Six Ways for Your Company Leadership to Address the Overturn of Roe v. Wade
With the dismantling of abortion rights in the US, several of my clients have reached out to ask for guidance on how to support their staff in the aftermath. I’ve written some (imperfect, because I, too, am gutted by this news) guidance that I hope will be useful to leaders in other organizations as well. Please feel free to contact me with anything I’ve missed or share additional resources.
Communicate now. Say something now if you haven’t yet. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but make sure it’s meaningful and substantial. Silence speaks loudly.
Be inclusive. In your communications language, try to be as inclusive as you can. Notably, abortion rights are not just a “women’s issue” – this is a human rights issue. People of all genders (including trans and nonbinary people) have abortions and are impacted by abortion access. The overturn of Roe v. Wade impacts people in already oppressed groups the most, like people of color, poor people, queer people, disabled people, and more. Centering those most marginalized and those directly impacted starts with reaching out to staff in these groups. See the next bullet for more on this.
Ask your staff what they need. If you have them, your DEI Council and/or Employee Resource Groups are great resources to find out what folks on your staff need right now. Reach out to them before and after sending comms. Request their input and feedback when writing policy having to do with abortion access. Ask what support they'd like to see leadership offer staff and what they'd like to see leadership doing at this moment. Remember: It is not their job to write your policy, be abortion access experts, tell you what to do, and/or do it for you (unless you compensate them for that work), but they’re a great resource to tell you what their constituents need and want.
Make space. Make sure employees have the actual space they need to process. For many of us, it is impossible to focus on work right now. If staff need to take a day or three to cancel meetings, make sure it's feasible for them to do that. This is part of what sick leave needs to be for. If your company does not offer unlimited sick leave, create an extra pot of sick leave for staff to use for this. If there are large meetings scheduled for early this week, try to reschedule them. The expectation that staff continue to work at 100% productivity as we receive a barrage of devastating news is just unsustainable, and this is an excellent opportunity to start changing our norms around that.
Offer benefits. Companies offering monetary support to their staff for abortion care access is (very imperfect and also) very important. If you intend to put together a policy that will cover staff costs for traveling for and receiving abortion care, this is a great time to tell them you are doing that. I can help you write it -- here's an example I helped one client with in the anticipation of this decision. Even if you don't have a policy right now, you can tell them in your comms today that you are working on one. A couple notes on this:
As you write your policy, think about those your company pays who are more likely to be part of the groups most directly impacted by this decision. This may include contractors, janitorial and building staff, etc.
Remember this kind of policy is never going to be truly confidential, because someone in your company is going to have to process the requests for time off and compensation. Think about how you’ll handle this, and make sure folks involved (including managers approving time off requests) are properly trained on confidentiality.
Strengthen relationships with values-aligned leaders. To the extent that any of your board members (or your company itself) make political donations, it's a great time to make sure they are not donating to anti-choice politicians or PACs. (It’s also a great time to build stronger relationships with board members and potential board members who donate to pro-choice politicians!)
I anticipate this guidance will evolve over time, as more best practices emerge, and I’m looking forward to updating it accordingly. What else do you wish your company would do? What strong responses do you want to lift up as examples? Please share so we all can learn from each other.
In solidarity,
Natania