to embrace and celebrate their differences, and creates a safe space for discussion, networking and professional growth.

Pride

Pride ensures that all LGBTQ+ employees are valued, seen and supported.

The Village

The Village provides a support system to employees balancing work and parenting or caregiving.

Women at Zendesk

Women at Zendesk celebrates women at every level of their careers, uplifting them and helping them achieve their personal and professional goals.

Women in Engineering

Women in Engineering champion and create a space where women engineers can meet and build supportive relationships with each other across each office.

The Bridge

The Bridge supports and provides a space for multigenerational employees and their allies.

Whole Self

Whole Self brings employees together to learn, understand and share their stories about mental health, neurodiversity (ADHD, OCD, ASD, etc), and physical disabilities.

“Building inclusive leadership at scale is critical to shaping Zendesk’s future. Leaders impact the candidate and employee experience every single day through how they behave and showcase our values. Our leaders are essential to empowering our diverse, global, digital-first community on our journey from great to iconic.”

Michelle Saurin

Senior Director, Talent and Leadership Development at Zendesk

Equity at Zendesk

Zendesk is committed to creating a more equitable global workplace by fostering a culture of respect, fairness and inclusion. No matter your background, personal experiences or unique life situations, we’re committed to your success.

Prohibiting destructive behaviour

Zendesk prohibits destructive behaviours such as discrimination, harassment, microaggressions and retaliation.

Making equal pay a priority

We review, no less than annually, our pay practices and parity, and make adjustments where needed.

Creating equitable and inclusive workplaces

Our goal is to consistently build an equitable and inclusive workplace experience for all our employees globally.

Accessibility

The customer service industry is a job source for millions of people. But if people can’t use our technology, they can’t access those jobs. And, if customer service software isn't created with accessibility for all in mind, a large number of people could be cut off from getting resources they desperately need.

We strive to create thoughtful technology, so that everyone feels empowered, regardless of how they access technology or experience the world.

“At Zendesk we don’t think about Accessibility as a technical or business issue. We consider it a human right. It’s about inclusivity and opportunity for everyone. By shipping accessible products, we can drive disability inclusion at scale.”

Jon Aniano

SVP, Product

Our community

Creating a more equitable world

Zendesk’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion includes not only our offices across the globe, but the world outside our windows. We’re committed to working with organizations making a difference in our communities, while developing relationships with diverse businesses.

Read the story of Aza

Read our global impact report

Partnering towards a better world

Zendesk strongly believes in being a catalyst for change in the SaaS space, broader tech sector and the global community. But we can’t create a more equitable world alone. We’ve partnered with organisations that are doing truly innovative and inspiring work in the diversity, equity and inclusion space.

European Network Against Racism

Zendesk is an active member of Equal@Work, a multi-stakeholder initiative created by the European Network Against Racism (ENAR). The initiative brings together businesses, social partners, NGOs, public authorities and academics to find solutions so that ethnic and religious minorities can fully participate in the labour market. We are proud to support their work, including their toolkit which provides actionable strategies to combat structural racism in the labour market.

Learn more