Committed to change
June 3, 2020 | By: Jay Alvather
This week, I shared my thoughts with our TEKsystems team on the tragic deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and the responsibility we have as an organization to build a more just and equitable society. So many of our TEKsystems team members carry heavy burdens each day, but in our society in the year 2020, you would hope that one of those burdens wouldn’t be skin color. Yet here we are. Recent events have only served to amplify what so many underrepresented people have been burdened with throughout history and so many of our team members have been burdened with their whole lives.
As part of CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, I’ve committed, along with hundreds of other CEOs, to bring about change in our organizations and our communities.
So much feels wrong and unsettling right now – from public health disparities to public discourse to public unrest. In these times we all seek a sense of stability, of harmony, of justice and equality. We seek answers. We seek support, love and belonging. I don’t know when or how we’ll get those answers, but I do know the type of home we’re creating at TEKsystems and the type of family we strive to be.
Within TEKsystems, we have the opportunity – and the responsibility – to set the example for our greater community, and I am ever more committed to doing so. Our Executive Inclusion Board has developed an aggressive strategy of expanded unconscious bias training, transparency of internal opportunities, sponsorship and advocacy of diverse talent, and we are launching conversations that matter regarding race relations across our country with our Day of Understanding. We’ve invested in organizations committed to supporting underrepresented groups and have added the Equal Justice Initiative to that list to support their frontline efforts to fight for a more equitable criminal justice system.
I know there is progress to be made inside and outside of TEKsystems, but I care about contributing to a world where at every turn we combat injustice and racism. I have hope that we can cultivate not just a workplace, but a world, where empathy, understanding, equality and diversity overcome ignorance and injustice.
I’m so grateful to the many TEKsystems team members who have educated, inspired and joined me in this effort.