Online Employee Educational Series on Racial Equity

Challenge

As a global company, Herman Miller has employees all over the world in a variety of roles. During the Black Lives Matter movement, we wanted to share a unified message to our global employee base and let them know that it’s okay to not have all the answers. The first step to understanding is education–education that many of our formal school systems failed to teach through multiple generations. Our employees were eager to listen, learn, and understand what was happening not only nationwide, but in their own neighborhoods. They were looking to Herman Miller to help them engage in meaningful discussions both at home and with their teams.

Actions

In response, we introduced a 12-week internal online educational series called This Is The LENS: Redesigning our future through Listening, Empowering Narratives, and Speaking Up. The goal of This Is The LENS is to provide opportunities for open dialogue about racial injustices, educate one another, ask questions, gain new perspectives, and grow through listening. The series is open to any employee interested in attending. It features discussions with representatives from our local communities, our own Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Team, and our team members, many of whom belong to one of our employee affinity groups called Equity Teams. This series creates a safe space to have brave conversations and to share about their own journey and experiences.

Outcomes

We’ve heard from employees that This Is The LENS is helping them have more informed conversations with their friends and family, they’ve felt more comfortable speaking up when they see an injustice, and their teams are much more sensitive to how they are impacting one another. We’ve also gotten specific requests for additional tools and learning opportunities, which are helping us shape the programming we’re offering to the business.

Contact

Mackenzie Rantala, Senior Communications Specialist, Corporate Social Responsibility

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