Culture

WIN-ning at Nextdoor

Written by Jessica Trieu

What is WIN?

Statistically, companies who cultivate a diverse workforce tend to hear more ideas, have less turnover, and improve organizational performance.  In addition to creating a diverse workforce, it’s important to cultivate a culture of inclusion and create a space where employees feel that they belong.

That’s why at Nextdoor, it’s important for us to create Employee Resource Groups for folks to come together in a safe space in order to share ideas, experiences, and empower one another to grow both personally and professionally. 

At Nextdoor, our women’s ERG is called WIN or Women in the Neighborhood. We strive to build a community that supports women and gender minorities at Nextdoor and aim to provide an inclusive space focused on discussion, development, and connection.

WIN meets on a bi-weekly cadence and creates a space for women and gender minorities to connect with other women at the company, find a mentor/mentee, develop new friendships or professional relationships. It’s an opportunity for our members to facilitate genuine conversations and productive discussions pulling from both life experiences, current happenings, and external resources. 

How we keep WIN-ing in this pandemic

When the pandemic hit and shelter in place started, everything changed. Members of WIN tried to continue their bi-weekly meetings as scheduled, but it was difficult to maintain because of availability changes, time zone differences, and video conferencing fatigue. 

To create a safe space for women to connect during these unprecedented times, WIN shifted their strategy and launched their WIN Buddies program. Instead of large group meetings, the members of WIN were randomly assigned into small groups of 5-6 people. They would meet on a bi-weekly basis, catch up, share lighthearted conversation, and most importantly, check in on each other.

Especially during these times, it’s easy for people to feel isolated behind their computer screens and working from home. That being said, it’s important now more than ever to create opportunities for our employees to meet each other, connect over virtual coffee, and to just take a break from their day to day. We are excited to continue our efforts of supporting  women in tech and getting creative with ways to keep employees engaged and maintain that sense of community we had in person. 

For more information about our Employee Resources Groups, check out this blog.  If you’d like to be a part of Nextdoor and begin WIN-ning with us, then check out our careers page for some available opportunities.

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