Sports Leagues and Social Justice | Ashland Johnson

Asking employees to leave their advocacy concerns and commitments at the door before coming into work is problematic. Outside of being employed, people deal with personal and systemic struggles that influence their workplace performance and behaviour.

Don’t wait around for your employees to initiate these conversations themselves. By being proactive in your approach to address ongoing social justice issues as they unfold, your team will recognize you care about their individual interests and lives.

Ashland Johnson is a highly experienced attorney, equity and inclusion strategist and former Division I athlete, working with major sports leagues and associations, including the NBA, NCAA, USOC and various national governing bodies to strengthen their social responsibility programming, policies and platforms at the intersection of inclusion, race, gender and the law. 

She proposes three of the most important takeaways employers can bring to their own workplaces include: 

• Creating coalitions between employees and employers
• Providing employees with the tools they need to succeed in the DEI space
• Building a team of social responsibility champions

There is no room for neutrality in our current political climate. Set your organization up for success and support your employees on their DEI journeys. Use the sports league worker strikes as a template for your own efforts and start the work today.