To the Madaket Community,
Black Lives Matter. At Madaket, we unequivocally stand in solidarity and join the fight against systemic racism, bigotry, injustice, and the ongoing oppression of the Black community. In the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and other Black Americans, we owe it to our staff, our clients, and our communities, to take a very clear stance and condemn these acts of oppression. Now is the time to demand action for those facing injustices around the country and in our own communities.
Particularly in the healthcare and technology industries, skin color can often determine access. Race is a significant social determinant of health, and those gaps have recently been highlighted and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. On the tech side, countless articles and reports have revealed a lack of progress in hiring Black candidates. These longtime hurdles must be tackled.
Race is not an easy topic to discuss, however, we must put in the work if we are to create meaningful change. Of course, change ultimately begins at home. As much as we, at Madaket, pride ourselves on our accomplishments in creating a diverse and inclusive workplace, we know there is still work that needs to be done. One of our career pillars is that we are big believers in process. To that end, we are currently undergoing a comprehensive review of our internal processes and policies to develop a company experience that is fair for, and representative of, all employees.
Additionally, we’ll be taking the following steps moving forward:
- Updating our hiring process to create an intentional hiring pool with expanded diversity at both the individual and leadership level. We will seek and hire more candidates of color across all business sectors and invest in those relationships for the long run.
- Implementing training, listening, and conversation series focused on bias, diversity, and allyship in order to continue and expand the conversation. We must create a safe, open space for us to connect, as a company, and learn from one another’s experiences.
- Focusing our community service committee on work that more directly impacts communities of color. We will continue to provide specific updates on those efforts and the organizations we’ll be collaborating with.
- Making a donation to our local Black Lives Matter. We will continue to examine how our company can use our resources to make an impact toward eliminating systemic racism in our community.
And so beyond making this statement, today we are making the commitment to do better. We will hold ourselves accountable. We will keep learning. We will do more for our team and the community.
We don’t presume to have the answers, and these are but small steps. We believe these actions will lead us to a broader set of perspectives, and a keener sense of empathy, to help employees feel safe at work, drive better results for our clients, and develop more robust business practices for our organization. We are hopeful that these steps will lead us to a more open, understanding, and supportive environment, and that we can carry this awareness into our industry, our homes, and our communities, to build a world that is just and safe for all.
We welcome and encourage you to join us on this journey.
Benny, Jim, Karl, Mads, Stacey & Ted
Co-founders & Leadership
