IDEA
INCLUSION, DIVERSITY, EQUITY & ACCESSIBILITY REPORT
| October 2024
02 LOOKING BACK & LOOKING FORWARD
Strategic External Partners
Employee Resource Groups
Supplier Diversity
03
DATA INFORMS OUR PROCESS
Availability Versus Headcount Promotion, Hires, & Attrition
Additional Data Highlights
04 SETTING OUR STRATEGY
Current State Executive Summary
Three-Year IDEA Roadmap
Our Ongoing Mission
“An inclusive workforce provides a rich set of perspectives that enable innovation and creative discovery … So I challenge you with this question: What will you do today to empower a co-worker, neighbor, relative, or friend?”
—
KAMIE ROBERTS, DIRECTOR OF NITRD NCO
A Note from Our Chief Diversity Officer
Draper has continued to make strides in its investment in building an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible workplace. Reinforcing this commitment, Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) was a pivotal year for us as we launched our three-year Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) strategy. This strategy has established the foundation for sustained and meaningful progress on the work that we are leading at Draper.
Most importantly, across all levels of the company, we saw a significant uptick in engagement and participation in our IDEA initiatives. This was achieved through several areas. Leading some of our efforts were our employee resource groups (ERGs). As champions of community building, they led the way in creating sustainable programs to drive a culture of belonging.
Additionally, our exceptional leadership team fostered support and partnered across the organization to make Draper an inclusive workplace where all employees are valued. Some of our leaders participated as executive sponsors, mentors, and advocates.
We also saw improvement in our overall engagement across the company through our annual Glint survey, which assessed employees’ feedback on job satisfaction, commitment, involvement, and motivation. Our FY24 inclusion scores were the highest since our
program’s inception, which confirm that our initiatives are creating a workplace where employees feel valued, respected, and empowered.
Additionally, our Draper NXT vision and strategy remains our guiding light. We continue to partner with functional and business leaders to ensure we integrate inclusion throughout the organization from various lenses of diversity.
While we celebrate these wins, we are aware that we are on an ongoing journey. The coming year will be critical as we build on the momentum to:
• Sustain and expand engagement
• Leverage insights gained from survey results and other available data
• Realize that innovation thrives in diverse environments
As we look towards the coming year, I am confident that we will continue to forge ahead as one Draper to achieve the goals defined in our plans.
AISHA A. LOSCHE CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER
A Note from Our President and CEO
As Draper strives to be one of the nation’s premier national security nonprofit companies, we also remain committed to creating an inclusive, diverse workplace that honors and respects individuals and all their identities. To ensure we remain mission-focused on this goal, in FY24, we expanded our IDEA strategy to ensure long-lasting impact now and in the years to come.
Throughout FY24, we made positive strides to advance IDEA and position Draper as an even more rewarding place to work. Thanks to our IDEA team, led by our Chief Diversity Officer Aisha Losche, who implemented initiatives on mentorship, partnered with Human Resources on our recruitment efforts, and provided inclusive behaviors training to upskill talent. These efforts proved to be paramount in creating a workplace for the future.
Additionally, our business and functional leaders were instrumental in tailoring action plans to support our IDEA strategy, while leveraging their influence to engage employees with an understanding of respect for differences. Collectively through inclusive leadership-focused offerings, we applied intentional, innovative, and inclusive action at the individual, interpersonal, and organizational levels.
We also drove excellence in our employee experience that led to meaningful innovation that fueled solutions for our nation. Our employees across 12 campuses created communities – what we refer to as ERGs – to acknowledge and celebrate the many cultures and identities that make Draper a diverse and inclusive workplace. Additionally, our ERGs’ support led to personal and career development while creating a safe space where employees could bring their whole selves to work every day.
We are proud of these and other accomplishments, many of which are highlighted in this FY24 IDEA Annual Report. We invite you to review our achievements and join us on our journey as we continue to advance IDEA at Draper.
JERRY M. WOHLETZ PRESIDENT AND CEO
Building strategic partnerships to inspire tomorrow’s innovators
Audrey Walsh, co-lead for our Women @Draper ERG, attended the Society of Women Engineers conference in Los Angeles, CA where she learned the importance of applying systems thinking strategies to her career development. She believes the natural progression from high school to college then to the first few years of post-grad are very well laid-out for most people, but when things become uncertain and the path to success is less clear, many don’t optimize opportunities that best serve their goals and skillsets. As a Systems Engineer, she liked the idea of utilizing strategies in her work every day to shape the type of work she’s doing.
Looking back on her experience at the Society of Women Engineers conference, Audrey believes it was an exceptional opportunity to build connections and to showcase Draper’s focus on innovation for potential new recruits.
Strategic External Partners
Our commitment to our people at Draper remains unwavering. As such, we continue to build strategic alliances to facilitate knowledge sharing, professional development, networking, and new thinking. We also rely on the most up-to-date industry trends to motivate and inspire our people.
