A message from Marlin Williams, VP of global diversity and inclusion
The murder of George Floyd, and the groundswell of protest around the world, have occasioned a global reckoning with systemic, institutional racism. Organizations large and small are renewing their efforts to stamp out bigotry and foster open and equal communities. StockX is a company with deep connections to Black culture, and it is our obligation to not only speak out against injustice in the world, but to work for change from within. With this post, we want to introduce you to some of the work we have done thus far, and in an effort to hold ourselves accountable, we will continue to update this space with news of our progress.
I joined StockX in February 2020 with a clear mandate from our CEO and our board: to foster a diverse, inclusive workplace and culture for all our team members. Recent events have only increased the importance and urgency of this mission. Since its inception, StockX has been an incredibly diverse company. Today, more than 40% of our total workforce and roughly one-quarter of our leaders (director and above) identify as BIPOC. While we view diversity as our greatest strength, we also recognize that we have work to do to ensure that there is racial and gender diversity in all areas of our organization.
Over the past three months, I have facilitated multiple company-wide discussions with hundreds of internal participants about the intersection of race, the sneaker industry, the tech landscape, the importance of representation, and the ways in which StockX can take action both internally and beyond our walls. The takeaway from these frank discussions is simple: our company must do better. With input from employees across all levels of the company, we developed a strategic 6-point D&I plan, each with an associated working group and executive sponsor. These groups will develop specific initiatives and metrics to ensure that we are making measurable progress toward our goals.
Among our top priorities is an improved commitment to career development, skills training, and advancement of our essential frontline team members. To cite just one example of this work, we recently launched a task force — comprised of a diverse range of employees —to design a program to help interested supply chain and customer support team members move into engineering roles.
In addition to these internal career paths, we are also committed to reevaluating our recruiting and hiring practices. To improve BIPOC representation at all company levels, we want to make sure that we’re reaching out to the broadest community of potential hires possible, and doing so in a way that is inclusive and intentional. We’ll soon be rolling out a set of enhanced recruiting practices with a redoubled focus on implicit bias training, along with a proprietary index to ensure diverse slates of candidates across all open positions.
An open and inclusive workplace requires that every person on every level act respectfully, ethically, and responsibly towards others. So, after months of work, we introduced a new Code of Conduct that codifies a zero-tolerance policy against racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of bigotry in the workplace, and ensures that team members will never face retaliation for raising concerns. We also established an ethics hotline where team members can anonymously report violations, free from the fear of reprimand or rebuke. Finally, we want to make sure that the individuals and organizations we work with – including our brand partners and vendors – reflect our values and commitment to anti-racism. To this end, we’ve developed an internal brand ambassador group made up of diverse voices to not only provide exposure to marketing and brand initiatives, but also to shape the future strategic direction of the StockX brand.
The progress we have made thus far is meaningful, but we know that words and plans are not enough. There is much work to be done, and we are firmly committed to making StockX representative, not just of the community we serve, but the community we all hope to build.
