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If Corporations Really Want to Address Racial

Inequality, Here Are 9 Things That Actually
Make a Difference

A man raises his arm in support of the crowd of protesters marching in downtown New York, NY on July 26, 2020. Pablo Monsalve—
VIEWpress/Getty Images

BY DARREN WALKER

AUGUST 4, 2020 9:04 AM EDT

S ince protests over the killing of George Floyd erupted across the country, I’ve
received numerous calls from corporate CEOs who want to know what they
should do, and where can they quickly donate $10 million dollars to advance the
cause of racial justice?

The first thing I do is remind them of Martin Luther King Jr.’s caution that
philanthropy must not be used to obscure the economic injustices that make it
necessary. The frustration and rage we’re seeing across the country aren’t just about
a racist system of policing.

It’s also about original sins–a genocide of Native Americans and enslavement of
Black Africans whose stolen land and labor built this country’s wealth, enriching
countless white people and their descendants in the process. It’s about the
predations of modern-day capitalism that have allowed a privileged few to hoard the
lion’s share of the nation’s wealth, effectively consigning Black folks to the bottom
rung of the economic ladder.

This time the usual corporate playbook–issue a statement, gather a group of Black
leaders for a conference call, give a hefty grant to the Urban League, resume business
as usual–isn’t going to work. Here are 9 things every corporate leader can do to
improve Black lives.

1. Remake your C suite

Change starts at the top. Do you have African-American board members? Black
executives in your leadership team? If you do, are they token appointments, or do
they have real power to recommend changes that would make your company more
racially equitable?

2. Hire and advance more Black people

As leaders of large corporations, you have the power to transform Black lives
immediately, simply by hiring and promoting more of us. Blind tests show that when
identical resumes are submitted for the same job – one with a white-sounding name,
the other with a Black-sounding one – the white applicant receives a callback 50%
more often. Taking racial inclusion seriously means telling your managers that they
cannot go forward with a hire or a promotion, at any level, unless the candidate pool
is racially diverse.

3. Get involved in the Fair Chance Hiring Initiative

One legacy of the “tough on crime” era is that about one-third of American adults
now have a criminal record, mostly for minor crimes that nonetheless hamper their
ability to get a job. Black people are hugely overrepresented in that group, in
significant part because of the kind of over-policing that sparked today’s protests.

That’s why the Society of Human Resource Management has urged employers to take
the Getting Talent Back to Work Pledge as part of the Fair Chance Hiring Initiative by
employing qualified job applicants with criminal backgrounds. Five years ago, the
Ford Foundation committed to hire 10 formerly incarcerated business associates
every year, and they are among our most dedicated employees.

4. Pay your employees a living wage

The federal minimum wage–$2.13 per hour for tipped workers and $7.25 per hour for
others–is not a living wage. In 2016, nearly half of government public assistance
went to people who worked full-time but still fell below the federal poverty line.

Black workers make up about 11% percent of the workforce, but 38% of Black workers
who now work for the minimum wage would get a raise. Raising the pay of the
workers at the bottom of your scale would disproportionately help people of color.

Commit to paying your workers a living wage of at least $15 per hour, and more in
higher-cost parts of the country.

5. Provide a safe and healthy workplace

Valuing Black lives in a pandemic also means doing everything possible to create a
safe workplace. Lack of adequate health insurance coverage are big reasons Black,
Latinx and Native American people have contracted the coronavirus at a
disproportionally higher rate than white Americans, with Black people dying of
COVID-19 at a rate of almost 2.5 times the rate of white people. Does your company
manipulate the schedules of your workers to fall just below the threshold for health
coverage? Does it label people independent contractors even if they spend the bulk of
their days working for you? If so, this is what advocates mean when they talk about
structural racism.

6. Provide paid sick and family leave

Black workers often cannot afford to take time off to care for a newborn or sick family
member. The lack of paid sick leave is another reason so many people of color have
suffered higher rates of illness and death from COVID-19. If there were ever a
question about whether paid leave is a moral issue, the pandemic should have laid it
to rest.

7. Reconsider executive compensation

You might be asking, “but where am I going to find the resources to give my workers
more?” Here, CEOs would do well to look in the mirror. According to the Economic
Policy Institute, CEO compensation has grown 940% since 1978, while the salary of
the average worker has increased only 12%. The economy would suffer zero harm if
CEOs were paid less.

We know this, because many of those same executives are steering their excess
wealth into philanthropic foundations, which have proliferated in the past two
decades as their compensation has skyrocketed. While that charitable instinct
benefits some of my foundation’s favorite causes, it would be better for the economy
and for racial equity if more of that largesse were directed toward workers.

8. Advocate for a more progressive tax code

Standing up for Black lives means investing in the essential building blocks of social
equality, from adequately funded schools to universal health care and affordable
housing. These things require government action at scale.

Moving money from police budgets should be just the start. What we really need is a
progressive tax code that will reduce income inequality, shore up our crumbling
infrastructure, create a proper public health system and provide the social safety net
that people need in a crisis. Five months into a pandemic that has shuttered the
economy, Canada is subsidizing wages at 75% of full salary, while Americans are left
to queue at food banks, wondering whether the next unemployment check will be
their last.

Instead of deploying your lobbyists only on issues of narrow self-interest, detail them
to advocate for tax reform and the expansion of social programs for poor people.

9. Advocate for shareholder reforms

But I hear you saying, “I have public shareholders to whom I’m accountable.
Supporting tax policies that work against my company’s bottom line will only drive
down our share price.” Yes, and this is why the current model of shareholder-driven
capitalism that puts quarterly profits over people is bad for the long-term social and
economic health of the country.

The Business Roundtable acknowledged as much last year, when 181 CEOs signed a
statement revising the purpose of a corporation as one that benefits customers,
employees, supplies and communities – not just shareholders. This was an important
first step. Now, companies must turn that resolution into action, by committing to
the kinds of tangible changes in practice and policy that will reduce inequality.

The uncomfortable truth is that if what you’re changing in your corporate practices
doesn’t affect your bottom line, you’re not doing enough.

So to my friends in the Fortune 500: while the millions in onetime donations are
appreciated, a permanent commitment to reducing racial inequality through changes
in your own practices would be more meaningful. Outsourcing the work of racial
justice isn’t sufficient when a broken system of capitalism has produced indefensible
levels of wealth for owners and daily insecurity for workers. The corporate sector has
the responsibility–and the ability–to act now.

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