Standing with the Black community

Like many of you, the past few weeks have elicited a range of emotions in us—and an overwhelming sense that, as a country, we have not done enough for the Black community who has withstood oppression, racism, injustice and systemic inequality for hundreds of years.  

Unfortunately these are still present, which is clear from the unconscionable deaths of men and women like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. Protests are ongoing as people take to the streets and challenge us to do better. There is no place for hate and racism in our society. Black lives matter. Now is the time to act. 

As a company that represents workers of all backgrounds, it is our responsibility to respond in a meaningful way, as we have a platform that many others do not—we help match millions of workers and employers each year. We are in a powerful position to make a real difference.

We will address systemic racism and its impact on hiring in three ways: education, advocacy and product innovation.

Education

We will continue to educate ourselves and the people we serve. We’ll champion businesses who do the right things and we’ll lead discussions with employers about how we must do better. In fact, our first client education discussion about anti-racism in the workplace is on Tuesday, June 30th.

Advocacy

We will stay the course, even when our current anger subsides. Our values of Solidarity, Candor, Unconvention and Fire will guide us as we facilitate long-term change for Black workers, employers and Snaggers.

We believe in equal employment for all workers and we will work tirelessly to level the playing field for all candidates. 

We also commit to supporting Black-owned small businesses as they recover from the impacts of COVID-19. We’re giving away $1 million in free job postings and Shifts to Black business owners through the remainder of the year.

Product innovation 

The role our product will play to fight discrimination and inequality in employment is key. We have an initial set of ideas, and I believe a number of the things we are already working on, including our efforts to eliminate the application and even the interview (where so much bias exists) will be powerful.

We will present the best candidates and highlight the best matches while we mask names and pictures in search and applications. We’ll suggest unbiased language for job descriptions. And we will also provide insight into bias by reporting EEOC data to hiring managers and adding diversity as a part of our account management conversations.

Internally, it means we will give each other the space to process and react. We’ve launched our employee resource group, Black@Snagajob, who will be leading our Juneteenth activities. We’ve decided that this year, we will come together to educate each other on this important date and it will be a paid company holiday in 2021 and beyond. We’re also committed to  doubling down on our efforts to increase diversity throughout our company, and exceed the goals we’ve set for ourselves.  

This won’t be easy, but we are uniquely positioned to help create real change. It’s more important than ever that we use our nationwide reach for good, for both workers and employers. I’m proud to be part of a company that’s stepping up to impact people’s lives, and I’m thankful each Snagger is working to be part of the solution.