3 Ways Businesses Can Support The Black Families

A topic that deserves the spotlight

One outcome of Covid-19 is that the line between work and life is now fully integrated. Gone are the days when we drop the kids at school, commute to work, and leave our family stress behind us at home. Today, we work just inches from the same place where we prepare dinner, help with virtual schoolwork, or complete a workout. We’ve all had to adapt. As business leaders, we must give more support to our teams and their families during and outside of work hours. But I have a message to my fellow business leaders: for as good of a job as we’re doing, we can and must do better.
 

I was thrilled to see that Black History Month this year is about the Black family. It’s a topic that’s rarely discussed in business communities, but it’s one that deserves a spotlight.

To understand why Black families need the support of business, we first need to understand what the Black community has endured over decades and still endures today. Then we can begin to understand the generational effects of systematic racism and unconscious bias. This is not something we would know unless we’ve made a conscious effort to learn about it. Unfortunately, Black history has been widely segregated from American history. It isn’t taught broadly in our schools. I encourage you to do your own research to understand that there has been a movement over decades that has prevented Black professionals from achieving the same level of success as their white counterparts. Business leaders, it’s time to right this wrong. Here’s how.

1. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Programs Must Be More than Lip Service

So you have a DE&I council or mission, fabulous. What does it do? How does it move the needle? How are results measured? Is it in place to make real progress or is it there to simply check a box and throw a statement on a website? These are hard questions that require honest answers. 

DE&I initiatives need to involve concrete goals and KPIs to determine how they are making progress. Ideally, these initiatives should tie back to performance management discussions and be part of the work we do every day. Companies like Starbucks and Wells Fargo have aligned executive pay to D&I goals. This is a fantastic strategy. We need to look at achieving D&I goals as an extension of our day jobs, not optional work. Engage members of your leadership teams to not only “champion” efforts but to actively and openly participate. This will inspire and motivate everyone in your organization to take part. And listen, really listen to what your colleagues need, especially your Black employees. This leads me to No. 2.

2. Engage Your Black Employees

You may have Black employees and that’s great, but are they engaged? Do they feel as though they belong at your company? As renowned diversity advocate Vernā Myers puts it, “Diversity is being invited to the party; Inclusion is being asked to dance.” Here’s an example of an inclusion fail. When Harvard Law admitted its first female students in 1953, the women discovered the elite school had not provided bathrooms for them (don’t worry, the women were eventually given a single toilet to share in a janitor's closet in the basement of the building; not exactly the type of lavatory you’d expect from an Ivy League school, right?) While I’m sure Harvard enjoyed the PR that accompanied the acceptance of females into their prestigious campus, how “included” do you think the women felt once they arrived?

Making the shift from valuing diversity to being inclusive means we must overcome unconscious biases. These are deep-seeded beliefs we don’t realize we have that influence our behaviors and decisions. For instance, when hiring a new team member, we may unconsciously decide to interview a person who went to a certain university or whose name sounds more “white.” A study actually found that candidates with “white sounding names” were 50 percent more likely to get called back for an interview than candidates with “black sounding names.” These unconscious decisions mean we must make purposeful strides to acknowledge and overcome the biases we have. It’s helpful to take a test to determine what our biases are and then work with our teams to understand what biases will likely impact our business. 

3. Invest in Your Communities

A key learning we’ve experienced over the past year is that we must take care of ourselves and our families to show up in the best possible way at work. This is why it’s in our best interest as a business community to invest in the families and communities that need it most. While the pandemic has been hard on everyone, Black families have been disproportionately impacted by Covid-19. This is the result of long-term, systemic and social inequalities in the Black community. It is quite literally a story of life and death: Black Americans are 3.5 times more likely to die from Covid-19. These communities need our help. 

Disparities against the Black community have been ignored for generations and it’s time for business to take a stand and make a difference. One company getting it right: PepsiCo. Last year, the company pledged to hire and recruit more Black associates and managers and double its spending with Black-owned suppliers. They announced an investment of $20 million over five years "to create opportunity and advance economic empowerment for Black Americans," including providing grants for social programs in Black communities, mentorship, and management training, as well as financing for Black-owned restaurants and supporting Black non-profit CEOs. What businesses will follow in PepsiCo’s footsteps? 

It’s our turn to really lead, business leaders. Supporting our Black employees, their families and communities is both a moral and business imperative. I urge you to make an ongoing commitment to fully righting these wrongs, not just a highlight during Black History Month. 

Deanna Ransom is the head of global marketing and marketing services for Televerde, an integrated sales and marketing technology organization based in Phoenix, Arizona. Seven of Televerde's 10 engagement centers are staffed by incarcerated women, representing 70% of the company's 600+ global workforce. Connect Deanna Ransom