Our Equity Policy and Practices

Equal Opportunity Policy:  

We abide by our equal opportunity policy which is as follows: The Athena Group, LLC is an equal opportunity organization. The Athena Group does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information or characteristics, protected veteran status, or other protected classifications in accordance with federal law.

Recruiting and Hiring Policy:  

Athena’s commitment to creating, fostering, and maintaining an inclusive workplace that is free from discrimination and bias, starts with our recruitment and selection processes.  

It starts with recognizing that the collective sum of the individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, inventiveness, innovation, self-expression, unique capabilities, and talent that our consultants invest in their work, represents a significant part of not only our culture, but our reputation and company achievements as well.   

To that end, we embrace and encourage our consultant’s differences in age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that make our consultants unique.  

We will ensure that our recruitment and hiring practices are built and conducted on the premise of equity by:  

• Casting a wide net to notify and attract a diverse candidate pool to our employment opportunities.  
• Our screening processes are done fairly and focused solely on each candidate’s qualifications.  
• Candidates will be presented blindly to hiring roles to avoid conscious or unconscious bias. 
• Job offers and salary will be equitable across all staff in similar roles.  

Following these practices will ensure The Athena Group is a place where each person’s unique talents, gifts, and who they are as an individual, is valued and fully integrated into our culture.    

Firm Equity Goals:

The Athena Group has two multi-year goals that relate to equitable opportunities with a priority focus on race:

1. Align internal and external equity practices:  Athena provides robust diversity, equity and inclusion training, coaching and strategic planning services to our clients.  We are actively making sure that equity is integrated into all of our services and products and not just a separate offering.  In addition, our Equity Integrator role (multi-filled with 4 partners) develop and implement annual strategies that hold us accountable as an organization that we are “walking our talk.”
2. Improve internal equity and diversity practices:  Athena continues to increase the diversity of our partnership and network;  establish anti-racist expectations and norms for all who work with Athena – partners and our extended network of subcontractors. We are currently drafting and socializing our Harm Repair/Accountability Practice and Procedures. 

Diversity and Inclusion on Projects:

The Athena Group is a certified woman-owned, small business, and as such, we believe in working with diverse firms and supporting other women and minority owned small businesses. We look for exemplary and relevant talent for the project, whether among our partners or our extended network. Our entire business model is based upon working with diverse teams, whether they are a partner, subcontractor or business associate. It is typical for Athena projects to have 100 percent of our team composed of woman owned, minority-owned, or small businesses.

Moreover, the way we integrate principles of diversity, inclusion, accessibility, equity and justice is what makes us special, knowing that maintaining healthy, diverse teams is about much more than bringing people with different backgrounds and identities together on a team.

Our Approach to Equity Work

Addressing systemic inequity is a big task and is often framed as a fight and struggle. We choose to frame this work as a partnership and a promise instead. The history of the people at the center of equity initiatives does not start with oppression and exclusion. We step into this space with optimism for healing and excitement for the future which is a nuanced factor for successful equity initiatives.  

We believe that embodying anti-racist and equity values is a constant internal practice that leads to social action. We understand that collectively and individually we are on a lifelong journey of learning and unlearning. We understand the relationship between racism, white supremacy, colonialism, and other forms of oppression and marginalization, and we work to highlight those interdependencies for ourselves and others.