Over the last few weeks, it has been especially heartbreaking to witness and experience the countless acts of racism, hate, and violence against the Black community. As CEO, I have a responsibility to stand up for critical issues facing our communities; take measurable, systematic action; and lead by example.

I am calling on tech companies, industry leaders, and people everywhere to join PagerDuty as we stand in solidarity with the Black community, using our collective power and influence to drive demonstrable change, equality, and justice. As I shared with Protocol, equality should not be a privilege, but a right for all.

With that, I am pleased to announce PagerDuty’s Day for Change initiative, taking place on June 19, 2020, in honor of Juneteenth.

Juneteenth is a day we reflect on, remember, and recommit to work every day for equality and social justice. On this day, 155 years after the emancipation of the last remaining Confederate slaves, the majority of our company will be offline (with the exception of a skeleton crew of critical operations to ensure we’re available to service our customers). During this time, Dutonians (PagerDuty employees) will be asked to use their voices to advocate for equity and critical reform for the Black community. From education to volunteerism, we’re offering opportunities for all of our employees to contribute and incite change. Specifically, we invite them to:

• Volunteer with causes that advocate for the rights of the Black community and other marginalized groups
• Participate in peaceful activism close to their home
• Educate themselves on the key issues at hand and how to create positive, long-term change
• Financially contribute to organizations aimed at the sustainable development and advancement of Black communities, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Black Lives Matter.

We ask and hope the tech community will stand alongside us by giving their employees time to reflect, educate, and volunteer to help advance the fight for change.

Furthermore, and effective today, all Dutonians may use their volunteer time off (20 hours annually) to participate in peaceful civil/human liberties demonstrations across the globe.

In addition to the efforts mentioned above, we commit to doing the following:

1. Expand on our Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity efforts, including improved access, representation, and career opportunities for all.
   We will continue to audit our efforts through targeted goal setting and quantifiable measurement, with the aim of driving accountability and results—particularly around representation within our candidate pipelines, new hires, interns, and leadership team.
2. Provide Transparency to our Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity (ID&E) efforts.
   Proactivity, Intentionality, and Transparency are the backbone of authenticity when it comes to an effective belonging strategy. With that in mind, we remain committed to publishing our ID&E strategy and diversity data (which will include both areas of success and opportunity for improvement).
3. Provide continued investment and volunteer support for racial and social equity.
   While we’re proud of the early donations we’ve made to Black Lives Matter, the NAACP, and through our equitable community grants, we understand that there is a need for deeper, long-term community investment in order to drive meaningful change. To that end, and with the help of our foundation, PagerDuty.org, we pledge $500,000 towards creating Just & Equitable Local Communities with a goal to combat systemic discrimination through voter education and turnout, justice reform, and investment in emerging community leaders of color.
4. Activate voter engagement.
   We’ve further expanded our paid time off policy to include voting in local and national elections and nonpartisan voter engagement to stimulate voter turnout in underrepresented communities.
5. Publish our global anti-racism policy.
   PagerDuty is committed to maintaining an equitable community aimed at the sustainable success and development of Dutonians of all backgrounds and identities. In keeping with that promise, we’ve crafted an explicit anti-racism policy rejecting all forms race-fueled hate and discrimination.
6. Ensure access to minority-led suppliers and investors.
   We will double down on our commitment to give our business to partners who demonstrate and prioritize diversity. This includes revising our supplier code of conduct, continuing to provide access to minority-led investors, and insisting our financial service partners demonstrate access and inclusion for minorities.
7. Double down on inclusive leadership development.
   Understanding and managing bias is a fundamental part of inclusive leadership. Today, all of our managers are required to participate in unconscious bias training, and we’re committed to expanding this learning experience across the entire organization.

We’ve also partnered with a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)–certified training organization to craft a learning experience aimed at professional-level competence in ID&E. Our executive leadership team, senior leadership team, and HR organization will be “Diversity Certified” this year.

While we know that change will not happen overnight, it must come faster. We are proud of this targeted effort and committed to the long journey for social justice ahead. I challenge all of you to take a moment to reflect on how you will take action today and every day.

Please consider joining me and Dutonians on June 19: A Day for Change.

#BlackLivesMatter