Marsie Sweetland – Women’s CEO Roundtable
What businesses can do to help end antisemitism
4 Apr, 2023
Naomi Kraus, Google’s Inter Belief Network Global Chair
The Anti Defamation League estimates that 1.09 billion people hold antisemitic attitudes. In the United States alone, antisemitic incidents hit a record high in 2021. Jewish employees worldwide increasingly face this scourge of hatred, and often feel stressed, wary of revealing their faith, and attacked for merely being who they are. The Global Chair of Google’s Inter Belief Network employee resource group offers suggestions and recommendations that businesses and corporate leaders can adopt to help their Jewish employees feel supported both in and outside of the workplace.
A few weeks ago, Jews all over the world celebrated the holiday of Purim. It is considered the most joyous day on the Jewish calendar and celebrates a momentous victory over antisemitism thousands of years ago. On Purim night in my neighborhood in New Jersey, some community members went to synagogue to hear a reading of the book Esther that commemorates this holiday. They returned home to discover they had been the target of antisemitic vandalism: the Mezuzot (small prayer parchments contained in cases you see on the doors of many Jewish homes) had been ripped from their door frames. It was an act of desecration that was heartbreaking and vile, and is becoming all too familiar for many of us.
89% of Jews feel antisemitism is a problem in the United States today, and this intrusion was certainly familiar to me. I am the granddaughter of four Holocaust Survivors. My grandparents welcomed the freedom and protection they thought America offered after they got out of the camps. However, my grandmother would wake at 3am with nightmares of Auschwitz as it was, so I am actually relieved that they are no longer here to see what is happening now.
As the volunteer head of the Inter Belief Network Employee Resource Group and co-head of the global “Jewglers” community at Google, I get to advocate on behalf of our internal Jewish community. In my day job, I work on projects that also help our billions of users. Both are privileges that I cherish.
In my 10-plus years at Google, I’ve watched this tech company move from a smaller up-and-comer to one of the biggest companies in the world. I’ve seen how we’ve evolved and embraced the inclusion movement, encouraging Googlers to “bring their whole selves to work.” One’s faith and ethnic identity is very much a part of that process, but as of late, many have become more wary of expressing it due to the hate they fear they may experience. Some Jewish employees have likely changed their behavior in the last few years because of this fear.
There are many steps businesses can take to help end the scourge of antisemitism and to support their Jewish employees.
(1) Adopt and/or use the principles of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. It may not be perfect, but it’s the baseline standard that has been adopted by countless cities, 39 countries along with a number of corporations, including Deutsche Bank and Volkswagen. It shouldn’t be hard to stand up and say “no” to antisemitism – though I will be the first to recognize that this can be easier said than done – this has been a north star for my work with Jewglers for 2+ years to date.
(2) Acknowledge that Jewish people live with tremendous fear and vulnerability, as a minority that is disproportionately targeted by hate violence and threats, like other targeted communities. Those of us who have to worry about displaying visible signs of our faith and walk past armed security guards simply to pray in a house of worship each week in “The Land of the Free” need to feel the same support just like other marginalized groups. Make sure to take this into consideration in all spheres, be it communications, hiring or marketing.
(3) Be cautious about how you ask people to self identify in corporate surveys and workshops, etc. Too often, assumptions are made about Jews that are not rooted in reality. In the allyship course we teach at Google, we make the point that though Jews are often portrayed as White, Jews come in all races and all ethnicities. For example, many Jews of Ashkenazic descent (those whose families migrated through Eastern Europe after exile from Ancient Israel) may have white skin, but forcing them to classify themselves as Caucasian can be incorrect.
(4) Add education about antisemitism into DEI programs. As a result of acknowledging that Jews are a minority and targeted group, companies have an obligation to create spaces for deeper, more intentional discussions via their DEI educational programs. Many employers do not understand the stress and fears their Jewish employees face outside the office. Antisemitism is often a precursor to other forms of hatred – don’t just give it an offhand cursory mention, give the time and space you similarly dedicate to other societal forms of hatred, such as anti-black racism and homophobia.
