Update on Progress: ELC’s Commitment to Racial Equity

This letter was shared with Estée Lauder Companies global employees on 17 August 2020.

Dear Colleagues,

The weeks that have passed since we came together as an organisation to share our commitment to our employees and consumers in the Black community have been extremely meaningful. We, first and foremost, want to thank those of you who have taken the time to personally reach out to us, your managers or members of our leadership team to speak on the deeply personal issues of race and equality and to contribute your ideas on progress.

At the heart of these conversations, and what is behind every action we take as an organisation, is our fundamental value of respect for the individual experiences of every single one of our employees and our guiding principle of creating a culture of belonging. Addressing the systemic issues of injustice goes beyond a programme and is central to how we operate as a company and engage in our communities. This transformative moment around racial equality has placed a necessary spotlight on our responsibility to continue to push forward and advance equal representation and share of voice across our organisation. It has raised awareness of the teams and initiatives that have been helping our company advance throughout the years, and it has also brought to the forefront the areas where we can do better and move faster in a more connected and strategic way. 

Our Executive Leadership Team, who under the guidance of Michael O’Hare, Tracey Travis and a core group of leaders and management teams, have moved quickly to engage and lead progress around our company commitments to act on racial equity. While our initial efforts are focused in the U.S., we are working with our regional teams to expand our efforts in locally relevant ways.

We know many of you are eager to hear about the progress we have made, and today we are very pleased to share the first of our quarterly highlights:

• Through our I&D programme, we have held 30 town hall meetings globally since June to listen to and engage with our employees in an effort to build upon our culture of mutual respect and belonging.
• We’ve commenced our mandatory training in the U.S and UK around 'Identifying and Disrupting Unconscious Bias' to reinforce our zero-tolerance policy on bias in the workplace. Additional regional rollouts are planned for the coming year.
• Through your feedback, we are finding new ways to stand in solidarity. We established Juneteenth, the annual commemoration of the end of slavery in the U.S., as an annual holiday across the U.S. with paid time off. In Canada, we recognised Emancipation Day on 1 August, and will continue to look at other cultural moments globally to ensure that they are acknowledged in respectful and appropriate ways.
• We have begun looking across our organisation to identify gaps where we can be creating professional development and advancement opportunities for our existing Black talent to ensure that they have access to opportunity and growth within our organisation. 
• To build on our existing diversity talent resources and programming within HR and I&D, we have further engaged with a diversity-focused recruitment firm and developed new diversity recruitment resources beyond what has previously existed in our programming, including but not limited to Black and Hispanic organisations (National Society of Black Engineers, Blacks in Technology, Society of Hispanic Engineers), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic institutions serving current student and alumni groups, Black and Hispanic MBA student organisations, Black STEM organisations and Black-owned creative agencies.
• We have begun reviewing all products for local relevancy and cultural sensitivity, including a full complexion assessment across brands to ensure that the end-to-end product development and creative process accurately and consistently represents the Black experience and engages Black professionals. We look forward to rolling out an education and engagement platform for our creative teams in the coming weeks.
• We are engaging our teams to develop a strategy to find and support Black-owned businesses, creative and talent agencies and are in the process of finalising an external advisory board across fashion entertainment and talent to help guide our work.
• We are investing for change through a three-year $10 million pledge, to meaningfully support external and non-profit organisations. The Company, its brands and the Lauder family, including through The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation and the Company’s matching employee gifts, are in the process of making an initial $5 million in donations to support leading organisations advancing racial and social justice. In addition, between 25 May and 30 June, employees donated over $500,000 through more than 4,000 donations to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, the Equal Justice Initiative, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. and Race Forward.
• In September, we will continue our engagement with employees to ensure we have a regular pathway to listen and learn, and take action. Michael and Tracey will host interactive town hall meetings to engage employees from around the globe. Executive Leadership Team members will join these conversations to hear from employees and participate in these important conversations.

While our way forward will be challenged by the complexities of our operating environment in the midst of the pandemic, we personally feel energised and confident that what will continue to drive us forward as an organisation is the respect that we have for one another and our mutual dedication to a fair and equitable future.

We are proud of the steps we have taken so far and of the continued passion, engagement and involvement of our employees. Over the next few months, we will continue to deliver on our promise to you, and transparently share our progress. We want to thank you all for your continued support as we collectively act more decisively on our values.

Sincerely,

William P. Lauder, Executive Chairman and Fabrizio Freda, President and Chief Executive Officer