Our Commitment to Black Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
June 11th, 2020
Over the past two weeks, we’ve been listening to the conversations taking place internally and worldwide on the topic of racial inequities experienced by Black people and their communities. We’ve taken the time to reflect on everything that has happened, assess our own values, and devise a plan for enacting meaningful change.
At Jamieson Wellness, we believe that physical, mental, and social well-being are all essential components of a healthy life. The systemic racism and social injustice affecting Black people is unacceptable and in direct conflict with these important life pillars that we value so deeply. We believe that at Jamieson, we have the ability and responsibility to help change this.
We cherish diversity and inclusion, and we know that the best of us comes out in an environment where integrity, transparency, and teamwork are the order of the day. The diversity of our people is one of our greatest strengths, providing thoughts and perspectives that have shaped our brands and allowed us to connect with our consumers. We are proud of the diversity at Jamieson. But maintaining diversity within our organization is not enough. We must do more. We must do better. Systemic racism and discrimination remain ongoing problems in this world and require a long-term solution.
While we don’t have all the answers today, we do know that we have to start with ourselves, and we have to start now. We have begun taking the following actions, working towards the goal of eliminating the systemic racism and discrimination that members of our team and our consumers face every day.
- ACTION: We are listening, and we are learning. With the guidance of external advisors, we are holding a series of sessions within the organization to facilitate transparent dialogue about diversity and inclusion, beginning with our Black employees and members of the leadership team. In addition to the leadership team educating ourselves, these sessions will help ensure we uncover any areas in which we can improve and better support our employees.
- ACTION: While diversity and inclusion are inherent in everything we do, they must be overt. In looking at our guiding principles and company values, we see that this is not as clear as it should be. We are updating our values to include stronger language regarding diversity, inclusion, and equality. At Jamieson we live our values every day, so strengthening our words will help ensure we strengthen our actions.
- ACTION: We will formalize our diversity and inclusion goals and action plan through a voluntary employee group that will lead this charge, with sponsorship from the executive leadership team. This group will drive us to do better internally and externally as an organization to fight inequality, racism, and discrimination.
- ACTION: We will partner with and support external organizations, as determined by our voluntary employee group, that are having a positive impact around justice, equality, diversity, and inclusion, with an immediate focus on organizations that support Black communities.
While we have always firmly believed in inclusion and equality, the recent events happening around the world have shone a light directly on the deep-seated challenges faced every day by our employees and the communities we serve. It is important that the actions we take start by acknowledging these very real, very deep, and long-standing issues. Our commitment is to start here, ensure we continue to build on this momentum, and communicate our progress often and openly with the entire organization.
We will hold ourselves accountable for the sustainable long-term change we know is possible and necessary.
