I’m proud to say SalesFix has a relatively diverse workforce. I don’t think I am racist, but I am aware that I’m a privileged white man. I hope I’m open to hearing from others if the things I say or do could be interpreted as racist, so I was glad when the topic of Black Lives Matter (#BLM) came up at a recent staff meeting.

The SalesFix team had a good discussion about it and asked whether the leadership team would be taking action on it. We decided that the #BLM subject was important enough to look into more to understand what SalesFix as an organisation (as opposed to the employees individually) should do.

I asked our National Sales Manager, Nicole Aebi-Moyo (who is passionate about ensuring equality for all, especially marginalised groups including First Nation People, LGBTIQ+, Disabled, Elderly, etc.) to give me a quick education and brief on why SalesFix should take action at this time. Here is her excellent response:

The Why

I can’t write the why, because I can only think why not? Why the world isn’t naturally up in arms about inequality is beyond my understanding, so trying to outline why an organisation should contribute to being part of the solution, instead of doing nothing (and therefore being part of the problem), just makes me cry.

People often say “I don’t do politics” when I start talking about stuff like this. “It doesn’t fit in the workplace” they say. But that’s the preserve of the privileged. That’s the preserve of those who benefit from the status quo.

I firmly believe that having a diverse workforce drives better outcomes for everyone. It creates a more just society, but it also delivers better outcomes for the people around us and the people we work with. If we want to change how we do things so we can do them better, then we need diversity of thought.

This isn’t a question of why, or even why not for me. I’ve been driving actions towards inclusion for years. We should all be taking action every day to ensure we live in a world that we can be proud of.

Author: Nicole Aebi-Moyo

Whilst Nicole’s response didn’t answer my original question of why SalesFix should be focused on Black Lives Matter, after all, why should we focus on any one marginalised group, it did inspire me to open my eyes more, read more, listen to the words of others, and be prepared to challenge the wrong sentiment.

Just as we have embedded our core values into our everyday work, we know that we can’t just think about inclusion once and tick it off as “job done”. We have a number of things that we’re committed to doing, and we’ll work to expand this list as time passes.

Firstly, we recently launched a Pay It Forward initiative which will see us delivering pro-bono Salesforce services to NFPs, particularly those focused on supporting marginalised groups.

Secondly, to make sure the conversation is an on-going one, once a month, at our weekly all hands meetings, we will have a discussion about how we can be a more inclusive company. This will ensure that this doesn’t become a set and forget issue, and that we continually strive to do better.

If you know anyone who’d like to help us learn and grow, whether that be through a paid engagement or not, do reach out.