Bernard Boudreaux is the deputy director of Georgetown’s Business for Impact program, and he worked for Target Corporation for over 30 years in various corporate responsibility roles. He says asking the following questions (in a safe, maybe anonymous survey format) will offer valuable insight to companies trying to understand their own workplace cultures.
Here are the questions he suggests:
1. Ask your employees what the company could do better to address racism in the workplace, in the local community and in the USA.
2. Ask your employees what experiences they have had within the company, if any, that made them feel that race was a factor.
3. Ask your employees if they feel leadership within the company — however “leadership” is defined — has exhibited racist behaviors. If so, how?
4. Ask your employees if there are any business practices — HR, operations, philanthropic, logistical, etc. — the company does that they think contributes to or enforces racist behavior or attitudes.
5. Ask your employees if they think discussing race is a “safe” topic at work.
