Commitments

DPDK is a digital agency with offices in Rotterdam, New York, and San Francisco. At DPDK, people from different disciplines, backgrounds, and nationalities work together with clients and suppliers from all around the world. We design experiences for everyone and are aware that there are differences in equality, diversity, and inclusivity, especially in the creative industry.

We aspire to be a more diverse and inclusive agency than we are today. We continuously assess what we have done to promote diversity, in order to understand the obstacles we need to overcome to build a more inclusive organization.  

That’s why we defined six key areas for us to focus on: people, culture, education, design, talent, and community.

• An annual diversity report is released that shares DPDK’s gender, ethnicity, and age data as well as our progress and learnings over the past year. You can find our most recent report here. 
• Creating an agency where everyone feels valued and appreciated is important to us. This includes equal pay. We’ve therefore published a salary house for each department and positions to ensure transparency in salary rates. 
• In 2021, we introduced a hybrid work policy and unlimited vacation. This new way of working was put in place to increase our team’s well-being and ensure DPDKers are enjoying a healthy work-life balance. 

• A company-wide survey has been created and shared biannually to assess the experience of our employees regarding equality and diversity in DPDK. Data from the survey provides input for our commitments to becoming a more diverse and inclusive agency. This anonymous survey allows us to hear from employees directly about what’s working and what’s not. 
• The company culture book will be updated as we define and redefine what it means to be a DPDKer. Our company values and beliefs will be reviewed and photography renewed to be more inclusive. 
• Open communication about equality and diversity within DPDK is encouraged by making use of different communication channels to share data, results, and ideas to increase diversity.
• In 2020, a dedicated diversity committee was formed. This committee is responsible for driving diversity and inclusion initiatives across the agency. They also work together with the event & culture committee to enrich and diversify our events and activities.  

• A curriculum focused on diversity and inclusivity will be released in our DPDK Academy by the end of 2022. The curriculum will be freely accessible for everyone within the agency. Inclusion training is part of the modules and compulsory for all managers and new employees. The same goes for unconscious bias training, which will be mandatory for HR and our leadership team. 

• In 2020, we built an inclusive illustration design system that features characters of different skin colors, hair styles, clothing, and body shapes. Our illustration style is regularly expanded and updated through monthly retrospectives. We have also started reviewing DPDK’s overall brand design system, as we recognize that there is room for improvement. We will continue to take a critical look at how we can improve the design process within DPDK with help of our colleagues and the EDI committee. 
• The knowledge that we gain from our improved way of working will be shared actively on our blog, with our clients, and at events, and schools we speak at.  
• We believe that representation matters. That’s why we have started conducting EDI assessments with our clients to see how we can improve the diversity and inclusiveness of the digital content we release together.

• We aim to increase diversity across the whole agency by attracting, hiring, and retaining Black people and NBPOC, with a specific focus on the management team, design, and technology departments.
• Together with our HR department, we will actively look for improvements in our interview and selection processes, to ensure fairness as much as possible. As well as lowering barriers for Black and NBPOC to enter the creative industry.  

• DPDK will actively support movements that are advocating for diversity in the digital industry.
• We have joined forces with SoDa by supporting their EDI initiatives and have appointed a DPDK representative that will help reinforce these initiatives. 
• One project per calendar year will be selected to work on with special rates in order to support companies and organizations that are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion for all.  

Building a diverse and inclusive agency  is a journey, not a destination. It’s never done, that’s why this page is a work-in-progress just like we are and will be continually updated.