Industrious and systemic racism — where things stand and where
The email below was sent today from Industrious CEO Jamie Hodari to our members, sharing our company efforts to combat systemic racism.
As a business that manages workplaces which thousands of companies call home — where communities form and collisions happen, sometimes uncomfortably so — Industrious has an elevated responsibility when it comes to systemic racism. And you as a member have a vested interest in what Industrious does to make our locations not only inclusive and welcoming, but to create safe spaces with intentionality and purpose.
Last year, one of our core company goals was that the majority of our hires would be Black, Indigenous, and other people of color. We fell short of that goal but assuaged our disappointment by noting that we made significant progress towards it. However, if Industrious is to be an actively anti-racist company, this kind of incrementalism — “we didn’t do enough, but we did something” — isn’t going to get us there.
I wanted to wait to write until we had our forward-looking plans in place rather than sending something less substantive. Over the past two weeks, a group of about 60 people across the company have worked in nine working groups to lay out the path forward, which consists of improving or adding teeth to existing processes or initiatives, and then a host of new ones. The goal is, in sum, to push the company towards actively combating racism rather than being complicit in it. It’s too much to layout in a single email, but if you’d like a closer look at what we’re doing internally, in our spaces, and in the outside world, they’re available here:
- Industrious efforts to create safe spaces with anti-racist intentionality and purpose
- Industrious internal diversity and inclusion state of affairs and forward-looking plan
- Industrious impact on the world outside our walls
On the first point — how to make our spaces more inclusive and welcoming, so much of that flows from member feedback. If you have thoughts or suggestions for how we could do better, we’d welcome them. Profound change is afoot, and we’re here for it.
Take care,
Jamie