5 reasons #BLM will change the workplace forever this time.

Let's be frank, the workplace has sadly never been a meritocracy. Racial bias (conscious or otherwise) has always played a role in all aspects of the employment system, from hiring to performance reviews to promotions. Even if we don't think we are acting with bias, it is human nature to gravitate towards those that we find easy common ground with or who look and think like us; those who make us feel comfortable or remind us of ourselves. When there is a majority of one type of person doing the recruiting, interviewing and promoting, they will naturally or intentionally perpetuate the status quo. To act otherwise requires both conscious unlearning of behaviour and a more accountable process.

Companies have for the most part been slowly, grudgingly accepting this, due mainly to increased calls for transparency around representation and some very public PR disasters. Many have taken steps to try to visibly acknowledge and combat discrimination, from hiring DEI managers to delivering unconscious bias training.

Unfortunately these measures have had only incremental impact over the years. The technology industry in particular has been making loud noises for some time now about D&I but has made woefully little progress. Why not? According to Candice Morgan, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Partner at Google Ventures, "the data says that “no matter how many bells and whistles you put into place, there is no substitute for an unequivocal commitment from the top. Whoever is around that table needs to have a diversity lens when any business issue is being talked about.”(1)*

"The conversation is not new, but context is a powerful catalyst and 'unprecedented times' have already shaken our foundations."

The challenge remains that if efforts to alter the status quo are driven without a real commitment from leadership and a willingness to engage in uncomfortable truths, then change will be slow and real progress elusive. This hard reality has been acknowledged in some quarters but still there has been a humming sub-narrative urging patience, that change takes time, that diversity and inclusion is something we're working on with the best of intentions.

Until a few weeks ago, for the majority, this was deeply imperfect but broadly tolerated.

In the weeks since the death of George Floyd, something huge and fundamental has shifted and suddenly all previous efforts feel inconsequential at best, complicit at worst. Leadership teams everywhere have been struggling to respond and keep pace with the questions and challenges being levelled at them by their customers, partners and most significantly, their own people. The conversation is not new, but context is a powerful catalyst and 'unprecedented times' have already shaken our foundations. This is a watershed moment, both for the workplace and the world.

So what's different this time?

I believe there are 5 key factors that have come together to create a watershed moment for racial equality in our history and specifically, as it is my focus, workplaces around the world. In my view these factors combine to create a point of no return for companies to tackle the inequalities in their talent structure and systems. So what are these factors and why do they indicate progress is inevitable?

Let's start with the context. Arguably we would not be having this discussion in the same way were it not for Amy Cooper, the white woman who called the police on birdwatcher Christian Cooper (no relation) and told them an African American man was threatening her life, after he asked her to leash her dog. Without that video of Amy we might have loudly lamented the brutal killings of George Floyd or Armaud Arbery and then moved on.

"Something huge and fundamental has shifted and suddenly all previous efforts feel inconsequential at best, complicit at worst."

The casual weaponising of the police displayed by Amy Cooper forced many to see the deaths of these men, and black women like Breonna Taylor, through a new lens - one of their own potential guilt and complicity. Amy forced us to confront the idea of white privilege more viscerally than ever before. Furthermore, the subsequent firing of Amy Cooper from her high ranking finance role by her employer, Franklin Templeton, added a new lens, one of employer accountability and the uncomfortable idea that 'Amys' are probably sitting next to us in workplaces all over the world.

The resulting impact of this juxtaposition of privilege and injustice, is that the conversation has moved on, to a point where just sympathy and support is not enough. The term 'anti-racist' has become a leading message and it has become apparent in a way that never truly landed before, that without true allyship from those with privilege, the situation will not change.

That leads to the second element that is creating this watershed moment. The focus on Allyship is broadening the narrative from 'black people's struggle' to 'everyone's problem' and with majority consensus comes more impetus to engage from those in power. According to the New York Times, in the US, public support for the Black Lives Matter movement has increased almost as much in the last 2 weeks as it has in the last 2 years. (2)* This creates a powerful momentum for change. As the Economist put it this week, "just six years before George Floyd was born, interracial marriage was still illegal in 16 American states. Today about 90% of Americans support it. When enough citizens march against an injustice, they can prevail."(3)* This shift towards majority support is also playing out in the micro-societies of the workplace which has propelled the issue to the forefront of debates at company 'townhalls' everywhere.

"The focus on Allyship is broadening the narrative from 'black people's struggle' to 'everyone's problem' and with majority consensus comes more impetus to engage from those in power."

The third factor is technology. Social media has of course played a huge role in driving public support for the BLM movement and this is reflected in the modern dynamic of our socially-connected workplaces as well. Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and Employee Social Networks (ESNs) enable talent to easily connect with each other on issues they care about and galvanise collective support across silos to drive change more effectively within their organisations. The core talentbase for many companies is now largely Millennial who, studies from the likes of Edelman to Deloitte agree, want their employers to focus on purpose over profit and reflect their own values.