(5) Holocaust denial and minimization should be uniformly and immediately condemned, wherever and whenever it occurs. No one is entitled to falsify the truth. And there is no other truth than that Jews were targeted for annihilation and six million of them were murdered. Period. This fact is being disputed or goes unrecognized more and more each year.
(6) Don’t allow antisemitism to masquerade as political activism by employees or anyone else. Antisemitism is about hate. There is nothing complex, nuanced or political about it. It is not limited to a specific political viewpoint. It comes from both the right and left. In the workplace, employee debates and discussions should always steer clear of invoking stereotypes or bigotry against any group and it’s important to have policies and guidelines in place that clearly articulate these guideposts for your employees. When criticism of Israel draws on classical antisemitic tropes, or when crimes are committed against Jews to protest Israeli policies, that’s antisemitism, and it’s unacceptable. This conflation of policy criticism of a government with anti-Jewish hatred is harmful and counterproductive.
(7) Make it easy for your Jewish employees to form an Employee Resource Group. Google’s willingness to fund and support a space in which Jewish employees can seek support and resources in times like this has been very helpful to those in our community. It has enabled volunteer leaders like me to provide programming and educational resources on antisemitism at a scale that would be unthinkable without its help. When the hostage situation in Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Austin happened in 2022, our local representatives organized support sessions for Jewglers. After recent threats from extremist groups threatened an antisemitic Day of Hate targeting the Jewish community in the U.S., we arranged for personal safety training for our employees with a Jewgler who works in our security department. We’ve also staged talks with Holocaust Survivors and run internal allyship courses to familiarize employees with the antisemitism that their Jewish colleagues encounter.
IF YOU AS AN ORGANIZATION OR LEADER WANT HELP – Be humble, be honest & ASK! Jewish employee leaders like me and the many others who serve would be grateful for your interest, your offers of support, and your willingness to invest the time to get it right in what you say and do. It’s good for your business, your customers, and the world.
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Naomi’s Keynote from Dare to Overcome 2023:
Passing the torch to the next generation – American Airlines
3 Apr, 2023
How will your ERG and company involve the next generation in faith@work?
This multi-company panel will share their experiences at a recent nation-wide Case Competition held at BYU for MBA students from across the country competing to provide the best solution for making interfaith initiatives at work sustainable. See their PPT presentations here.
This American Airlines organized panel will describe their roles and responsibilities as ERG leaders to help equip, encourage, and empower the next generation. There will also be a student representative from the BYU case completion on the panel to reflect on its impact from an MBA student’s perspective.
- Fr. Greg McBrayer
Chief Flight Controller, Chaplain - American Airlines
- Millicent Rone
- Senior Diversity Specialist
- American Airlines
- Becky Pomerleau
- Senior Director, SOX Program
- Global Co-lead Believe, Interfaith@PayPal
- Ismael Rivera
Legal Global Operations Senior Analyst - Equinix
- Sumreen Ahmad
- Principle Director, Accenture Talent and Organization
- Interfaith Executive Sponsor
- Accenture
- Matt Young
MBA Candidate ’23 - BYU Marriott School of Business
See more about the pan-ERG initiative spearheaded by DELL’s interfaith ERG here.
Luke McCollum, Walmart exec and retired Navy Vice Admiral, to keynote Dare to Overcome
3 Apr, 2023
Why workplaces and organizations need chaplains
Luke McCollum will keynote the final session of Dare to Overcome on the morning of Wednesday, May 24, in Washington DC. His talk comes immediately as the two final tracks of the conference conclude: (a) Workplace Chaplains and (b) Global Dimensions of Faith and Work.
As a leader who has served at both the highest level of the U.S. Navy and corporate America, Luke will speak on his personal experiences with the chaplaincy and it’s role in helping teams become more resilient and high performing.
About Luke McCollum
Luke is a seasoned senior Executive Leader with 30+ years leading large organizations in both public and private sectors. He has lived and worked internationally leading milestone events including building coalitions with allies and partners. He has launched new formats and platforms, enabled international expansion, including product and engineering transformation of omni-channel supply chain operations.
U.S. Senate confirmed to serve four years as leader of America’s Navy Reserve Force (Chief of Navy Reserve) as a 3-star Admiral, Luke led operational readiness, training, and sustainment of over sixty thousand personnel across the globe in support of national security objectives. He was accountable for strategy development, operational planning, and resourcing which included regular Congressional testimony.
