ERGs encourages you to come as you are: Meet the Accessibles

Our employee resource groups, or as we like to call them, Elastician resource groups, have been an informal part of Elastic’s culture since 2016. While each group started as a Slack channel for any Elastician to join, we formally recognized these groups in 2021.

That allowed us to ensure that the members would have structure, budget, and ultimately, a voice based on any dimension of diversity, allyship, and advocacy. This formalization was an important step in our global diversity, equity, and inclusion journey.

Each ERGs is aligned to a shared identity, interest, affinity, or allyship. We want to create a community of people with something in common and to encourage sharing, learning, and networking among members. While each group has their own goals and vision, they are all working towards building a sense of community and belonging.

Our Core ERGs:

Currently, we have seven formal ERGs: The Accessibles, Blasticians, ElastAsians, Elasticians Unidos, Rainbow Stack, Mil-asticians, and Women of Elastic. We spotlight each of them as culture or commemorative events and holidays occur. 

Who Are The Accessibles?

The Accessibles work to raise awareness and create community at Elastic for those that are differently abled. 

Claire Burn, Senior Data Engineer, is one of the group’s new leaders. She wanted to bring awareness to the whole workplace experience for those who have visible and invisible disabilities. Craig Abbott, Design Manager, is Claire’s leadership counterpart. He’s worked in accessibility and as someone who is neurodivergent, he cares about the cause. 

They are both working to raise awareness for accessibility. “We want to make accessibility something integral to the engineering process, rather than an afterthought,” Claire says.

“By raising awareness, we can inspire people to make changes and get people motivated,” Craig says. 

The ERG is for all Elasticians who feel like they have an interest in accessibility or who accessibility can apply to. We want to build a sense of community with those who are neurodivergent and those with physical and non-visible disabilities, Craig and Claire agree.

And no specific experience working in accessibility or having any type of disability is required. Craig no longer works in accessibility day-to-day but has a personal interest in it.

“I have a real drive to get people to understand the impact [of accessibility] and get people to see the impact of not doing the accessibility work,” he says.

For Claire, her interest in accessibility lies in ensuring that the thing meant for everyone can be used by everyone. 

“Accessibility is about democratizing tech,” she says. “The World Wide Web was meant to connect everyone around the world. Why should someone be left behind?”

Claire also says that putting accessibility at the forefront allows Elastic to attract and retain top talent. “The brightest and best tech talent will also necessarily be diverse and may not fit the persona of ‘the majority’. We need to make sure we're welcoming everyone equitably.”

Craig agrees, saying all Elasticians need to feel included and we need to make sure we support our own. 

To continue to build the community and increase visibility on the issue of accessibility, the group is working to increase engagement by holding events throughout the year, including seminars on the technical side of accessibility, mental health awareness talks, and social activities like workshops and happy hours. 

They are celebrating Elastic’s Accessibility Awareness Month in August with many events, including: a talk by award-winning accessibility keynote speaker Sharon Steed on “Driving Inclusion With Empathy”, a talk from Shaun Connor who has worked in accessibility in both public and private sectors in Monzo Bank and UK Government, a panel discussion on “Accessible Workplaces: The Journey Towards A More Inclusive Work Day”, a mental health awareness workshop, a talk from Molly Watt of the Molly Watt Trust, which raises awareness of Usher Syndrome, a talk on “Accessibility For Designers” by Craig himself, and a Desk Exercise class.

The group also holds regular meetings that anyone can join. It’s open to all regions, and is a  non-judgemental place. 

Now, as they work to build a safe space, they hope to see the community grow and the issue of accessibility to become a bigger part of the conversation. 

As YOU are starts here. Join the Elastic team.

This blog was originally published on 8/01/2023.