In this week’s B Corp series we return to one of our major events of the year, the AMS “March for Change.” We will look into how AMS is doing with regard to instituting changes in the company’s diversity and inclusivity practices.
Our subject is inspired by the weekly message from B The Change:
“The events of this year — the inequitable impact of COVID-19 and police killings of People of Color among them — are bringing long overdue conversations about racism and social justice to the forefront and prompting a re-examination and reshaping of systems and structures.”
In June of this year AMS employees organized and conducted a “March for Change” in response to the police killing of George Floyd. The employees gathered to hear a guest speaker, and a statement from Ken Wiseman, AMS Chief Workforce Development Officer, where Ken laid out plans for change and promised that AMS could and would do more.
Following up on Ken’s speech, in September we published a blog laying out plans for change in following areas:
1) Make the Diversity & Inclusion Breakfast a paid meeting at the start of the workday; 2) Make Learning Opportunities more convenient and have them take place during workday; 3) Involve more discussion on Empathy, Respect, Trigger and Action plan in our leadership classes; 4) Change Role Playing in the leadership classes; 5) Develop an Up-Skill matrix for employees who want to move up in their careers; 6) Launch a Paycom job registration allowing people to register for positions they are interested in; 7) Hold 90-minute lunch meetings with supervisors and 8) Encourage employees to share their journey at the breakfast meeting, giving opportunity for the leadership team to listen.
In this week’s report, we have turned to Carmen Kernek, AMS’ Human Resources Director, for an update on how we are doing:
“AMS is strong and committed to positive change. In order to have more positive learning experiences, we use a variety of training methods to achieve success, from Classroom-Based Training, to Interactive Training and certainly, On the Job Training. We have also added Social Learning and online training as well. Our goal is to create an inclusive training experience for all learners. We have waiting list in most all training areas for 2021!”
AMS is a medium to large company with more than 400 employees. Hopefully our example can provide guidance for other companies of a similar size. We’d also like to feature an article about how small businesses can develop diversity and inclusion planning. From the B the Change website:
How Small Businesses Can Activate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plans Now
B Corp Commits to Anti-Racist Learning and Action
“The company I work for is a small, woman-owned Certified B Corporation. We have always believed business should be a force for good. And while our intention is genuine, our clarity of intent and activation have been inconsistent.
“When George Floyd was murdered in our hometown this summer, everything shifted — for us, the community and the nation. We knew it was time to listen, learn and do more. The racial justice movement that followed has strengthened our resolve to be more active, vocal and consistent.
“Like many other small B Corps, Beehive Strategic Communication’s time and resources are limited. We are mostly white and don’t have a diversity, equity and inclusion expert on staff. These are all things that could have become excuses preventing us from taking action — and, to be honest, they slowed us down. So we know it can feel challenging and overwhelming for small companies to get started on this critical work. And yet, to do nothing right now — for any organization, especially a B Corp — is simply not an option.”