Luke recently completed a 25 year corporate career with the retailer Walmart, where he served as a Corporate Vice President in multiple capacities including technology, international, and supply chain.
Register for Dare to Overcome
Taking ERG impact to the next level – Equinix
3 Apr, 2023
What will your ERG Dare to Overcome as a result of this year’s conference?!
At Dare to Overcome 2022, Equinix’s Marsie Sweetland heard the story of how Dell Technologies was able to work with A21 to make significant strides in combatting human trafficking. She was immediately inspired and decided to work to unite all of Equinix’s employee resource groups (ERGs) and executive sponsors in a similar campaign.
Equinix’s FaithConnect hosted three global calls with over 600 individuals and raised more than $30,000 to assist A21 in continuing their work. “Equinix’s FaithConnect ERG allowed me to have the kind of social impact I thought I wouldn’t be able to have until I retired,” said Marsie (see her reflections on this at a recent Women’s CEO Roundtable).
At Dare to Overcome 2023, Marsie moderated a discussion by Equinix panelists on Impact/Service Work and how to take your faith-based ERG to the next level (recording above).
EQUINIX PANELISTS
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- Sujata Narayan
Director, Community Impact and The Equinix Foundation - Community & Belonging
- Dale Konrad
- Vice President, Global Technical Sales Team
- Co-Founder, FaithConnect
- Ismael Rivera
- Legal Global Operations Senior Analyst
- FaithConnect Ambassador Americas
- Marsie Sweetland
Sr. Client Executive, Global Accounts - Founder, FaithConnect
- Sujata Narayan
Hear Marsie tell Equinix’s story:
The “Superhabits” of a virtuous “Human Operating System”
3 Apr, 2023
In our previous conferences, participants have heard Dr. Andrew Abela speak about the role of virtue in business. In this year’s talk, he showed how virtue can be considered as the ‘human operating system’.
Dr. Abela discussed how extensive empirical research points to a set of “superhabits” that make up this operating system, how they underlie all human achievement, and how identify your highest priority habit and acquire it.
He introduced the “Anatomy of Greatness,” the 50 habits underlying all human achievement, based on his analysis of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Treaties on the Virtues.
See more at Dare to Overcome.
Something Significant is Happening – IN PERSON
1 Apr, 2023
Real people in a real place, optimistically connecting with genuine respect, warmth and valuable business insights… that’s what will come together in Washington, DC May 22-24 at the 4th annual Faith@Work ERG conference, Dare to Overcome!
Attendees and presenters will be people of diverse faiths and beliefs, and atheists. Many of them will be representing the most faith-friendly companies anywhere.
Whatever your faith or belief, your presence and voice at this event can help us dismantle the cultural walls that grip many companies today; walls cemented by cynicism, despair, and counter-productive fears of faith-related expression.
Learn from world-class experts about challenges presented by the accelerating use of Artificial Intelligence to facilitate Human Resource decision-making; and what can be done to address those challenges. Learn In all this, get a glimpse of why there’s hope for the future.
Register here, and come join us!
What could possibly go wrong?
31 Mar, 2023
Ethical implications of using AI in HR
On March 28, more than 1,000 tech executives and Artificial Intelligence (AI) experts published an open letter calling for reflection and a pause before continuing to develop powerful AI systems. They said, “Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable.”
Companies are implementing AI in their business processes at a quickening rate. One of the areas for potential concern is AI’s use to facilitate Human Resource decision-making. If such uses are not carefully overseen by real people, the consequences can be destructive.
Question is: Who should have a seat at the table in designing oversight and tracking mechanisms? Who should companies consult as they consider the possible dangers that should be guarded against? We contend that faith-related perspectives can add a lot of value in this hugely important arena.
This year’s Dare to Overcome Conference in Washington DC May 22-24 included an expert panel and a separate workshop arranged by our good friends at AI and Faith, a group that includes leading thinkers in the field. The panel and workshop spotlighted the challenges of using AI in HR and illustrate how diverse perspectives of faith and belief can contribute to the needed reflection.
