Last week, Smartsheet expressed its solidarity with the Black community in opposing injustice, violence, and racism in all its forms. It’s now time to get down to the important work of affecting long-term, systemic change.
We recognize that the meaningful improvements we seek will not happen overnight, but they will not happen at all if we do not take positive steps forward and hold ourselves accountable. This is just a start, but the following actions reflect our commitment to making progress:
We believe in a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace
We are prioritizing the hiring of a dedicated, senior-level leader to continue, expand, and deepen our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. We will increase accountability by regularly sharing our DEI plan (and our progress against the goals it contains) with employees.
We will evaluate and improve practices to increase the hiring of qualified Black people across all levels of Smartsheet, as well as people from other underrepresented groups.
To ensure that Smartsheet creates an environment that encourages and supports all our team members, we are investing in new DEI programs such as expanding our existing training to address bias and micro-aggressions.
We believe in working with partners who are aligned with our values
We are conducting an audit of our relationships with suppliers, vendors, and other partners to ensure that we are doing business with those who align with our core values.
As we continue our productive work with Year Up and Computing For All, we will extend our partnerships to train and develop students from underrepresented communities for roles at Smartsheet.
We believe that discussions and programs are important, but so is financial support
The Smartsheet leadership team collectively raised $300,000 in personal funds, a portion of which will be immediately donated to employee-selected organizations that support racial equality and social justice. The remaining funds will be used to match employee donations in an upcoming fundraising campaign.
Will we do everything perfectly? Likely not. But for each of us — individuals and organizations — this is a time to defend what’s right; a time to take a hard look at the status quo and reject the course that has led to violence, injustice, and systemic racism against the Black community.
We must do better, and I am personally committed to making it happen.