Commitment to diversity
PSE’s goal is a work environment where all employees are respected, given the opportunity to excel, and valued for the unique qualities they bring to the job. We believe our prospects for success are enhanced by bringing together people who by virtue of their diverse life experiences can bring equally diverse solutions to the table.
Our commitment to diversity starts at the top. Steve Reynolds, our CEO, chairs the Seattle chapter of BOLD (Business Opportunities for Leadership Diversity), which works to mobilize business leaders to create more inclusive workplaces. Nearly half of the officers who report to our CEO are women or persons of color.
This commitment continues throughout PSE. For example, we are working with the Tabor 100, an African-American civic organization in Seattle, to sponsor college scholarships that encourage African-American students to pursue a career in a clean energy field. Our outreach programs also extend to training and apprenticeship programs that seek out diverse and nontraditional applicants to enhance the employee mix at PSE. Our top 100 leaders have been trained in how to build a more inclusive work environment, with a particular emphasis on understanding the differences between generations.
These efforts have helped us increase the percentage of persons of color working at PSE. In some categories, such as engineers, our recruiting efforts have raised the percentage of women and persons of color to the level of their availability in the marketplace. But we still have work to do, so we are strengthening our diversity recruitment efforts to accelerate our progress in areas where the number of women and persons of color we employ is still less than their availability in the broader work force.
We are focused on making PSE a great place to work. We believe the key is to build trust through respectful relationships between employees and their peers, their supervisor, and the company. Inclusion and respect for diversity are essential to establishing such relationships.