Systemic change and exploring our responsibility

Here’s what we did. We thought sharing it might help you have similar conversations within your team.

Opening a dialogue within our team

We started by creating space for these important issues by carving out a whole team session; a moment for honest and reflective conversation. This covered the movement around George Floyd, what was happening in the U.S. and what we were observing here in Australia.

We’re all working remotely and Zoom chats can be clunky at the best of times. But as a small team, we’re lucky that these conversations can be had in a way where everyone’s voice is heard. Rather than try to simplify what was going on in the world to a single topic, the team contributed thought-starters, allowing everyone to opt-in to conversations that resonated with them most.

We agreed to some ground rules for the session (and really, these should be applied to any conversation!):

• Listen more than you speak. Listen hard.

• Choose generosity of intent. We’re all here because we want to do better.

• Educate over “cancel”.

• Remember to breathe and take a pause.

Once we had discussed these topics in our smaller groups, we shared back some of the key points and here’s what emerged:

As individuals, we must educate ourselves
It’s more important than ever before to be actively thinking about and recognising our privilege and how we may be inadvertently contributing to a system of racism within Australia. Through what we choose to read, watch and listen to, we can learn more. This is a helpful resource.

Cross-cultural experiences are key to developing understanding & empathy
Authentic, cross-cultural immersion, especially from a formative age, is rarely accessible in major cities. We can improve our cultural competency through experience, rather than consultation, to give us a real understanding of the value something holds for Indigenous people.

We should more actively engage our State and Local Governments for change
We hear a lot about how Federal Government agencies and departments lack capabilities, but it’s the State Governments that have a lot of power in regards to the allocation of resources for policing, education and health. We should be scrutinising their behaviour and choices at a more local level.

Indigenous peoples should lead the conversations around the laws and policies that affect their communities
Contemporary decision-making is still primarily done by non-Indigenous people. They may have never visited or met the people they are making decisions on behalf of. Without prioritising leadership from and the input of Indigenous people into law and policy-making, the real needs of these communities will continue to be ignored.

The importance of protesting likely outweighs the risk to public health
There is no clear framework for how to assess the impact of the years of injustice (deaths in custody, inequality, average life expectancy) on the Indigenous community vs the COVID-19 death toll and potential future cases. We’re mindful of the impact of COVID-19 and health risks associated with protesting. But this feels like an important moment in time that could bring about a genuine platform for change that decision-makers cannot ignore and therefore, all voices must be heard.

We can be anti-racist
Being anti-racist takes courage. It means being brave enough to know that while we may never understand, we can work through the discomfort to be open to learn and improve our understanding. The passive approach of “not being racist” isn’t enough and we must actively work to correct racism and be leaders of change.

Why we care

Our mission is about providing fair access to opportunities for all people, so that they can realise their strengths and potential. Hatch was founded to influence systemic change for the better, that’s our whole business. We see the biases and injustices that are barriers to that goal right now. We will make it our work to build a marketplace that helps overcome and correct those barriers.

The Hatch marketplace democratises opportunity by correcting the biases that exist in hiring process. We level the playing field so that individuals from diverse backgrounds are supported into relevant employment. We recognise the responsibility we have to the diverse community we represent. 

Our support for this movement isn’t transient. We’re committed to continuing to talk about it and educate ourselves to further our understanding of racism and the role we can play in dismantling it. We still don’t have all the answers yet, but we won’t turn a blind eye to the problem.

Photo by James Eades on Unsplash