Realtime actions
- In August 2020, we founded an internal inclusion and diversity group, at the Weekday Head office: the I.D.E.A. Task Force (Inclusion, Diversity, Equality and Awareness). The purpose of the group is to drive our I&D work and support our company in reaching our commitments. In 2021, one of our focuses is to increase our awareness and knowledge through ongoing educational programs and seminars for our employees. The task force supports all our teams and has set clear goals and developments moving forward.
- During Autumn 2021, we started working on an extended I&D group in the form of a collaborative forum for all our Weekday colleagues across the globe. This will be a safe space for the group to share experiences, knowledge, and challenges, and discuss actions that we can take and learn from to reach our commitment goals. To be launched during 2022.
- Our Print & Assortment Review Group, that we have had in place for many years, has gotten clearer goals, expectations and new members to increase the diverse perspectives. The purpose of this group is to share diverse perspectives on all our collections we launch, improving our creativity and point of view.
- We are running mandatory I&D training for all our team members. Some of the training programs so far include conscious and unconscious bias, Representation in Images and Avoiding Cultural Appropriation. Alongside the trainings, we have creative workshops and invite external speakers to educate ourselves, for example inspirational lectures with Civil Rights Defenders (a human rights organization) and All of Us (a network that helps companies increase cultural and ethnic diversity).
- We are successively increasing our representation at Weekday through a new, revised and improved recruitment process. We are actively seeking qualified candidates irrespective of race, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, age, or disability. We are committed to create a diverse and inclusive work environment where everybody feels welcome.
- We have set clear goals and taken action to assure the representation of diverse identities in our marketing and communication. Our essential mindset is to make sure that everyone in our community feels welcome and included. We want to use our platform to collaborate with creatives that have diverse perspectives which represent our community. For us diversity is creativity and creativity is diversity.
- We have established a long-term collaboration with Civil Rights Defenders, an international human rights organization. We believe that educating ourselves through external perspectives is important for moving forward. Expert opinions and shared experiences will help us to learn more and grow. Our donations to Civil Rights Defenders are made through creative campaigns and collections with collaborators in our community.
- Weekday, as a part of the H&M Group has entered partnership with the Unstereotype Alliance, an industry-led initiative convened by UN Women with the aim to end harmful stereotypes in advertising and further promote diversity. To help drive positive cultural change by using the power of marketing and communication to help shape perceptions.
- We have updated our I&D Strategy in 2022, and started several new projects to increase the internal focus on I&D.
- Weekday celebrated everyone’s right to love and be loved as the queer art magazine Container Love and their network of artists took over stores across Europe with a highly visible window exhibition called #VisibleLove in 2022.
We know we are not there yet. We are committed to improving our point of view and taking actions to make change. We are inspired by our community and do our best every day to fulfill our responsibility as a brand. And together we have a shared responsibility to counteract racism, all kinds of discrimination and to be an ally for those who take a stand for racial justice, representation and equality.
ORGANIZATIONS WE SUPPORT AND HAVE SUPPORTED OVER THE YEARS:
Civil Rights Defenders
UNHCR
RFSU
Non-Violence Project
UN Free & Equal Campaign
Red Cross Sweden
NAACP
ACLU