Diversity Matters – A message from Dennis

*See here the announcement in French, Chinese and Spanish. 

Dear all,

Last week following the recent tragic death of George Floyd we saw a huge outcry from the public voicing their support against racial discrimination and social injustice.  Much of this response was on social media under the banner #Blacklivesmatters, a movement founded in 2013 on Social Media to bring public awareness to previous examples of racial injustice.

To show unity, our brands posted a simple Instagram message helping to spread this awareness across our communities and Colart joined with a simple note on its LinkedIn page  – all shown below.

Following a subsequent pause after this initial solidarity for #blackouttuesday, we have resumed posting on our social channels (e.g. W&N and Elephant). We are also reflecting on how each brand follows up with longer-term change as we recognise this is a moment to reflect on inclusion and equality at every level and use what has happened as a platform for change.

At the Colart level, we recognise that this change not only needs to come from us as individuals but importantly from us as a company: to challenge our unconscious biases and ensure we can earn the right to show our support.

As individuals, there are many resources that may be useful to read to increase our understanding. If there are other resources you feel are valuable to increase our individual understanding, please share your ideas on The Wall or directly to Jane Beeston so we can circulate some of these suggestions.

Reading

It’s important to be educated on racism while this alone isn’t going to solve racism, through education, we can take a step in the right direction.

Please see a few suggestions of books that have been recommended in other companies and there are of course many articles you can read online.

We aim to be an inclusive global family regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, ability, religion, age, or culture …though as a Company, we know that we need to look within to ensure our people promises are applicable to everyone regardless of demographic.

An article by Forbes provides an interesting overview of what companies should do to create a better workplace for everyone. Taking one of the suggested steps on board, we would like to create a cross functional/geographic team to support Colart to educate, listen and ultimately act if there are changes that we need to make.

If you would like to be part of that team, please contact Jane Beeston.

Finally thank you all for your support to ensure equality and equity in our family so that we can play a part in establishing equality and equity in our communities.

Regards,

Dennis van Schie

Chief Executive Officer.