The Journey Towards Equity and Inclusion: Our Ongoing Commitment to Challenge Bias and Foster Change

As told by Phillip Davis, Chair of Argus’ Belong BLAC Committee and Head of Marketing and Digital Engagement

Over the past year, Argus has made great strides to promote racial equity in our workplace, to empower our leaders to address unconscious bias and to raise awareness of structural racism

As we continue this journey, we affirm our commitment to being transparent, authentic and a force for positive change in our workplace and community

An Ongoing Journey

Improving workplace equity is not a linear path. Since the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in 2020 sparked a global call to fight systemic racism, we have turned inward as an organisation to examine our own culture and bias. Under the guidance of our senior leadership, we have embraced diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), implementing tangible goals and initiatives to affirm our commitment to create an equitable workplace for all.

Last year, when we first contributed to this publication, we were at the start of our journey of developing a programme that focused on fostering DE&I at Argus. As a part of this, we recognised the importance of first addressing the specific needs and experiences of the black community.

After a period of thoughtful reflection and discussion, we have now renamed our BLM committee, Belong BLAC (Black Leaders and Allies for Change) and have been actively implementing initiatives, programmes, and actions aligned with our ambitious manifesto, mission, and objectives to drive meaningful change.

Black History Month and Beyond

From anti-racism training for all employees to our Argus DE&I Library, all our initiatives and activities drive our mission of building an equitable workplace, attracting and supporting diverse talent, and fostering a culture of belonging with a focus on black individuals. We strive to take a deliberate approach, with clear and measurable goals, firm commitments from leadership, and a willingness to adapt and learn as we continue this process.

Our Black History Month celebrations this year reflected this intentional approach. We recognise that racial inequities and bias manifest uniquely in different cultures and locations, and as a business which operates in multiple jurisdictions, we need to be attuned to the needs of our local cultures and communities.

Our events this February in Bermuda included a Freedom Tour in Hamilton with Titan Tours; Generational Wealth Presentations by Argus’ Education & Investment Manager, Angela Joell; Beyond Seascapes: Black Art in Bermuda, a presentation by Unchained on the Rock; and the launch of our new DE&I Library.

Over 100 participants attended, including staff and members of the community. We received insightful feedback from our colleagues, which we look forward to applying towards future programmes.

Looking Outward

As we work to change our internal culture, we’ve been actively collaborating with external partners to develop a set of initiatives within Argus which enable us to create productive and courageous spaces, to have more meaningful conversations about race.

Sharing Diverse Perspectives

Our Reverse Mentoring Programme rethinks the traditional mentoring dynamic, empowering our black employees to become mentors to nonblack colleagues. Through one-on-one conversations, employees will work together to develop a culture of empathy and create tools for change together.

Promoting Racial Equity and Inclusive Leadership

Earlier this year, we had the honour of hosting Dr. Robert Livingston, a Harvard social psychologist and a leading expert on combatting bias and racism in organisations. He led four training sessions with the Argus Board, executive leadership team and people managers.

Our leaders underwent training using Dr. Livingston’s PRESS model, a sequential framework and roadmap for working towards racial equity in an organisation through incremental steps. His model suggests, first, companies must build an organisational consensus that a problem exists, understand the underlying issues, develop empathy, and then create strategies to implement change.

Embracing Courage for Transformative Change

As we continue this journey, it’s abundantly clear that DE&I is not a single event, initiative, or effort. Rather it’s a core value of our company to deliver real, substantive change for our people, clients, and community. We’re committed to our DE&I journey which requires ongoing effort, continuous learning, adaptation and, most importantly, courage from all individuals involved.

At Argus, we believe that racism in all forms is unacceptable and must be actively dismantled in our workplace and beyond. We recognise that black individuals have historically been and continue to be disproportionately impacted by discrimination and systemic oppression, and it is our responsibility to actively work towards dismantling these systems.

We seek to implement anti-racist policies and practices in our workplace, including but not limited to hiring and promoting black individuals, implementing anti-racism training for all employees, and creating a safe and inclusive environment for black employees.