CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ Hosts Largest Conversation About Bias and Understanding in the Workplace and Beyond

NEW YORK, Dec. 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion^™, the largest CEO-driven business coalition to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace, takes another bold action by convening more than 150 organizations for the largest "Day of Understanding" to address bias in the workplace. Each organization will engage its employees in an open conversation in more than 1,000 locations across the US about key issues around race, gender and sexuality in order to drive greater understanding and appreciation of differences.

"Biases and social injustices in our communities affect so many of us throughout our lives," said Tim Ryan, US Chairman and Senior Partner of PwC and chair of the CEO Action steering committee. "As leaders, we must lean into this issue. By creating more opportunities for dialogue, we are helping build greater trust and compassion about the experiences and challenges our friends and co-workers are navigating inside and outside of work, everyday."

The coalition's steering committee is providing a full suite of resources to participating organizations. These resources include unconscious bias training materials; guidance on facilitating courageous conversations; and personal facilitators to help shape the discussions and customize the sessions to each organization's culture.

The Day of Understanding directly ties back to the coalition's foundational commitments to make workplaces trusting places to have complex, and sometimes difficult, conversations about diversity and inclusion as well as implement and expand unconscious bias education.

"All of us, as leaders, are committed to making a meaningful difference in our workplaces and communities. This means taking action to bring our pledge to life, and creating tools and tangible experiences to engage and empower people to change behaviors and make an impact," said Ryan.

In an April 2017 survey answered by half of the coalition signatories, CEOs specifically asked for more ways to engage their employees as part of CEO Action's year two strategic priorities. With this in mind, the coalition recently launched a unique opportunity to engage citizens and employees through the "I Act On" pledge. The "I Act On" pledge is a personal pledge that any individual can take to commit to tackling bias and cultivating more inclusive behaviors in their everyday lives. All employees participating in the "Day of Understanding", as well as the general public, have the chance to take the pledge by visiting ceoaction.com/pledge.

For more information on the Day of Understanding and the "I Act On" pledge, visit ceoaction.com.

About CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™
CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ is the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace. Bringing together more than 500 CEOs and presidents of America's leading businesses, academic institutions and nonprofits representing 12 million employees, the commitment outlines actions that participating organizations pledge to take to cultivate a workplace where diverse perspectives and experiences are welcomed and respected, employees feel comfortable and encouraged to discuss diversity and inclusion, and where successful and well-known— and unsuccessful— actions can be shared across organizations. Learn more at CEOAction.com and connect with us on Twitter: @CEOAction and Instagram: @CEO_Action.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion