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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Cloudflare

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Cloudflare Illustration
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Cloudflare Illustration

Matthew Prince, Co-founder & CEO and Michelle Zatlyn, Co-founder, President & COO of Cloudflare

“Diversity, inclusion, and equity are not things that are just nice to have; they are essential to the success of Cloudflare's business. The reason is simple. Diverse teams are more effective, innovative, and better positioned to drive growth, and without an equitable and inclusive working environment, our diverse teams won’t succeed.

Cloudflare's mission is to help build a better Internet, and in order to do this we need a range of perspectives and approaches. Since founding Cloudflare we set out to cultivate and maintain an inclusive workplace which empowers all employees to show up, as their full selves, and do their best work."

Matthew Prince Co-founder & CEO, Cloudflare
Michelle Zatlyn Co-founder, President & COO, Cloudflare

Matthew Prince, Co-founder & CEO and Michelle Zatlyn, Co-founder, President & COO of Cloudflare

Cloudflare Capabilities

Culture is defined by the behaviors you reward. We created the Cloudflare Capabilities so we could be open and clear about the behaviors that get rewarded at Cloudflare. They are the bedrock of our culture. We use them when making hiring decisions, evaluating performance or considering promotions. They are an important part of our DEI work as they provide the foundation to help build a more welcoming and inclusive culture where everyone can build the career of their dreams.

Diversity at Cloudflare

Over the years, we've been working hard to better understand the makeup of our teams and increase our diversity. We are proud to have reached a point where we are ready to publish Cloudflare’s employee representation data and share how we are working to diversify our teams.

Data presented here reflects only the information shared by employees who volunteer to disclose their representation data.

The data below is a snapshot from 1 October 2024

Overall Gender Identity

Overall Gender Identity

Agender, Bigender, Non-binary, Queer and Other-icon

Agender, Bigender, Non-binary, Queer and Other

Feminine / Female-icon

Feminine / Female

Masculine / Male-icon

Masculine / Male

Leadership Gender Identity

Director level and above

Agender, Bigender, Non-binary, Queer and Other-icon

Agender, Bigender, Non-binary, Queer and Other

Feminine / Female -icon

Feminine / Female

Masculine / Male-icon

Masculine / Male


US Overall Race/Ethnicity

US Overall Race/Ethnicity

American Indian or Alaska Native-icon

American Indian or Alaska Native

Asian-icon

Asian

Black or African American-icon

Black or African American

Hispanic or Latino-icon

Hispanic or Latino

Middle Eastern-icon

Middle Eastern

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander-icon

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

Other-icon

Other

Two or More Races -icon

Two or More Races

White-icon

White

US Leadership Race/Ethnicity

Director level and above

American Indian or Alaska Native-icon

American Indian or Alaska Native

Asian-icon

Asian

Black or African American-icon

Black or African American

Hispanic or Latino-icon

Hispanic or Latino

Middle Eastern-icon

Middle Eastern

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander-icon

Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

Other-icon

Other

Two or More Races-icon

Two or More Races

White-icon

White

Recruiting Programs and Initiatives

“We need to build winning teams. Winning teams are diverse teams.”

Scott Tomtania, Head of Recruiting

An important component of our DEI strategy is to grow a diverse talent pool for our opportunities. To do so, we have diversity Recruiting partnership programs with organizations to reach underrepresented groups, including the following and more:

  • Anita Borg for Grace Hopper Celebration

  • AfroTech

  • Pathway Oz: HBCU Smart Cities Challenge


We also support returnships through our partnerships to provide opportunities to mothers or people who have taken a career break to care for a loved one. Our partnerships include the following organizations:

  • Mums@work

  • Path Forward

In order to recruit employees of a broad variety of backgrounds, we must encourage inclusive recruiting practices. Cloudflare’s Recruiting team works closely with hiring managers to make job descriptions clear, detailed, welcoming, and inclusive. Hiring Managers also ensure that all candidates have the same experience and sets of questions asked/focus areas covered in their interviews so the process is fair and equitable for all.

To make sure candidates meet with a diverse group of employees, we always use interview panels within our hiring process. We recently developed an interview that focuses on the Cloudflare Capabilities, which pairs the candidate with a member from another team within Cloudflare and adds an even greater diverse perspective when it comes to hiring decisions.

Recruiting Education

Our interviewer training program provides a solid foundation in understanding the various topics which can impact inclusive hiring. This program is required for all new employees and will set them up for success when they begin interviewing for Cloudflare in the future.

We also have a robust training and coaching program for hiring managers that ensures they understand the full scope of our hiring process and what they can do to champion diversity and facilitate an inclusive hiring process.

Equity at Cloudflare

Diversity and Inclusion - Equity Image

Our success also relies on a fair and equitable workplace.

Working towards reducing and ultimately eliminating the gender pay gap is just a part of this mission to which we are committed. We also undertake pay parity analyses based on career level and job profile as part of our various bi-annual salary reviews and correct any identified inequities.

We are aware that there is still work to be done to eliminate any pay gaps at Cloudflare, as well as across the technology industry. We are committed to improving the situation, and place the utmost importance upon equality for women, and all under-represented groups, in terms of like-for-like pay, promotion and career development.

Diversity and Inclusion - Equity Image

To further demonstrate our commitment and hold ourselves accountable for making Cloudflare more equitable, we have signed multiple diversity charters, which focus on employee equity.

EU Charter: The declaration focuses on creating concrete steps to help shape an inclusive culture, which specifically targets gender equality. We have committed to implementing and promoting five specific actions to achieve equality of opportunities for women at Cloudflare and in the digital sector at large:

  • Instil an inclusive, open, female-friendly company culture

  • Recruit and invest in diversity

  • Give women in tech their voice and visibility

  • Create the leaders of the future

  • Become an advocate for change

UK Tech Talent Charter: The charter is designed to increase diversity within the UK tech industry, with the aim of achieving equal opportunity and representation for all employees. By signing this charter, we work alongside other companies towards a collective goal and commit to improving diversity within our sector through collaboration, knowledge sharing and contributing employment diversity data.

Germany Diversity Charter: We are now signatories of the Germany Diversity charter, and by doing so we have committed to building an inclusive culture for all - irrespective of age, ethnic background and nationality, gender and gender identity, physical and mental abilities, religion and worldview, sexual orientation and social background.

Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index

Equality index Illustration

We believe that all employees deserve the opportunity to live authentically and thrive at work. We are proud to be one of Human Rights Campaign’s Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality!

Equality index Illustration

Inclusion at Cloudflare

Diversity and Inclusion - Inclusion Image

Without inclusive teams and a collaborative culture, the positive impacts of diversity will not be attained. We have fostered an inclusive culture through the development of employee-led communities, inclusion educational offerings, incorporating behaviors into performance and the review of our processes and policies for fairness and inclusion.

Diversity and Inclusion - Inclusion Image

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)

Our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are employee-led and company-supported groups of team members from underrepresented and/or marginalized identities or backgrounds, who join together in the workplace based on shared characteristics, life experiences, or initiatives. ERGs are generally based on creating a community of support and belonging; enhancing career development of their members; focusing on key Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives; and contributing to the development of a more inclusive culture at Cloudflare.

Afroflare

Afroflare is committed to helping build a better global Afro-community at Cloudflare and beyond.

Asianflare

Asianflare celebrates diverse global Asian heritage and provides resources and programming aimed at spreading awareness of Asian cultures both within and beyond our Cloudflare community.

Cloudflarents

Cloudflarents provides a community and resources for parents and families, and welcomes those who are non-parents, interested in becoming a parent, or are family-oriented.

Desiflare

Desiflare fosters networking and builds a sense of community among Cloudflare employees using the rich South Asian culture as a platform to bring people together.

Flarability

Flarability provides a space for discussing disability and accessibility at Cloudflare. We are a collaborative and diverse community of individuals partnering to innovate and advocate for equity and inclusivity within the workplace.

Greencloud

Greencloud is a sustainability-focused working group made up of Cloudflare employees who are passionate about the environment. Our mission is to help Cloudflare directly contribute to addressing the climate crisis and creating a more sustainable future.

Judeoflare

Judeoflare provides a safe space for Cloudflare’s Jewish community and their allies. Judeoflare aims to teach about the Jewish traditions, and also to teach about Antisemitism and the Holocaust.

Latinflare

Latinflare helps create a more diverse workplace, create a sense of community and belonging for Latinx employees, and connect with the communities where we work.

Mindflare

Mindflare provides the Cloudflare community resources around mental health, as well as increase awareness and de-stigmatize mental health more broadly throughout our communities.

Nativeflare

Nativeflare celebrates, educates and illuminates current and contemporary issues in Indian Country, while also celebrating Natives in the tech world, who are severely underrepresented.

Persianflare

Persianflare diligently strives to nurture a community for all Persians and allies; where we perpetuate freedom of speech, proudly celebrate the rich Persian heritage, appending growth and the Persian convention.

Proudflare

Proudflare finds ways to support and provide resources for the LGBTQIA+ community and make sure that the Cloudflare community is a welcoming, inclusive place for all.

Soberflare

Soberflare provides education, resources and a safe, supportive space for for people who live a sober lifestyle.

Turkflare

Turkflare is dedicated to celebrating and preserving the cultural traditions, language and heritage of Turkish and Turkic people. We believe in the power of connection and community, and strive to create a welcoming and supportive environment for all.

Vetflare

Vetflare promotes our proud community of veterans who support and encourage each other through shared experiences, veteran recruitment, career development, professional growth and retention.

Womenflare

Womenflare cultivates an inclusive, inspiring, and safe environment that supports, elevates, and ensures equal opportunities for success to all who identify as women at Cloudflare. All gender identities are welcome.

Inclusion Education

To help build a more inclusive culture, we offer several educational programs to our employees:

How We Work Together Training Workshops

These workshops build an awareness of the types of behavior and language which can be harmful to inclusivity at Cloudflare, and teach simple, everyday ways to support people who are targets of systemic oppression. Using the Cloudflare Capabilities as a framework, our goal is to share strategies on how to act as allies, combat unconscious bias and create a long-lasting, inclusive culture at Cloudflare.

Manager Diversity & Inclusion Goal-Setting

Our managers are positioned to make an impact, and we’re counting on them to help make our teams and Cloudflare more inclusive and diverse. To support them in this endeavor, we offer workshops to guide them through setting and achieving diversity and inclusion goals for their teams.

tEQuitable Ombuds platform

tEQuitable is a confidential, 3rd party platform that help companies create safe, inclusive and equitable workplaces. They provide an independent sounding board where employees can confidentially raise a concern, access a just-in-time learning platform, and get advice from professional Ombuds. tEQuitable also help companies identify systemic workplace issues and provides them with actionable recommendations for how to improve their workplace culture.

Learn more about our team and our open positions at Cloudflare.