Why HubSpot Sees More Representation Than Ever in 2023, According to HubSpot Employees

As of January 2022, HubSpot has 5,900 global employees.

Such a large employee base equals a workforce of people with different identities, backgrounds, and cultures that are important to them.

HubSpot recognizes this and doesn’t want what makes every employee unique to be checked at the door before work begins. Instead, it champions differences and works to make sure that everyone feels represented, safe, welcome, and able to be themselves at work.

Let’s discuss how HubSpot does this.

Key Insights from HubSpot’s 2022 DI&B Report

HubSpot releases a yearly DI&B report to share progress on DI&B commitments. Here are some key insights about HubSpot employees from the most recent report:

• The population of employees who identify as women or non-binary is 46.9%
• 13.7% of employees identify as Asian, 8.8% as Black or African American, 7.5% as Hispanic or Latino, .1% as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and .1% as American Indian or Alaska Native.
• 13.3% of employees are members of the LGBTQ+ community.
• 9.8% of employees are persons with disabilities.
• 44.9% of employees are first-generation.
• Retention of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color employees in the U.S. is 2.2% lower than HubSpot’s overall U.S. employee retention rate.

Let’s go over how HubSpot can achieve these numbers.

1. Representation in leadership.

Representation at work looks like historically marginalized groups of people seeing people like themselves in their work community, whether in similar positions or higher-level positions like management and C-Suite.

In 2021, HubSpot became a company led by Yamini Rangan, a woman of color. In addition, the Company Executive Leadership Team (CELT) is made up of four women, and more than 50% of HubSpot leaders are women.

HubSpotters who share identities with Yamini and the other HubSpot leaders see themselves represented at work in higher-level positions, creating a sense of familiarity, community, and belonging in their day-to-day lives.

2. Active employee resource groups (ERGs).

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are communities where employees can join and interact with coworkers, talk about their experiences, and develop support networks. People of Color at HubSpot, PoCaH, is an ERG, and Harry Chiu is on its leadership council.

Chiu, a Senior Customer Onboarding Specialist, says, “In terms of representation at HubSpot, I think one of the biggest reasons is because we have so many internal resources to make everyone feel welcome…For myself, immediately after joining, I felt a connection with PoCaH — the programs they run, the people that are part of the ERG, and just what they stood for.”

Chiu says he attended a predominantly white Irish Catholic school for college. While he didn't have trouble blending in, he still found himself hanging with people of color in campus organizations and took on roles to help create spaces that helped everyone feel comfortable.

He says, “I find that PoCaH does just that — bringing folks together, learning about one another’s cultures, building more empathy, and just helping everyone be more open-minded…As this group continues to grow and help facilitate inclusion in our organization, I find that it all goes back to the fact that HubSpot really cares about inclusion because, HubSpotters themselves, like me, care so much about it.”

3. Prioritizing employees’ mental health and safety.

Mental Health and safety are a big deal at HubSpot, as the goal is for everyone to perform to the best of their abilities while simultaneously maintaining a work-life balance and not experiencing burnout.

HubSpot has created various initiatives with this in mind for the sole purpose of helping employees relax, have fun, and prioritize their mental health, like cultural programming events, a global Week of Rest, and No Internal Meeting Fridays.

4. Opportunities for career growth and development.

HubSpot offers career growth and development opportunities for employees to flourish and develop their skills. Many of the programs are for communities that wouldn’t have access to the same experiences in different organizations.

The Charted Path is specifically for Black employees. In it, participants engage in 1:1 coaching sessions with a mentor that helps with skill-building and defining career paths, as well as larger group conversations with other participants to discuss and receive peer feedback.

Basha Coleman, a Historical Optimization Writer on the Blog Team, took part in the program and says, “The Charted Path program helped me build confidence as a professional and visualize my future self through each stage of my career. I love the focus that the facilitator put on the challenges women, especially Black women, can face in the workplace and held space for us to encourage each other to reach our career aspirations.”

5. Investing in social causes beyond HubSpot’s doors.

HubSpot cares about diversity, inclusion, and belonging beyond the screens of employees’ work computers. As such, it has committed to investments in social causes outside of HubSpot.

For example, its partnership with Howard University, a historically Black university, and the creation of the Center for Digital Business, where students participate in educational programming, collaborate with students and faculty and hone their business skills.

HubSpot has also committed to offsetting its historical environmental emissions through renewable energy carbon offset projects like the Blue Creek Salmon Conservation Project, and HubSpot Helps supports non-profit organizations across the globe where employees can get involved with local organizations and participate in different programs.

6. A commitment to follow-through.

Chester Pearce, a former member of PoCaH’s leadership council and current Team Lead on the Learning & Development team, says that HubSpot’s commitment to DI&B makes an impact through follow-through; or walking the walk.

He says, “HubSpot has focused on walking the walk. From establishing and building up Employee Resource Groups such as BlackHub and PoCaH, to establishing learning around understanding the cultural environment that surrounds us all. We have followed through on a Black Lives Matter action plan and have focused on recruiting diverse talent.”

He says that commitment to these programs helps HubSpotters see themselves truly represented in the community around them, in leadership to their team members, which helps people bring their whole selves to work.

Over To You

HubSpot’s commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging directly contributes to its diverse workforce, as it simply recognizes employees for who they are, independent of their jobs.

It doesn’t — and shouldn’t — end at just that, though, and Pearce agrees — “The progress we’ve made is just the start. HubSpot isn’t focused on just hiring diverse talent, the organization is focused on driving the success of diverse talent on a global level. This means having more conversations, developing our leaders, and continuing to provide opportunities for growth for all HubSpotters.”