Standing with our Bon Appétit and Epicurious teams

Our U.S. Bon Appétit and Epicurious teams have just posted a bold, courageous statement about how we are uniting to tackle racism and transform those brands.

I spent several hours with members of those teams yesterday, and I want to thank them for their candor and for raising their concerns and questions. It’s clear we need to do better, particularly when it comes to equitable representation within our content, team and on-air talent. Along with investigating all claims of pay inequities and inappropriate workplace behavior, we are working together to address all concerns in the coming days, while we also search for a new editor-in-chief.

I recognize the onus is on me and the rest of our new executive leadership team to take the responsibility to identify and solve the issues impacting our teams. Confronting racism and attracting, retaining and nurturing a diverse and inclusive workforce will take more than just one program or solution. This needs to be a dedicated, ongoing effort that brings together all parts of our company. In addition to having a fresh and thorough look at our people practices, starting with compensation, recruitment, hiring, career growth and retention, we’re also going to create forums for ongoing open, honest dialogue to drive increased awareness about issues happening throughout the company so we can act fast. We will seek out any aspects of our culture holding us back, and we will fix them.

We are accelerating two company-wide initiatives already in progress — our Diversity and Inclusion report, to be published this summer, as well as a comprehensive pay equity analysis to be completed by year end in the U.S. and globally shortly thereafter. The pay equity analysis is a substantial piece of work that involves examining every role in our company against its job description, title and pay. We had originally planned to complete it next year, but we simply can’t wait that long. The data from these efforts will help us identify gaps and inequities across our company, so we can correct them.

We will continue to make the changes needed to foster a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace and I want to reaffirm that we do not tolerate discrimination, racism, sexism, homophobia or harassment in any form in our workplace. We’re not perfect, and we can — and we will — do better. As a company dedicated to leading these issues in our coverage and journalism, we take seriously the responsibility of being a positive force of change in our culture. But change must also begin with us.