THE COMMITMENTS
All signatories to this campaign have committed to the following actions on Black inclusion within their organisations as a baseline, and to report on progress in an annual report.
Diversifying the face of our organisation:
Specifically setting targets on Black talent within candidate slates and holding recruiters accountable for presenting diverse shortlists. While we stress Black talent in this campaign to ensure a specific understanding of the experiences of Black employees, the benefits of many of the actions will have ripple effects for ethnic minority and diverse talent.
Measuring:
Investigating the specific challenges and barriers faced by Black talent in our organisations. Implementing processes to track ethnicity data, conducting focus groups or listening sessions will help to measure Black representation across all levels of the business and aid in determining the demographics of your organisations in relation to ethnicity and Black inclusion.
Starting the conversation:
In order to start solving this problem within organisations, we need to admit that there is a problem. Senior leaders and middle managers need to be bold when speaking about issues of systemic racism and part of this is admitting that historically not enough has been done to look into Black inclusion and the experiences of Black people in the workplace. Creating safe spaces for these conversations to take place is vital.
Elevating Black voices:
While the burden to educate should never lie with the Black community, it is vital that this conversation isn’t dominated by, largely-white, senior leadership teams. Ensure that Black voices within organisations have their voices amplified through internal and external channels to speak openly about their experiences, if they are open to sharing them. This can be a powerful way of raising empathy and proximity of the issue for non-Black employees and ensure everyone feels a part of any and all organisational initiatives.
Committing to specific actions:
We’ve all posted to our corporate Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts but it’s time to channel those words into action. There will be common themes in issues and responses between organisations, and we’ve outlined some recommendations for these in this campaign, but every organisation still needs to define their own aims, create tangible pathways and solutions to address challenges specific to them.
