2022 marks the fourth year of Ethos as a company. To celebrate how much the team has grown since its beginning, we’ve been spotlighting all of the talented and hardworking individuals who make up our team! Through Our Ethos, you will discover what each team member enjoys most about working here and what their personal ethos is.
This week’s highlight is our Consulting Associate, Taryn Mortimer!
As a consulting associate, I facilitate a variety of client projects designed to improve the work experiences for under-served and under-represented people in organizations. I build trusting relationships with clients, conduct research to identify existing strengths and opportunities to improve DEIB, and collaborate with the Ethos team to deliver custom solutions that support recruitment, retention, promotion, and protection.
My road to Ethos has included stops in front-line customer service work, human resources, nonprofit workforce development, research, and a trip back to college as an adult. I have also experienced invisible disability and, at times, chronic illness in the workplace. In the constellation of these experiences, I developed a keen interest in people’s experiences at work, the way people relate to their jobs and work environments, and the ripple effects those work experiences have on our health, lives, relationships, and communities. This role at Ethos allows me to engage with interesting problems and create solutions in alignment with DEIB best practices.
I love that my curiosity is encouraged and my learning orientation is an asset at Ethos. Knowledge-sharing is at the heart of my role — I need to transmit information via research interviews or presentations with clients, analyze and validate data with research partners, and co-create deliverables with my colleagues. I love approaching workplace and relational problems as research questions, and I get a lot of professional fulfillment when I share knowledge or collaborate on learning in pursuit of a common goal with others. Something that immediately attracted me to Ethos was its value #AlwaysLearn because I also highly value learning, education, and intellectual diversity. The Ethos team intentionally practices #AlwaysLearn in our daily work, and I have found that my curiosity is welcomed and celebrated here.
I really enjoy working on equitable leveling projects, where we help clients build philosophy and practices that support equitable compensation and career growth among staff. I find these projects intellectually compelling because I enjoy the puzzle of translating an organization’s vision, values, and culture into the shared tools and language an organization uses to discuss career growth opportunities and advancement. Additionally, by building equitable leveling tools which aim to minimize bias and make compensation and performance expectations more transparent, our client partners make a material difference in closing opportunity and wage gaps for employees who are at greater risk of marginalization in performance evaluation and compensation. It is a creative and professional privilege to help clients build equitable leveling processes.
Diversity is the variation of people and their social identities in a group. Equity refers to the degree to which everyone gets their needs met and has the resources they need to succeed. Inclusion is what happens when all individuals feel welcomed and seen for their unique identities. Belonging comes from feeling trusted, empowered, and secure within the group.
To me, ethos is the moral framework that guides beliefs and behaviors, informing the character of a person or group of people. When a group, like an organization, shares common goals and values, the policies and practices become evidence of its shared ethos. Organizational culture, policies, reward and penalty practices, etc. — these all influence ethos. I believe we can and should intentionally co-create our organizational ethos, where people who are impacted by the policies and culture get a say in how these are shaped.
My personal ethos compels me to do good, caring work in the service of others and my community. I bring this ethos to my relationships, my career and professional interests, and my personal community involvement. I believe a resilient and equitable future needs to be one in which all people can thrive, and I try to build this future in my own spheres of influence.
