Some Corporations Are Now Saying 'Black Lives Matter,' But Are They Changing Who They Hire And Promote?
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Corporate America has responded to the protests with statements saying "Black Lives Matter."
But at some organizations, black employees say that's not actually the case.
CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas explains why it's no longer business as usual.
Corporate apologies and high-profile resignations have come as black employees sounded the alarm about racism and a toxic culture in various organizations.
This after the same companies took to social media to declare "Black Lives Matter" and pledged millions to social justice organizations.
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"Where is the pledge for that money to go back to our company to find the resources you claim you don't have to hire people of color, to promote people of color, to make sure people of color are in leadership?" said Lauren Wesley Wilson.
Wesley Wilson is the founder and CEO of ColorComm Media Group, which was first started as a network to provide a pipeline to the C-suite for people of color in communications.
"Will you be able to move up if the examples aren't there? Is your company investing in you to be able to grow by providing a community and space for inclusion?" she said.
For black employees, they first have to overcome barriers to get hired, and then statistics show there's a slim chance of them moving up the corporate ladder, Cline-Thomas reported. Just over three percent hold senior leadership positions in large companies, according to the Center for Talent Innovation.
"There are more people like me out there. There so many of them out there. So it's to create opportunity for people who are frankly more talented than I am, in so many ways, to rise up," said Jide Zeitlin.
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In September, Zeitlin became the CEO of Tapestry, that owns fashion brands Stuart Weitzman, Kate Spade and Coach. He's one of only four black CEOs of a Fortune 500 company, and he sees himself in the young black men protesting.
In a memo to employees about the uprising, he said "this is personal.'
"We're having a lot of intense, at times uncomfortable, conversations about what are we doing, how do we stand as a corporation," Zeitlin said.
Tapestry, like many companies, is looking at pay equity and setting benchmarks to have more representation in leadership.
"If you don't have an inclusive, open culture, you can become more diverse by statistics. But you're not going to be able to motivate, keep, attract more people on a consistent basis," Zeitlin said.
Wesley Wilson says now her phone is ringing off the hook as Fortune 500 companies seek diversity training.
"What is step one, what should they be doing right now? Step one is to do an assessment of your company. Look Inward," she said.
Corporate diversity is not just about good will. It spurs innovations and improves the bottom line for businesses.
We checked with our parent company ViacomCBS to see what they are doing about this issue. They issued this statement:
We're committed to building a workplace of inclusion – one that reflects, celebrates and elevates the diversity of our audiences and communities. This commitment extends to our brands and content, which together share a rich history of confronting bias and stigma and is reflected in the initiatives we support to develop diverse talent in front and behind the camera.
Our efforts to amplify the voices of Black communities, condemn systemic racism, and honor George Floyd and other victims of racial injustice are only a handful of the actions we're taking to stand up for what's right. We're committed to strengthening our support of organizations that work tirelessly to ensure equality and justice, and to continue using the power of our platforms for action. Over the past two years, we have given over $12 million to organizations that support and impact communities of color and committed an additional $5 million to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Equal Justice Initiative, Amnesty International, National Bail Out, The Bail Project, Community Coalition and others.
We also believe what gets measured gets done, so we're working to accelerate and expand on our efforts to be transparent about the diversity of our workforce, with specific goals on how we will quantify and hold ourselves accountable for progress. Through our Global Inclusion Advisory Council , we currently meet across all of our networks and divisions to review our D&I workforce metrics as well as our creative pipeline for in-front-of and behind the camera roles. We are also continuing to provide dashboards to senior leaders with overview of new hires, promotions and terminations through the lens of gender and ethnicity, which are reviewed every quarter. In addition, we will be updating our diversity and inclusion metrics publicly in the coming months. Our Global Inclusion Week, which includes interactive, immersive and informative sessions, will also return in September to advance important discussions on bias and actions we can all take. This is part of a sustained, ongoing commitment from our company in fighting for social justice and creating a more equitable world.
