DataDome Joins the Ranks of Great Places to Work 2024!
DataDome embraces the things that make us all different, and we're working to ensure our solutions are accessible to all. Learn about our accessibility pod.
Noelle Conrad
Communications Manager
One of DataDome’s seven employee resource groups (ERGs), all dedicated to continued diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), is the accessibility pod. The accessibility pod exists to adapt our workspace, projects, and product to those with disabilities both seen and unseen. Pod members meet monthly to cover a wide range of topics—from neurodiversity to technical accessibility—and form initiatives to create an inclusive environment for our BotBusters and customers. The mission of the pod is to advocate for DataDome’s product and services to be accessible for all.
I chose to join this pod as it provides a safe space for all BotBusters, particularly as someone who experiences attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In addition, I joined to learn more about accessibility in the workplace, and to deepen my understanding of how to help those who may face challenges pertaining to accessibility needs.
As I continued learning more about accessibility, my passion for educating others on this subject grew, this led me to volunteer to co-lead the pod alongside our VP of Product, Paul Scanlon. Our pod has four main priorities we are working toward:
In the pod, team members across the company gather to share perspectives and ideas of improvements and initiate actions outside their normal scope of responsibility. One of these actions grew from an organic conversation around increasing the accessibility of our marketing materials, including our website. After extensive research and pilot periods, we are excited to announce the implementation of UserWay, a digital accessibility innovator. From websites to applications, UserWay’s technology makes content accessible for all.
Laurent Picq, Website Product Manager, was instrumental in the implementation process. He defines accessibility as an “obligation, rather than a subject. These exchanges with my colleagues allowed me to contribute to a global initiative that has increased my knowledge of accessibility, taking action on those ideas, all while learning along the way.”
Paul Scanlon, VP of Product and pod co-lead, explains the UserWay project precisely identifies the ethics we promote at DataDome. It’s a priority that all of our user interfaces, every user experience, and our visitor experiences are accessible to anyone. We cannot see the challenges visitors may experience; providing tools to select how their environment should be optimized is a significant step in ensuring their experience is comfortable and increasing their trust in DataDome. This implementation gave us a great concrete example and methodology of demonstrating our ethics and pod goals, not only to our users, but to anyone who visits our website. Accessibility is a necessity, and the UserWay implementation is a step forward in a long-term pilot program to identify solutions that increase the usability of our product.
One of the big differences I’ve seen at DataDome is we don’t just talk about initiatives, we put action to them. If there is a belief, or an ethic we want to drive forward, we demonstrate we are committed by following through.
–Paul Scanlon, VP of Product
In Paul’s opinion, the seven DE&I pods are important because they are an actual demonstration of where DataDome’s culture becomes tangible and alive. Paul enjoys the fact you have a group of people—who may not typically be in the same room—now working on the same project, or working toward solving a problem. To him, that’s satisfying because we are able to see the depth of skill sets across DataDome.
Thanks to the existence of the pods, ideas bubble up from new places, there’s a possibility to be surprised, a possibility to find a breakthrough idea, and the possibility to find the charter to execute. For all of these reasons, ERGs make the DataDome culture tangible.
–Paul Scanlon, VP of Product
Alongside the accessibility pod, our ERGs encompass cultures & ethnicities, health & wellbeing, LGBTQ+, parenting, sustainability, and women empowerment. Over 65% of BotBusters are involved in at least one of these pods, cementing our dedication towards inclusivity and fostering our value of #TeamSpirit.
As one part of the DataDome picture, having the opportunity to participate in these groups—that are committed to realize change in our workplace and beyond—empowers me daily as I do my job, and contributes to the passion I have to celebrate and promote our organization! We invite you to learn more about DataDome’s DE&I efforts on our website, and apply to our open opportunities as our team continues to expand globally.
