It’s Hispanic Heritage Month, and I’m so proud to work for an organization that makes a point to celebrate and honor the backgrounds of all employees. Extreme Networks is fostering a culture that prioritizes diversity and inclusion and makes everyone feel welcome.
This month has me reflecting on my career and how my experiences at Extreme Networks have been different than other companies. I am very proud to say I work at Extreme. Throughout my professional career diversity was always an HR check box. It was a numbers game; nothing was celebrated, and you did not speak about it. If you dressed outside the norm to celebrate your culture, leadership would look down on you for drawing attention versus taking time to learn and embrace the moment.
At Extreme Networks, we are a diverse and inclusive company, and you can see it in the people and feel it in our company culture. EVERYONE IS INCLUDED! We celebrate people here, no matter your cultural background, color, religion, identification, or upbringing. Extreme offers you a chance to celebrate being who you are and educate those around you so they too can understand, feel included and celebrate with you.
I love learning through all our different employee resource groups (ERGs), getting a glimpse of the history, a sampling of the culture and learning from the struggles and triumphs that each group has faced. Yes, we are a “networking company” but we connect so much more than systems – we are connecting people globally!
Hispanic Heritage Month is just another way to celebrate and learn about the diverse Hispanic and Latino cultures. There are so many facets and diversities that get bunched under the label “Hispanic” or “Latino.” During the next month our hope is to educate and appreciate these differences and similarities. Members of La Raza, Extreme’s employee resource group for Hispanic employees, created a series of short “Be Local” videos to show colleagues what a day in the life may look like for them, in the country they are from. Here are a couple of “Be Local” videos from Colombia and the Dominican Republic.
If you’re interested in joining Extreme Networks, I encourage you to visit our careers page and learn more about our diversity and inclusion initiatives at Extreme Networks. And stay tuned for more updates from La Raza, Extreme’s Diversity & Inclusion Council, and the many Employee Resource Groups at Extreme.
