Reflecting on my inaugural year as Vimeo’s Senior Director of DEI, I’m filled with gratitude for our collective achievements and for the path that lies ahead. In a year marked by global challenges, we have remained committed to making Vimeo a place where employees can bring their whole selves to work each day.
My goal on day one was simply to listen and learn, laying the groundwork for community-informed problem solving in the weeks and months ahead. Early on, my conversations highlighted the need for building trust through clarity and consistency. The solution: a clear DEI strategy with measurable goals to hold ourselves accountable.
By March 2023, we had gathered quantitative and qualitative employee experience data from our internal “Voice of the Vimean” survey to inform our strategy going forward. By April, we had published our updated DEI goals in our 2022 DEI report.
Our DEI strategy is centered around community, resources, education, and governance and accountability. This is our compass, guiding us toward our north star of belonging for every Vimean. These four pillars enable us to address the challenges of DEI at the root — transforming systems, coming together within and across communities, equitably elevating voices.
Our strategy has begun to build momentum, with initiatives rolled out throughout the year. We introduced DEI-focused resources to normalize inclusive language and practices, and we launched three new employee resource groups (ERGs). We also continued to evaluate our pay equity, which brought us closer to one of our 2024 goals: pay transparency.
In 2024, we’ll continue our DEI journey and remain focused but flexible as we navigate an ever-changing societal landscape. We are unwavering in our commitment to navigating this critical work as a global company, not solely as a DEI team. We have incredible ERGs and leaders throughout the organization who are bringing an inclusive lens to all of their work.
Read on to learn more about these changemakers, our demographic makeup, and our focus areas for 2024.
A note on our data
We’ve made significant strides in enhancing our data systems and have actively encouraged our employees to provide additional self-identification (self-ID) information. These improvements have allowed us to refine our approach to data tracking and reporting, resulting in more sophisticated and accurate insights.
While these changes have led to a slight shift in data points compared to the previous year, they have set a strong foundation for consistent and reliable data management moving forward.
Progress on our 2026 goals
In last year’s report, we unveiled our 2026 representation goals. This multi-year strategy accounts for the time and investment required to create meaningful and sustainable change.
In 2024, we plan to expand our self-ID categories and ensure that employees are aware of how they can participate in the voluntary self-ID process. This will equip us with better information about our employee base and also gives us the detail we need to begin reporting on progress toward our goals for marginalized groups.**
This evolution in our data practices aligns with industry predictions that organizations will increasingly track data quality levels through metrics, improving data quality. Our self-ID initiative provides a clearer picture of our workforce diversity, which is essential for addressing inequities and designing thoughtful, targeted programs.
In 2023 we saw improvement in representation in several areas, including increases in:
- Women or non-binary Vimeans VP+ up 1.11%
- Underrepresented Minority Group* (URM) up 1.88%
- URM Manager representation up 4.92%
- Black or African American representation in manager roles, up 1.6%
We will stay aware of and accountable for our employee demographics and we recognize that there is still much to improve on. Overall, our representation has stayed relatively flat year-over-year. Like many organizations, Vimeo limited hiring in 2023.
Despite our commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace, we noticed even with a limited number of new hires, there was a lower number of women, Black, and Asian employees hired. This data tells us that continued investment in inclusive recruitment and hiring strategies will continue to be of critical importance.
As a strong and capable organization entering its third decade, we know the day will come when business needs will dictate increased hiring. In the meantime, we are deeply focused on the equitable recruitment efforts as well as career growth of current employees.
All of this data, as well as our feedback from Vimeans around the world, are helping inform our priorities for 2024. We’ll share more about plans for 2024, but first read on to learn more about program, policy, and event highlights in 2023.
Underrepresented voices in film
At Vimeo, we’re passionate about the power of human expression to drive change, and we believe video is the ultimate way to share that expression. We understand that diverse voices – those of women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals – have been historically overlooked in tech and creative fields. To counter this, our Staff Picks team has been proactive in championing diversity through curated channels like Black Artistry in Film, LGTBQIA+ Voices in Film, and Ladies with Lenses.
Diverse representation in film and the arts is paramount for an accurate portrayal of society, and has a profound impact on both the over- and under-represented. It shapes our self-image, and societal norms, and it influences the way we perceive and interact with each other.
“The presence of diverse voices and stories in media is not just a matter of fairness, it’s about reflecting the diversity of our world, allowing everyone to see themselves in the stories being told.”Renee MacLeod, Senior Director of DEI at Vimeo
In 2023, we made significant strides in supporting this mission thanks to our Queereo, Accessibility@Vimeo and BIPOC@Vimeo ERGs. They awarded grants to filmmakers Bar Cohen and Sally Tran and awarded a grant in support of the ReelAbilities film event, the United States’ largest film festival dedicated to showcasing films by and about people with disabilities.
Coming together, within and across communities
In 2023, Vimeo proudly championed initiatives like the Black Is Tech Conference and NewFest. Black Is Tech brings together black tech professionals and provides a platform for learning, networking, and inspiration. NewFest is a leading LGBTQ+ film and media organization that Vimeo has partnered with for three consecutive years, to showcase contemporary LGBTQ+ short films from around the world.
These events, spearheaded by BIPOC@Vimeo and Queereo, are more than just a line item in our budget — they’re a core part of our mission to elevate voices that too often go unheard.
