8 Actions That Help Black Colleagues Get Ahead At Work

fizkes via Getty Images To be a true ally to Black colleagues, back up your commitment to racial diversity and support with action. “I think there should be stats available when a Black applicant asks, ‘What are your metrics for diversity and inclusion?’ that every company should be tracking the retention, and then also the pay,” Harts said. “Free conference tickets don’t make up for not having a single Black speaker,” wrote Tiffani Ashley Bell, founding executive director of Human Utility, a nonprofit increasing water affordability in the U.S., in a Marker post. If you’re working on a project, and you notice that you get credit for it but your Black colleague doesn’t, give credit where it’s due with language like, “Oh, you know such-and-such was very instrumental in this” or “They actually did X, Y and Z,” Byrd said. “If you’re not used to engaging and building authentic relationships with people of color or Black employees, then you have these assumptions about who they are,” Harts said.