Facing Race and Racism During a Global Pandemic
ICELEBRATED TURNING IN MY MANUSCRIPT to the publisher before my due date. Whoo-hoo! But let’s be honest – we were in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and I had nowhere to go and nothing to do but be at home and finish the book.
I shared with you in past chapters how companies and leadership handled the beginning of the pandemic. But I felt that I needed to do a quick update to share what’s happened almost two months into being told to work from home.
Businesses had to close unless they were classified as essential. Many offices needed to furlough employees, and the lucky ones that didn’t have to let employees go had their employees work from home, or they received PPE/PPP loans to help them bring employees back to work. But for how long? That was the question on employees’ minds.
This is where things became shaky. Employees who were never considered essential became essential, and all of a sudden they were expected to show up or they would lose their jobs. They were now putting themselves as well as their families in jeopardy of falling ill or worse. Most were left with no option but to show up and suck it up.
Leadership, as we’ve talked about earlier, didn’t always do the best job of communicating. Granted, how long the pandemic would last was anyone’s guess, and the scramble to work from home, and figuring out how you would work from home when the entire family was at home, was a challenge at the beginning and has stayed a challenge.
An additional challenge arose when many leaders didn’t uphold their company culture and code-of-conduct rules. Leaders told women to wear make-up for video calls, yet men showed up with their hair uncombed, in pajama tops, no bottoms…. I agree that you should look presentable on video, but telling women to put on makeup, and having a different standard for men, is unacceptable.
Black employees and employees of color felt left out of many meetings, meetings they would have been part of in the office, because they weren’t invited by their colleagues. They were told that they’d be updated and were given orders to go do the work. They were left out of decision-making.
There were employees who felt that they weren’t being protected from racist, biased, xenophobic, homophobic, and offensive language used not only by other employees but also by leadership on virtual calls and in emails. Where were leadership, HR, and Diversity and Inclusion leaders? They were cutting budgets and dismantling their Diversity and Inclusion departments. I’ll come back to that in a moment.
While the world was upside down some companies thought that it was a great idea to do mass firing via video. No advance calls, no emails, no follow up. Employees received invitations to join email meetings, only to be told that they were being let go. Leadership forgot that people share when things are good, but they record and share when things are bad.
Who thought that firing everyone online was a great idea? And where was the rest of the leadership team? If you were part of the leadership who couldn’t be bothered to call your employees individually to let them go, in the midst of a pandemic, then you’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.
Leadership is more than a title. Office politics be damned. Stand Up!
Let’s circle back to the cutting of budgets. In the past the marketing and public relations budgets were usually the first to be cut. This time around, many Diversity and Inclusion departments were reassigned or dismantled. I pointed out to one CEO that she needed to make an effort to diversify her company, and someone needed to make sure that effort happened. Who would be responsible? Blank stare and silence.
No one wanted to make a commitment to examine their Diversity and Inclusion efforts and no one was willing to adjust them. This is not the time to dismantle D&I departments, this is not the time to rename them “Belonging” departments. We were all together in the pandemic, but we were not equal in the pandemic – blacks and people of color were affected very differently from whites in the numbers getting sick and the numbers dying.
Because so many employees felt that their concerns about working from home, health issues, along with Diversity and Inclusion issues were not being heard, I started a webinar that’s held on Wednesday evenings. I thought I would do a three-part series, but it’s turned into a weekly series and podcast called Visibility Ultd., with a global audience. I’ve heard from everyone under the Diversity and Inclusion umbrella and those looking for new solutions to old problems – gender, race, LGBTQ+, and those with disabilities seen and unseen.
Employees want to be heard, they want to feel like they’re adding value to their company and that the company is adding value to their lives outside of a paycheck (social responsibility). Those with disabilities want to know what excuse they’ll be given for not getting hired now, since clearly many people can work from home.
Racism in America and at Work
I accepted several online (unpaid) speaking engagements during the pandemic to make sure that Diversity and Inclusion stay top of mind. The world takes one more turn and lands on racism. We watched a black man get shot and killed while jogging (Ahmaud Arbery), a black women get shot and killed in her home while sleeping (Breonna Taylor), and the murder of George Floyd – one more black man saying “I can’t breathe.” We’re only allowed thirty hashtags on Instagram, not enough for all the black people who have been killed at the hands of white America for doing everyday tasks.
Watching George Floyd being murdered on TV blew the lid off the pot of racism in America. Nothing that black America didn’t already know. My phone and email exploded – what do we do, we need a statement, who do we give money to?
I’m a black women who’s never felt the need to say, “I’m a black woman.” Now I’m online with companies that have ten to thousands of employees, and I have to say, “I’m a black woman and here’s why you need to say that Black Lives Matter.” This is not the moment to refer to people of color.
Saying people of color is a way for white people to feel comfortable. We are black and brown and many other shades, but the conversation at this moment is about Black Lives Matter. It’s not that other lives don’t matter, but at this moment we need to speak about Black Lives Matter. No buts, no maybes, no All Lives Matter, no “I don’t see color.” No. We need you to just listen about Black Lives Matter and why they matter and why it matters to your company.
I’ve been told that the Black Lives Matter organization has said some negative things. My black life has nothing to do with an organization. If you can only see an organization, that’s part of the problem.
