Celebrating Dr. King by Advancing Frontline Employees of Color

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a Dream. Most of us understand Dr. King’s dream to have been for the end of segregation and the advancement of civil and human rights for people of color.

That was certainly a primary premise of his message, though if you closely examine the words of Dr. King’s most famous speech you’ll find he was advocating for more than civil rights alone.

 “One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity…In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check…that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.”

What Dr. King wanted went beyond civil rights – he wanted economic equality. Today we often shorthand the setting for his “I Have A Dream” speech as the “march on Washington”. The gathering was actually called the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Dr. King believed that all work has dignity, and he spent the last years of his life as a staunch advocate for the working class. He sought to dispel the notion that all people could achieve the mythical “American Dream” simply through hard work and determination – striving to illuminate and eradicate the racial inequity that had been built into the very foundation of the American economic system.

That’s why today as we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. King, it’s fitting that we also mark the release of a new report focused on racial equity for frontline employees.

"Advancing Frontline Employees of Color: Innovating for Competitive Advantage in America's Frontline Workforce"is a resource and call to action for employers to support the advancement of frontline employees of color. The report, produced in partnership by FSG, a mission-driven consulting firm, and PolicyLink, a national research and action institute, was produced through support from Walmart and shows that companies that are successful in advancing racial equity go beyond traditional diversity and inclusion efforts.

The report states these leading companies implement evidence-based practices and policies that fall under three strategic areas:

1. Building internal capacity for an inclusive, understanding and adaptive culture
2. Strengthening management and HR systems, policies and practices
3. Intentionally investing in the development of frontline employees of color

Walmart is among several retail companies featured in the report, and we’ve been intentional in accelerating our enterprise-wide commitment to fostering an inclusive and equitable workplace. Collectively, we are seeing indications that our strategies and initiatives are resulting in positive change as we realized a 5 percent increase in hourly-to-management promotions for people of color from FY18 to FY19 and saw overall hourly representation for people of color in the U.S. increase from 44.42% to 45.16% over the same period.

You can read the full report on the FSG website. I encourage you to spend time with the report and think strategically about how you can implement some of its recommended practices in your area of the business, and then take intentional action to do so.

We all have an opportunity to honor Dr. King’s dream of creating economic equality for all people.