Throughout FY24, we encouraged and sponsored our employees’ attendance at local, and national, forums to offer unparalleled experience to learn, access valuable insights, and forge meaningful connections with like-minded professionals. These conferences included the Massachusetts Conference for Women; Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (oSTEM); Society of Women Engineers (SWE); Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE); and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). Additionally, these forums provided opportunities for our employees to share their research, network with other industry leaders, gain knowledge and be inspired. It also was a chance for us to attract the very best talent. Throughout FY24, we leveraged our resources to invest in undergraduate and graduate students via our CO-OP, intern and Draper Scholars program to encourage the next generation and build a pipeline for future innovators.
Employee Resource Groups
Our ERGs help to foster a diverse, inclusive workplace that is aligned with our overall culture. They offer a space where people connect, share experiences and resources, learn, grow and drive meaningful change.
Membership across our ERGs has grown significantly over the past year. About 32 percent of our employees are members of at least one of our nine ERGs. This growth is a clear indication that our employees value a sense of community, feel supported and are advocates for change. ERG-sponsored events, workshops and other initiatives also saw increased attendance, boosted employee engagement, company image, and workplace culture.
These volunteer-led groups by employees allow individuals to share a characteristic, whether it’s gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation, lifestyle, or interest.
DRAPER ERGS
• Ability+
• Asian Pacific Americans@Draper (APA)
• Black Inclusion Network at Draper (BIND)
• Caregivers
• Early Career
• LATINX
• LGBTQIA+
• Military & Veteran
• Women@Draper
learn more about ergs at DRAPER.COM
Joining an ERG
Jeff Borgard, a Project Manager for Corporate Operation, is a member of our Ability+ and BIND ERGs. As an American whose parents are Haitian immigrants, and as a parent with a child who has abilities, the ERGs help to make a tangible connection between his personal and work experiences. Jeff encourages employees to join an ERG within the first month of employment at Draper.
Supplier Diversity
In Draper FY24, each engineering function and directorate created and executed inclusion action plans, which were aligned with the four pillars of our multi-year strategy. Many of our functions and engineering groups reported progress in upskilling our people on inclusive behaviors.
An example of one of these plans is our Supply Chain function that curated an action plan to align within its spheres of influence. The team attended training to get a better understanding of disability-owned business enterprises and veteran-disability-owned business designations, spent time reviewing our vendors and audited our supplier pool. The chart highlights how the team has met or exceeded federal recommendations for suppler diversity. We look forward to ongoing growth of our supplier diversity practice in our next fiscal-year goal planning.
AGENCY GOALS
SUMMARY OF SMALL BUSINESS SPEND BY AGENCY FOR GOVERNMENT FY24
Agency Goals vs Actuals (%)
Department of Defense (DOD)
Department of Energy (DOE)
Health & Human Services (HHS)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
03 DATA INFORMS OUR PROCESS
Investing in our Peaple
We value our employees at Draper and invest in them so they can unlock their full potential. Our employees can benefit from attending various industry forums and events which contribute to career and development, networking, or other opportunities. We also make training available to further career growth.
Availability Versus Headcount
We have shared availability data over the last three annual reports from census data calibrated by Talent Neuron. This year, we continue to highlight 2024 data as there was not a significant change in availability across jobs we sourced.
As in years past, we have made some progress but there is more work to be done. In DFY24, we invested in employees attending new recruiting events across engineering societies such as the National Society of Black Engineers, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Society of Asian Scientist and Engineers, Out in STEM, and Society of Women Engineers. We will continue to build networks and pathways to attract, retain, and promote talent.
Count = 2255
ALL DRAPER EMPLOYEES
Count = 277
ALL DRAPER MANAGERS
ALL ENGINEERING
ENGINEERING TECHNICAL STAFF
Promotion, Hires, & Attrition
We continue to see progress with gender diversity at Draper. Our goal is to experience even more progress as we add capabilities to quantify the full spectrum of genders.
Our racial diversity remains consistent as we source from new partners. We expect to see more opportunities for growth.
Our Veteran and Disabled population continues to grow. Some of this growth is due to our ongoing campaign to share the importance of this information as well as a proactive approach to supporting these communities. There is more to be done as we move forward.
From a retention perspective, we will persist in addressing concerns from our employees. We have seen a slight increase in our attrition of talent from underrepresented groups. This has led us to focus on building equitable processes to clear pathways for success.
In DFY24, there were less promotions overall and less opportunities for underrepresented groups to receive promotions. While there was a reduction in hiring in DFY24, we had an increase in the number of women hired but a slowdown in the number of people of color. Our recruiting team plans to increase the use of resources from our partners as well as Talent Neuron and SeekOut to address this issue and help diversify our talent pools.