The companies I’ve worked with said they needed help. They didn’t want to misstep and they didn’t want to be silent. They knew they had not honestly thought about black lives and how their employees must be feeling. These companies were honest in saying that they didn’t want to jump into a conversation they weren’t part of to begin with. So, we crafted a statement that stayed true to brand and recognized their shortcomings, and had them commit to sustainable, accountable action, not just promises.
I was also hired to conduct a town hall meeting. I respected the CEOs I’ve worked with for being aware that they weren’t the best choice to speak to staff when the discussion needed to be about race. Each CEO spoke briefly, then turned the meeting over to me to explain and discuss bias, race, racism, and racists, and why the conversation is needed, not just for a day but moving forward, continuing the conversation and reviewing all the touch points within the company.
In addition to the staff members who worked with me on the statement, I had access to sales teams, marketing, and leadership. The CEO said, let’s do this right.
A week before, these departments weren’t important, and now I had the opportunity to say, “I will be holding you accountable for the commitments you’re making. Black people will hold you accountable. The world will hold you accountable. Each of you in the company will need to hold the others accountable. And while you’re holding yourself accountable you need to take care of your black employees. They’re not OK, and they haven’t been OK for some time. We’ve watched a man be killed and then we’ve watched the world finally say it’s wrong. We’ve been saying that there’s an injustice, there’s a price to pay for being black in America, for being black at work, for being black walking down the street, and for being black at home. We’re judged on who we are by the color of our skin, not by our talents. We are a checked box for some and a prop for others.”
I don’t condone the looting of stores. Some of you who are reading this book may have lost stores and product. I don’t agree with tearing things apart. But if the silent protests of the past and present haven’t worked, why has the rioting finally made people see that Black Lives Matter? What is it that makes you act when other people don’t act?
Take the time to go back to Chapter 1, “What’s In Your Bag?”
I look forward to the changes that I see taking place, but the changes can’t be in the heat of the moment. This isn’t the time for knee-jerk reactions, it’s not the time to put out statements, add black boxes, or act like you understand Juneteenth. This is the time to do a full review of your company, from the photos on your website to your diversity statement. The mailroom, the boardroom, and every suite and non-suite in between need to be reviewed.
I’m hopeful when I see companies take a stand when one of their employees makes racist remarks, or uses the race card to call the police, or goes off on a black person for no valid reason. Now people pay the price of losing their jobs if what they’ve done is caught on tape.
I’ve been asked if I think that companies are scared of bad publicity. Of course they are. No company wants to be dragged through the press for race issues. In the climate we’re in, and I hope we stay in, we can honestly look at each situation and hold the company and its employees accountable for their actions.
Between the pandemic and the heightened spotlight on race, racism, and Diversity and Inclusion, this is the time to update your handbooks. This is not the time to dismantle your Diversity and Inclusion department, regardless of where your company is located.
The conversation on race isn’t the same as the conversation on Diversity and Inclusion. You don’t create a department for black people, you create a Diversity and Inclusion department to assure that people of any race or gender, people with disabilities, or members of the LGBTQ+ community, have the same opportunities within the company as those who are not under the D&I umbrella. You cannot create a Diversity and Inclusion department June 14, 2020, without having a conversation on race. Bias can be part of the conversation, but an honest, open conversation on race is needed. More than one conversation is needed, and training is needed. If we could have “fixed” the race issue in a one-hour webinar, don’t you think we would have done so by now?
The only time outside of a national holiday when all fifty states have accomplished anything together is when people vote! Peaceful protests took place in all fifty states and all over the world. Let’s turn our protests into action by voting.
You as a leader, as a company owner, regardless of your company’s size, must look within to see how you can improve inclusion within your company. Don’t call it belonging – belonging and inclusion are two different words. For clarity: You belong to a group. Inclusion is having the feeling that you’re valued within the group.
Once you’ve looked within you can begin to build strong, sustainable outreach to the black communities and other communities that you haven’t been authentically speaking to. This outreach will be bigger than events and advertising; it will be a commitment to diversity for your leadership, your C-suites, your directors, your board, and your entire company.
Nothing About Us Without Us!
Let’s Make Change Together
If you would like to view my webinars check them out on YouTube:
The Cavu Group: bit.ly/Leslie-Short-Webinars or via podcast on all major listening options:
Visibility Ultd.: anchor.fm/leslie-short
I hope I’m opening a door to real conversation about race and bias in the workplace. The conversations must continue, whether online or when we return to the “new” office. Company culture and race will need to be discussed. I also hope that by the time this book comes out my prediction that companies will bring in mental health counselors, grief counselors, and Diversity and Inclusion speakers and trainers, who can speak from experience as well as knowledge, will have come true.
For now, we work from home. Working from home or online doesn’t alter the fact that change is happening now, from the streets to the boardroom. The race conversation is not going away, so prepare for it. And don’t prepare for it by asking your black employees to explain it you – it’s not their responsibility. Hire the experts and do your research. Don’t try to be the savior – be part of the solution. Use your privilege of position to encourage the changes. Remember that it’s not about you, it’s about turning They & Them into We & Us.
Be the Ripple in the Pond of Change: Reread Chapter 11.