Speakers include:
- — Kevin Richards, Vice President, Head, Government Relations, SAP
- — Thomas Osborn, COO, Vettd
- — Andrew B. Rogers, Chief Counsel to Commissioner Lucas, EEOC
- — Margot Goodson, Vice President, Head, D&I, North America, SAP
- — Dr. Jared Coyle, Head, Awesome New Stuff, SAP
You can watch the panel above as well as all of the panels on the Dare to Overcome conference page.
PayPal panel “Love Heals” to kickoff faith@work conference
29 Mar, 2023
“Love your neighbor” – a tenet that cuts across faiths and worldviews, a rule for civil society.
The PayPal Believe Interfaith ERG (employee resource group) recently refocused its mission and branding to be love and light to their customers, communities and co-workers, grounded in a common belief that love is the path to societal and personal healing.
With the theme “Love Heals,” PayPal’s Believe team will kickoff the 2023 Faith@Work National ERG Conference Dare to Overcome on Monday, May 22, at 2:00 PM in Washington DC at the Busch School of Business on the beautiful campus of The Catholic University of America.
Leaders from the Believe ERG will share personal stories of how love has helped them overcome challenges in their lives and share steps we can all take to build bridges between different faiths.
The theme Love Heals will permeate the conference and put to practice what a physician once said, “The best medicine for humans is love.” But then someone asked, “What if that doesn’t work?” The Doc smiled and replied, “Increase the dose.”
Across the three days of the conference, opportunities to explore what this means will include:
1. Understanding the role of love in healing: Love is a powerful force that can heal emotional and physical wounds. Love can help people overcome their differences and come together, despite their religious or cultural backgrounds.
2. Exploring the connection between faith and love: How do different faiths view love and its healing power? Faith can inspire and motivate people to show love and compassion towards others, even those who may not share their beliefs.
3. Sharing personal stories: Opportunities to share their personal experiences of how love has helped them overcome challenges in their lives. These stories can help to illustrate the healing power of love and inspire others to show more love and compassion towards others.
4. Overcoming barriers to love: How can we overcome the barriers that prevent us from showing love towards others? Fear, ignorance, and prejudice prevent us from showing love and compassion towards those who are different from us.
5. The importance of empathy: Empathy is a key component of love, as it allows us to understand and connect with others on a deeper level. Empathy is important in promoting love and healing in interfaith ERGs.
6. Building bridges across faiths: What steps can we take to build bridges between different faiths and promote understanding and acceptance? Dialogue, education, and outreach are important in promoting interfaith understanding and healing.
PayPal is a Platinum Sponsor of Dare to Overcome.
Ramadan 2023: Workplace dos and don’ts during the Holy Month
23 Mar, 2023
Here’s how you can be considerate to colleagues and clients during Ramadan
Excerpts from article by BY NUSRAT ALI, Gulf Business
Ramadan is one of the holiest times of the year for Muslims and following the tips below will help you show respect and strengthen your relationship with colleagues, clients, and employees.
- (1) Given the truncated working times, expect longer turnaround times across and plan your schedule accordingly.
- (2) This year, Muslims will fast for more than 12 hours. Be considerate of those fasting and avoid scheduling meetings near prayer times or late in the afternoon. Mid-morning meetings are ideal. Ask your clients/ employees if a virtual meeting would be more convenient in Ramadan to avoid driving in the heat.
- (3) Eating and drinking are not permitted in public places (except in designated areas) during daylight hours. As a sign of respect to those fasting, do not offer any food or drink in meetings. If you are in a virtual meeting, do not eat or drink when the camera is on.
- (4) Modest attire is always recommended in the UAE and this becomes even more important during Ramadan. Avoid clothing that exposes your shoulders or legs. Don’t wear revealing or short clothing.
- (5) Ramadan is also a time for strengthening relationships. Enhance business ties by inviting your clients for iftar or arranging a corporate iftar for your employees. Attend when you are invited.
- (6) Charity is strongly recommended during the month making it the ideal time for giving back to the community.
Read the full article.
Photo: Fr. Greg McBrayer, American Airlines Chief Flight Dispatcher, was recognized for his interfaith work in advance of Ramadan 2023 with the Muslim community in Dallas.
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