We are taking the time to talk to each other, but more importantly, to listen to our Black colleagues who experience injustice firsthand. In these past weeks we have held many townhalls, conversation series, and smaller meetings with colleagues. Members of our Black Employee Resource Group (BERG) shared honest and compelling accounts about their personal experiences, feelings, and hopes for the next generation. We will keep this conversation going and work to increase awareness within our company.
We have made an IHG commitment to:
- Establish a program of leader-led listening and conversation sessions for corporate and hotel colleagues to gain insights and perspectives
- Roll-out mandatory unconscious bias training for more than 10,000 US corporate and managed hotel employees by the end of 2020
- Deliver ongoing inclusive leadership learning programs and resources for people managers
- Develop an Inclusion Index to track perception of culture and behaviors in our colleague engagement survey
What you can do
We can all strive to be more aware of other perspectives, cultures and the pervasive racism running through our communities. To echo Maya Angelou, when you know better, you do better.
Learning Resources
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
by Michele Alexander
by The New York Times
My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant
by Jose Antonio Vargas
Listening Resources
TED Talk by Mellody Hobson
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man
A YouTube series with Emmanuel Acho
Founders of Black Lives Matter
TED Talk by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi
a film by Ava DuVernay
A podcast with Reni Eddo-Lodge
A podcast by The Leadership Conference