What DEIA means to Parallax 

A Parallax core value is the diversity of people and thought. We create a safe environment for employees to feel valued, welcomed, and heard. Parallax is committed to ensuring that our employees, partners, and clients are treated with dignity and respect.  

An integral part of the Parallax culture is our commitment to a workplace culture based upon mutual respect. Respect in the workplace, along with individual excellence and collaborative teamwork, is how we accomplish our goals. Parallax is committed to providing an inclusive environment where our employees can express and share their varied viewpoints and talents, are respected and can thrive, and can forge their own careers whether that be through personnel development initiatives, tuition reimbursement benefits, and/or remote and flexible work schedules.  

An overview of Parallax’s DEIA initiatives  

Affirmative Action Plan and Equal Opportunity Employer 

Parallax is an equal opportunity employer with an Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) in place and updated each year and designed to create an inclusive environment for all employees. Parallax offers programs and benefits that support diverse working styles.These benefits include flexible work schedules, tuition assistance, paid military leave, career growth opportunities, and competitive health and retirement benefits. 

Flexible and remote work schedules 

Parallax provides its employees with flexible work schedules and work-from-home options which enable our team members to have more time for their families, hobbies, and interests, among other things. 

Parallax wins Dayton Business Journal Diversity Award in 2022 

Hiring Pipelines 

Parallax has developed talent pipelines to attract a diverse cadre of candidates from all over the nation. These talent pipelines enable us to maintain a broad and deep view, internally, of available talent for upcoming needs and to execute a recruiting strategy for a each potential candidate and each new role or position within the organization.  

We are also dedicated to creating highly-talented and diverse candidate pools through recruiting efforts that include posting our open positions to Ohio Means Jobs, Indeed, and other major platforms; contacting the Veterans Affairs Office to advertise positions; collaborating with local universities to participate in job fairs; going beyond our typical networks to reach the best and brightest talent in the nation; posting all open positions for a minimum of five days; and offering virtual interviews.    

We track quantitative data on our hiring processes to better understand and evolve our hiring practices. This process provides us a clear perspective of the employee life cycle to quickly identify gaps and areas for improvement. Parallax also distributes new hire onboarding and DEIA surveys and internal equity reviews to collect insights to improve our DEIA hiring practices. 

We also include tailored messages from each direct manager in the onboarding process, to add a personal touch and make each new Parallaxian feel most welcomed and included in executing the Parallax mission.  

Talent and Workforce Development  

Parallax deploys talent development initiatives that build upon employees’ skills and enables us to promote individuals from within our organization. Through this initiative, we offer mentorship, individual development plans, and an education assistance benefit to all employees. We also continue to strive to make Parallax a great place to work by conducting annual reviews of employee compensation and position details for internal equity improvements. Our supervisors can request promotions at any time throughout the year. We promote from within whenever possible before opening a new role. 

The Parallax team enjoys a Dayton Dragons baseball game

Health Benefits 

Parallax provides affordable, tiered health insurance options based on employee salary. This tiered approach enables our employees to choose a plan that’s best for them and based on what they deem affordable.  

Retirement Benefits 

We offer retirement benefits to all employees, including student interns. Our competitive retirement plans not only help us attract top talent, but also retain top talent. We believe that our company’s financial wellness is dependent on our employees’ financial wellness.  

Parallax’s DEIA accomplishments 

Keanna Daniels, Parallax Program Manager, earns Dayton Business Journal Diversity Champion Award  

Parallax created its DEIA Committee in December 2021. Since its inception, the committee has been committed to hosting regular meetings with the workforce to improve our DEIA initiatives. The team looks at best practices from other nonprofit organizations and collaborates with other Parallax departments to ensure Parallax is practicing DEIA in our strategies, organizational practices, processes, and culture. The DEIA team promotes DEIA throughout the organization, models inclusive work practices to promote diverse perspectives, and provides a platform for sharing best practices. The team works collaboratively with Parallax Human Resources to provide guidance and frameworks, mitigate disparities, conduct research, and utilize data to ensure DEIA is included in all organizational areas including engagement, education and training, recruitment, and talent development. We made significant headway since our inception and were recognized for our transformational efforts when we were awarded the “2022 Outstanding Diversity Organization” for Diversity in Business by the Dayton Business Journal.  

Parallax also has an Affirmative Action Plan (AAP). Our 2021 goal was to employ 27.1% minorities in the professional category. We came close to meeting this and ended 2021 with 26% minorities employed in the professional category. Our 2022 AAP goal is to employ 26% minorities in the  management category, and our current status is 36%. The 2022 AAP goal term ends on March 30, 2023, and the new plan goes into effect on April 1, 2023. 

Reporting our DEIA accomplishments  

Parallax submits its DEIA accomplishments to the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Office at the U.S. Department of Labor. We submit our AAP accomplishments to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. 

We also regularly update our workforce with the status of our DEIA progress and initiatives. We believe that knowledge is power, and teamwork makes the dream work. 

Parallax’s dialogue approach to discussing race, religion, politics, and/or sexual orientation 

We strictly prohibit unlawful discrimination and harassment of any kind. We aim to provide as many communication platforms and opportunities for feedback as possible, including:  

1. Encouraging open and continuous communication between employees and their supervisors 

2. Providing proactive, reactive, measurable, and actionable efforts to eliminate inequity and prevent discrimination before it happens, both internally and with external clients and stakeholders  

3. Upholding an open-door policy 

4. Hosting CEO office hours where employees can directly ask our CEO questions 

5. Hosting lunch-and-learn webinars where employees and teams speak on topics or share topics important to them and where employee participants ask questions and comment 

6. Hosting focus group and DEIA group meetings where employees and committee members share information and provide feedback on initiatives and company changes  

7. Deploying benefit surveys to receive feedback on additional offerings or changes 

8. Ensuring members of multiple levels of leadership attend meetings to ensure each leader can speak and be heard, as well as hear from employees  

Each effort leads us to better internal and external collaborations, new ideas, and effective problem-solving for our clients.