Atomic Object Recognized as Diversity-Focused Company

Grand Rapids, Mich. – This fall, Atomic Object earned Corp! Magazine's Diversity-Focused Company award for its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), both within the company and its communities.

For the last 16 years, Corp! Magazine has hosted the annual Salute to Diversity Awards event to award companies across Michigan that have demonstrated DEI impact. During this year’s celebration at The Henry in Dearborn, MI, Atomic Object was selected as one of just 25 winners across the state, including Meijer and Michigan State University.

Sara Scheffer, Corp! Magazine Chief Operating Officer says Atomic Object’s increase in workforce gender diversity helped the custom software consultancy earn the recognition.

“Growing from having 8 percent of women in your workforce in 2005, to 39 percent women in your workforce in 2023 is amazing,” she said.

Atomic Object has furnished breastfeeding-friendly offices, established a cohort-based professional development program for new Computer Science graduates through which the company brought on more than 20 women and nonbinary developers, implemented a compensation structure that addresses potential gender disparities, and crafted job re-entry plans for those who took time off to raise children—including a "Bring Your Atomic Baby to Work" program.

Atomic Object’s approach to DEI extends beyond gender to embrace a wider scope of diversity. The firm hired the Cultural Intelligence Center to train employees on unconscious bias, cultural values, and cultural intelligence. Atomic also hired Global Bridgebuilders to help create an employee-led Diversity Action Council that implements process-oriented DEI improvements guided by a structured assessment.  

“In working with Global Bridgebuilders, we’ve seen that DEI isn’t just about programming, improving awareness, and recognizing unconscious bias,” said Atomic Object Co-CEO Shawn Crowley. “It’s about weaving business practices and process and communication to support equity and inclusion.”

Atomic’s other Co-CEO, Mike Marsiglia agrees. He says excelling at DEI also makes Atomic Object a richer, more fulfilling workplace for top talent.

“When you have a team of people with diverse backgrounds, lived experiences, outlooks on the world, ways to solve problems,” he said, “it lights up your brain in new and creative ways.”

Crowley says that while he’s grateful for Corp! Magazine’s acknowledgment of Atomic Object’s progress, the company’s work on DEI is never done.

“I see that the work is ever-changing; this isn't a project you do and say that you've succeeded,” he said. “It's work that you always need to be a steward of, and we'll continue to do it.”