By investing in these platforms, we’re not just writing checks — we’re investing in amplifying underrepresented voices, challenging stereotypes, and, we hope, contributing to experiences and conversations that foster understanding.
Transforming systems
Vimeo also took significant steps in reviewing and revising its policies and operations to promote inclusion. This effort focuses on creating lasting change, rather than merely checking boxes. We know that transforming systems involves reevaluating and restructuring corporate policies, practices, and cultures to ensure they truly support diversity, equity, and inclusion at every level.
Social Impact
In 2023, we expanded our donation and gift-matching programs to be accessible to all Vimeans, globally. This change translated to a significant increase of social impact engagement. Collectively, Vimeans around the world volunteered more than 200 hours and donated $80,600 to charities of their choice. With the Vimeo 1:1 match program and ERG grants, Vimeans raised more than $281,795 for nonprofit organizations, up from $131,400 in 2022.
Pay Transparency
Vimeo, led by its Total Rewards team, has made updated job leveling and compensation structures to promote transparency and fairness, with a particular focus on eliminating gender and racial pay disparities. We include pay bands in job listings and for current roles, ensuring that all employees are aware of the compensation range for their positions. Additionally, Vimeo is committed to conducting ongoing pay equity reviews to maintain fair compensation over time, rather than treating these reviews as a one-off event. This approach is part of a broader effort to ensure equitable pay for all employees.
We also enhanced our insurance coverage to provide equitable healthcare access for women and trans employees, furthering our commitment to meet the diverse needs of our workforce.
Employee Performance
We continued our efforts to be the home of a best-in-class performance and review process. We’ve focused on disrupting bias in the performance review process in support of a fair and inclusive corporate environment. Biases within this process can lead to unfair evaluations, hinder diversity, and ultimately impact both the employee experience and our ability to be innovative and successful.
In 2023, we implemented additional training on inclusive reviews to equip our managers with the skills for objective assessment. We promote self-advocacy in the review process, encouraging employees to actively participate in their evaluations, seek regular feedback, and document their achievements and challenges. As a part of this effort, Vimeown, our ERG supporting women and non-binary employees, sponsored a workshop on self-advocacy in the review process.
Consistency in tools and processes is another area where we’ve made progress. By standardizing evaluation criteria and requiring evidence-based assessments, we reduce the room for subjectivity and increase our ability to have employees evaluated with consistent standards. This, along with review of our ratings and feedback for bias patterns, helped us be informed and aware of any potential systemic issues.
What’s coming in 2024
As we enter 2024, our focus on DEI is stronger than ever. Here’s a look at what we have up our sleeves:
- Employee resource groups (ERGs): We will continue to support groups that bring our employees together based on shared backgrounds and interests. These groups are vital to making everyone feel like they belong.
- Data-driven DEI: Launch an internal marketing campaign around our voluntary self-ID program to encourage employees to participate. More information helps us have a true understanding of our employee demographics and better ensure our efforts are meeting their needs.
- Hiring and review processes: Continue, and deepen, our investment in fair and inclusive hiring and performance review processes to ensure that as we grow our team, we do so in a way that is fair and equitable.
- More inclusive leadership: Our leaders play a huge role in creating an inclusive environment. We are supporting our leaders with ongoing training and education opportunities to make sure they can approach all interactions and processes with an inclusive lens.
- Investment in retention: We will be particularly focused on keeping our current employees happy and helping them grow. We want our team members to enjoy their careers, feel good about their work, and have a clear understanding of how valuable their contributions are to the company.
- Coaching for growth: Our DEI team will continue to create programming to support our employees in their career growth. In 2023 our DEI team launched Rising Stars, a series of Employee Resource Group aligned programming focused on community connection and professional development opportunities. As a part of this effort, we are partnering with Growthspace to provide one-on-one and team coaching, small group mentorship, and workshops that will help us ensure more equity for our historically and often marginalized groups.
We are striving to make our workplace better for everyone by focusing on these areas and making DEI a part of everything we do at Vimeo.
Additional demographic data and category definitions
2023 report terminology
- Declined to self-identify: Provision of “self-ID” demographic information is not required. As a result, some employees have chosen not to share their demographic information with Vimeo.
- Technical role: Technical role in this context is defined as roles aligned with product and engineering.
- BIPOC: BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
For the purpose of this report, Vimeo includes the following demographics as a part of our BIPOC categorization: Asian American, African American / Black, Hispanic / Latina/o/x, Indigenous / Native American / Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian / Other Pacific Islander, and multiracial. - **Marginalized groups: Marginalized groups is an expanded view to include all who identify as BIPOC, plus additional identities including veterans, people with disabilities, and the LGTBQIA+ community. This cohort will be reported on in our 2025 DEI report. In the interim, we are reporting on both gender representation as well as BIPOC representation.
- *Underrepresented minority: Underrepresented minority has a range of definitions, but in most cases refers to a group of people who are members of a particular race, ethnicity, gender, or other identity group that is disproportionately small in a particular field or context compared to their representation in the general population. Gender demographics in this report are global. Racial and ethnic demographics included in this report are limited to U.S. employees.
For the purpose of this report, Vimeo includes the following demographics as a part of our underrepresented minority categorization. A person who is: African American / Black, Hispanic / Latina/o/x, Indigenous / Native American / Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian / Other Pacific Islander, or two or more races.
