Last June, in the wake of injustice (and justified protest), we added our voice to the worldwide call for change. We believe that change starts with us—our company and our culture.
Lasting, meaningful change requires accountability, so we’re sharing this update to let you know where we’re at today, and how we plan to continue building a more equitable and inclusive company culture at The Black Tux.
“We’re also taking the time to reflect and identify the internal actions our company can take to better support Black Americans, and to focus on how our team can champion the values of human dignity and equality.“
@theblacktux, June 1, 2020
We’ve made changes to the way we recruit, hire, and support the careers of our employees, run meetings, celebrate holidays and plan events, and we’ve established employee-led groups to encourage meaningful conversation and personal growth within our organization. Our hope is to empower our team to be the most authentic versions of themselves at work—to feel fully appreciated, valued, respected, and have a sense of belonging.
Here’s what’s new:
Diversity & Inclusion Group
Among other initiatives, our Diversity & Inclusion group hosts company-wide events to increase knowledge of, and accessibility to, a truly diverse and inclusive culture. This group is led by employees from different departments, and aims to create a safe and diverse community through awareness and education.
Here are some of the events, workshops, and celebrations the Diversity & Inclusion group has led:
- Film & Book Club Discussions
- Allyship Workshops (Change Cadet)
- Dia De Los Muertos Remembrances
- National Coming Out Day Panel
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day Educational Newsletter (previously established paid company holiday)
- Black History Month Initiatives
- Pride Week Educational Initiatives
- Indigenous Peoples’ Day Educational Newsletter
- Rosh Hashanah Educational Newsletter
- Hanukkah Educational Newsletter
- Juneteenth established as paid company holiday
Women’s Group
Our Women’s group was established to celebrate and recognize the contributions of the amazing women at The Black Tux, and to acknowledge the unique challenges women face both culturally and in the work environment.
This group is also led by employees from across departments at The Black Tux, and has organized various initiatives—from trainings with Lighthouse Communications, to film & book clubs that encourage exploration of relevant topics and invite all of our employees into the conversation.
Inclusive Meetings & Events
We created our own inclusive meetings training to ensure everyone has a voice in the room, and all of our employees are trained in these inclusive meetings skills.
When we plan company events, we’re mindful of celebrating and recognizing all holidays and cultural events, and plan a majority of our events to be friendly to (and inclusive of) the families of our employees. Whether it be supplying events, purchasing books for employee-led book clubs, or sourcing employee gifts, we consciously seek out and partner with a diverse group of small businesses—for example, those owned and operated by women and BIPOC.
Diversity in Recruiting & Growth
We’ve been very intentional in our approach to recruiting, sourcing a wide range of talented candidates and ensuring our candidate pipeline is well balanced with a diverse range of perspectives, experience, backgrounds, inclusive of gender, race, and ethnicity. We’ve revised our job descriptions to ensure inclusive language, and continue to use interview training and templates to ensure consistency and limit the impact of unconscious bias.
We’ve also signed on to the 15 Percent Pledge to do our part in ending the wage gap in the United States, and we’re working to create diverse workspaces with more equal representation by sourcing candidates from underrepresented backgrounds and sponsoring work permit visas.
Open roles and job postings can be found here.
Rising Stars Program
Our operations are run entirely in house—our garments are tailored, dry cleaned, and shipped by our own employees. We believe access to growth is imperative in every role at The Black Tux, and our Rising Stars program offers structured opportunities and avenues for career advancement within the company for our operational employees.
Previously Established Perks & Programs
We’ve also continued programs and perks established in the past to create an equitable and supportive workplace, including:
- Compensation philosophy that uses top tier systems to determine market compensation pay rates for every role.
- Equal Pay Audits
- 6 weeks of Baby Bonding time for all employees
- Internal surveys help to uncover company culture issues that we can resolve and learn what we are doing well.
- Partnerships with local colleges for free or reimbursed English as a second language (ESL) courses.
- Recruiting partnerships with Latinas in Tech, PyLadies Meetup
A diverse team brings with it a wide range of perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds, illuminating new and unique approaches to the work we do. We also recognize that there’s more we can do moving forward, and have partnered with Jennifer Brown Consulting to identify more opportunities to improve and enhance our inclusion programs. The work is never done, but we promise to keep you updated on our progress.
Follow along with us and learn more about our company culture: @blacktuxlife.