Why CEOs Should Take a Stance: DIBs Leader Perspectives

At Upwork, we believe we must all raise our voices in pursuit of racial justice and equality. We are publicly sharing the steps we are taking with the aim of helping other companies uplift their Black employees to pave the way toward cultures that nurture excellence in all of its forms.

Part of how we are making some progress within Upwork is that we don’t see racism as a Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging issue. The crisis impacting the Black community is an “everyone” issue. We partner very closely with all team members in the organization to mobilize around racial injustice, and we are seeing our teams embrace the idea that ally is a verb through proactive, anti-racist activity. Nowhere is this more evident than in our CEO, Hayden Brown, who takes a very firm stance against racism, both internally and publicly. Read her latest communication here.

‍

This is part of an ongoing series in which we will share Hayden’s internal communications, along with thoughts from our Office of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging on what makes these communications impactful for our Black community.

If you are interested in learning more, you can also read our perspective on Hayden’s first internal communication, as well as Dr. Thomas’ insights on the anti-racist commitments that companies can make.

Erin L. Thomas, PhD, VP, Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging, Upwork
AJ Johnson, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging Operations Manager, Upwork