One such case in point has been the turnaround in discussions at Adidas HQ after 'hundreds of minority staffers had agreed among themselves to a sit-out, in which they would all turn on their “out of office” emails until they had received the details of a go-forward strategy on tackling racial discrimination from management"(5)*. The result of this and other employee-led protests over the disconnect between the company's external support of the BLM movement and the situation within the organisation, have resulted in Adidas making very public and tangible pledges of action, including a commitment that 30% of all open internal and external positions will be filled with black and Latinx talent. They are by no means the only company navigating this disparity and feeling intense pressure from their employees to move swiftly and decisively.

"While Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging as a broad concept was something most leaders could get behind, systemic change and true equity are a harder sell."

The fourth factor that brings us to this watershed moment is the debunking of the myth of the American dream applied to the workplace. We are used to narratives about opportunity within our workplaces - that if we 'network', 'build our personal brand', 'hustle harder' or 'lean in' that we can achieve anything we set our mind to. But this only works if the system is truly fair and this idea is being loudly and tangibly unpicked at the societal level by writers, filmmakers and influencers. If we begin to understand that the system of our society is rigged, then we can see more clearly that the system we work in is rigged too whether intentionally or just because it reflects society's challenges. When we understand that the issue is systemic, the onus falls on the system to change, not the individual as has so long been the focus. As the Economist noted this week, 'business is waking up to the fact that it has a part (in reducing inequality) and not just in America. The place where people mix most is at work. However just four Fortune 500 firms have black CEOs."(3)*

The challenge for employers is that, just as in society, the system as it is currently benefits those who hold power. Therefore to ask them to address the inequity in that system also means asking them to address the fact that they have benefitted from that same system. So while Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging as a broad concept was something most leaders could get behind, systemic change and true equity are a harder sell.

The reality therefore is that to create opportunity for black people at the rate at which change is demanded, power would also need to be relinquished by those who have held it until now. The crux of the challenge is that that potentially means white people in an organisation relinquishing power to create opportunity for their black peers. Alexis Ohanian stepping down from the board of Reddit and requesting a black successor is a high profile case in point which, among other leaders forced to stand aside due to increased scrutiny, have led leaders to consider their position. With the stakes upped in this way, it's suddenly much harder for them not to take notice.

"Covid-19 has furthermore played a key role in highlighting inequality, with black employees more likely to have been disproportionally impacted in terms of health as well as layoffs."

The fifth factor is an unlikely one, Covid-19. One of the unexpected positives that have emerged from the Corona Crisis is that it's shown that workplaces can change the status quo when forced to do so. Long held beliefs that systematic change cannot be made quickly have been refuted as companies have shifted to virtual ways of working and enabled employees to work flexibly from home. This wasn't perfectly executed of course, but necessity expedited change at a pace that would have felt unimaginable to many before the virus. This has opened the door to question what else could be possible and created a desire to move towards evolved workplaces rather than return to the status quo.

The virus has also had the effect of blending the personal and the professional in new ways. Employers have been checking in more on employees wellbeing and are having conversations with their teams on everything from childcare to mental health. The lines have been blurred and employees are having to bring their whole selves to work, whether they want to or not. For employers this has made it harder to ignore the impact of race, gender and family responsibilities on their employees' experience and performance during the crisis.

Covid-19 has furthermore played a key role in highlighting inequality, with black employees more likely to have been disproportionally impacted in terms of health as well as layoffs.*(4) This has further exacerbated the conversation around racial equality in the world and the workplace and the correlations between the two. Employers have therefore been forced to consider the whole person and the unique circumstances of the individual more than ever before as well as the intersectionality of multiple personal and professional factors.

The above five factors are creating a unique moment in time for change to manifest itself. As Daniel Araya wrote in Forbes last week, "together, demographics, technological change, and popular resistance are working to shape a new world order." *(5)

But what could change look like?

I return to the earlier comments from Candice Morgan about change only being possible with meaningful leadership support. No DEI manager can navigate this alone because driving true equity will require the ability to navigate the following areas and this takes brave and visionary leadership:

1) Education - for those in your organisation who do not understand why the system that supports their progress needs to be reimagined.

2) Vulnerability - to tackle topics that you will not have all the answers on and will likely not paint you in the best light.

3) Conviction - to navigate backlash and deal with losing talented people that disagree with the changes you are making.

4) Sacrifice - of potential business opportunities that don't align with your position on racial equality as well as the likely sacrifice of some elements of power that you or your managers hold in order to create opportunity for the marginalised.

5) Vision - To be able to visualise and articulate the end benefits of moving towards a new way of thinking, working and thriving at work and how it will benefit everyone.

That's quite a list and quite a hill to climb. So why would any leader tackle this? Because ultimately they will have to one way or another. Like Adam and Eve, too many of us have eaten from the tree of knowledge, inequality has been laid bare, the system exposed and there's no going back to the illusion of innocence.

Citation sources:

(1)*https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/17/the-future-of-diversity-and-inclusion-in-tech/

(2)*https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/10/upshot/black-lives-matter-attitudes.html

(3)*https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/06/11/the-power-of-protest-and-the-legacy-of-george-floyd

(4)* https://www.npr.org/2020/04/22/840276956/minorities-often-work-these-jobs-they-were-among-first-to-go-in-coronavirus-layo

(5)*https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielaraya/2020/06/09/american-revolution-american-renewal/#707ddb402aff