PROMOTIONS
Promotions by
Race/Ethnicity
White Underrepresented racial and ethnic groups
Detailed Promotions by Race/Ethnicity
LOOKING BACK & LOOKING FORWARD
Hiring by Gender
HIRING
Hiring by Race/Ethnicity
White Underrepresented racial and ethnic groups
Detailed Hiring by Race/Ethnicity
DFY22
VOLUNTARY RESIGNATIONS 1
Voluntary Resignations by Race/Ethnicity
White Underrepresented racial and ethnic groups
Detailed Voluntary Resignations by Race/Ethnicity
1. Showing the ratio of employees in each category who resigned in that year as a percentage of the total number of voluntary resignations in that year.
DFY22
Additional Data Highlights
DFY24 Overall Diversity
Representation of Other Employee Groups
Percentages rounded to the nearest decimal
Diversity in Management Roles
DFY 2023
DFY 2024
Diversity in Executive Leadership Roles
DFY 2023
DFY 2024
DFY 2023
DFY 2024
FEMALE
DFY 2023
DFY 2024
Confidence Building & Empowerment
Sarah Kamal, a new engineer at Draper, often felt lost as she was surrounded by highly skilled and experienced engineers. Attending a conference that was focused on navigating through her career helped to build confidence and better her efforts towards professional development. She gained steps to advance her skillsets, and she returned to Draper more empowered to network and move fluidly to more challenging projects. The new skills provided the confidence she needed in the work environment. As a result, she highly recommends IDEA programs and sponsorships.
Current State
Key Observations
To improve our business and gain a competitive advantage, we leveraged data from a variety of sources to gauge performance, set strategic goals, and guide improvements. We also listened and responded to our people to support our IDEA and Draper NXT strategies.
DFY24 was the first year to implement our approved IDEA strategy. We engaged each part of the organization to curate and craft plans that aligned with their sphere of influence. As a result, we saw cultural gains across the organization, increased involvement in mentoring, and an ERG ecosystem. With new business tools in place, we will review our analytics and dive into areas where we have major gaps and repair those domains.
Executive Summary
Statement of IDEA Strategy
Draper is here to solve the nation's toughest problems. We can only do that in an inclusive, diverse space that honors and respects individuals and all their identities. We are committed to building upon our values to ensure IDEA is embedded systemically and structurally to have long-lasting change.
STATE OF IDEA DFY 2024
Attrition for Underrepresented Talent (URT)
More leadership participation in IDEA planning and implementation
ERG growth and community building
Building the foundation of embedding across processes
Top Business Drivers
01 Draper NXT – Growth and organizational transformation
02 Growth of people, overhead efficiency and fiduciary responsibility
03 Business market strategic areas
Upskilling and educating people managers and employees on inclusivity.
Create a more diverse workforce that is reflective of the demographics of our customers and operating locations.
Craft a mentorship mindset to ensure knowledge sharing.
Motivate and reward inclusive management behaviors.
STATE OF IDEA DFY 2025
Mentorship program be part of onboarding and standard offering to new employees
Quarterly assessment of inclusion
Implement IDEA learning and development calendar
ERGs stabilize to support our employees
Three-Year IDEA Roadmap
Strategic Priority Long-term IDEA Objective
Craft mentorship opportunities to ensure knowledge sharing.
Create a community of learning and sharing. Assess leader accountability to mentor or sponsor underrepresented talent and measure its increase/decrease.
Motivate and reward inclusive management and behaviors in the accomplishment of Draper’s mission.
Upskill and educate people managers and employees on inclusivity advantages of diverse teams, and unconscious bias.
Engage our middle management to invest and grow underrepresented talent to place on succession plans for departments and functions.
Continuous and evolving learning around IDEA topics and issues.
Create a more diverse workforce that is reflective of the demographics of our customers and operating locations.
Increase recruitment and retention of underrepresented employees in STEM roles.
DFY24 Objective(s) DFY25 Objective(s) DY26 Objective(s)
Monitor pilot program and survey participants for feedback for better implementation and design.
Increase year-over-year participation.
Track and monitor growth of participants.
Increase year-over-year participation.
Track and monitor growth of participants.
Design IDEA action plans for each business area and function based on their needs.
Create new action plans and tie IDEA to compensation and promotion.
Implement new reward structure with IDEA elements incorporated.
Build and design training and toolkits for managers.
Managers' aptitude for IDEA is codified in their daily work.
Managers can only be put in roles if they exhibit IDEA and Core values.
Design and build inclusive recruiting and hiring practices.
Increase year-over-year percentage of all lenses of diversity.
More diversity in middle and senior management due to work done in succession planning.
Our Ongoing Mission
We are proud of the ongoing progress we continue to make at Draper to ensure a culture where all employees can bring their authentic selves to work every day. And we continue to listen to our employees on the work ahead. As the IDEA Office grows, and we have more competency in this space, we remain confident that we will see continued growth and change. Building a more diverse and inclusive community at Draper is a shared responsibility, one with many opportunities to make an impact through formal and informal ways. Joining an ERG, helping new employees orient to Draper, living our core values – all contribute to a more welcoming workplace for all of us.
Please contact Aisha Losche with questions and ideas to improve the Draper experience.
