One of Firehouse’s most important initiatives over the past six months has been to identify, assess and evolve our culture to become more diverse and inclusive. We recognize that this has been a blind spot not only for the agency, but for our industry as a whole.
In addition to establishing a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee and revamping our hiring and recruiting policies, employee education and empowerment is an important step to creating real, meaningful change. After considerable research, our DE&I Committee felt that the 4A’s Workplace Enlightenment Certification Program was a great place to start.
We began this mandatory, all-agency program in November of 2020 which consisted of four weeks of training sessions plus some follow up homework necessary to complete the course. The course then culminated in an all-agency work session where every employee was encouraged and empowered to identify ways in which the agency could improve. The ideas and opportunities identified in this session have now been incorporated into the Firehouse’s 2021 goals. We’re proud to say that we have just received our official Workplace Enlightenment Certification from the 4A’s and are happy to take this first, of many, steps to being a more diverse, inclusive and infinitely better place to work.
