LinkedIn's new CEO apologized to employees after the company allowed a meeting to address protests across the United States over police brutality and systemic racism prompted by the death of George Floyd to be taken over by "appalling," anonymous employee comments.
"We are not and will not be a company or platform where racism or hateful speech is allowed," he said.
Ryan Roslansky replaced Jeff Weiner as LinkedIn's CEO on Monday. On Wednesday, LinkedIn held a town hall meeting to discuss racial inequality and biases. During the meeting, first reported by the Daily Beast, staffers criticized the protests and LinkedIn's efforts to diversify its workforce by posting anonymous messages into the event's chat window.
"As a non-minority, all this talk makes me feel like I am supposed to feel guilty of my skin color. I feel like I should let someone less qualified fill my position," one anonymous staffer commented, per the Daily Beast. "I believe giving any racial group privilege over others in a zero-sum game would not get any support from others. Any thoughts on hurting others while giving privileges with the rosy name called diversity?" another reportedly said.
Other LinkedIn staffers were outraged, according to the Daily Beast, and called the comments "disturbing and racist."
Roslansky said in his LinkedIn post that the comments evaded notice during the event because "those of us in presenter mode weren't able to track the comments in real-time." The company will not allow anonymous comments at such events in the future, he said.
LinkedIn released a report last year showing just 3.5 percent of its workforce was Black, compared to 47.5 percent white, 40.3 percent Asian, and 5.9 percent Latino. Just 1 percent of the company's leadership was Black at the time. Rosanna Durruthy, LinkedIn's vice president of global diversity, inclusion, and belonging, at the time, said hiring a diverse workforce was the company's No. 1 "talent priority."
"Many of you shared the hardest part was realizing that this company we love and hold to such a high standard still has a lot of work to do to educate ourselves and our colleagues on how to create a culture that is truly anti-racist," Roslansky said. "We will do that work."
LinkedIn has made a range of LinkedIn Learning courses on diversity and inclusion available for free, in an effort to help more people understand how to best address these key issues.
As explained by LinkedIn:
"We all play an important role in moving toward a more equitable workplace and world. We hope these free courses help you on this journey. "
The courses, included within the LinkedIn Learning "Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging for All" stream, cover a range of key elements, including unconscious bias, addressing culturally sensitive issues, how to hire and retain diverse talent, and more.
LinkedIn has long been working to address economic inequality, which touches on many similar points, with outgoing CEO Jeff Weiner now taking on a new role in which he'll make this his key focus.
By facilitating more opportunities within all communities, and providing more pathways to improved understanding, LinkedIn can play a significant role in improving the various elements within the chain that can contribute to broader inequality. Providing more ways for people to use its learning platform to develop their understanding of the same can also be significant, particularly given LinkedIn's access to professional and educational insights that can help highlight gaps that need to be addressed.
In addition to this, LinkedIn is also looking to support the #BlackLivesMatter movement by sharing perspectives from black employees on its social media profiles.
Being a strong ally begins with listening, so we are sharing stories to amplify perspectives from the Black community. lnkd.in/dGqW5Gj
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Education is a key element in improving the situation, and providing pathways to improved understanding is essential to facilitating progress.
As such, this is a good move from LinkedIn and may provide a means for more people to educate themselves on the essential concerns of the movement.