On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced in an email sent company-wide that it is making a few changes to its policy including dropping references to diversity and equity.
Here is the text of the complete email:
Team ,
For more than a century, our company has had a proud history of creating stories that inspire, educate, and entertain audiences of all backgrounds, all over the world. As storytellers, to truly and deeply connect with those global audiences, it is imperative that we understand and reflect the incredible depth of their lives and experiences — at every level of our company, in front of and behind the camera, on and off the screen.
Our success absolutely depends on having a team that’s truly diverse, reflects all perspectives, and has a culture where our employees feel valued and respected.
These have always been our values and that won’t ever change.
Today, we want to provide you with an update on our review announced at the Global Town Hall in January around our diversity efforts to be true to those values and make sure we continue to comply with the evolving legal landscape in the United States and around the world.
Our Continuing Values and Commitments Include:
- Continuing to Prioritize Inclusive Storytelling: We continue to be strongly committed to telling inclusive and diverse stories across our film and television programming around the world.
- Growing an Inclusive Team: One of the ways we do this is through our best-in-class recruiting and training programs, which provide essential skills training, education, and job opportunities to build career pathways into the entertainment industry for people of all backgrounds.
- Supporting All Employees: We will ensure our Business Resource Groups, which we believe play an important role in fostering community and belonging, continue to thrive as they welcome everyone to celebrate culture and share experiences.
- Investing in Employee Development: We are proud of the range of mentorship, leadership development, and growth opportunities we offer to employees throughout their careers. These programs will continue to be supported and play a role in our employee growth and development strategy.
Things That Will Change:
- Leading with Inclusion: Our overarching work in this space will now be referred to as Inclusion, which Asif’s team will continue to oversee. Making this change better aligns our language with our focus throughout our company, in our industry, and across our content. We’re updating the language we use to ensure the intent and impact of our actions are clear; you will see this new approach being updated on wbd.com as well as on our internal channels.
- Creating Consistent Program Opportunities: We will now have a uniform and consistent application process across our talent programs, including internships, mentoring, and other development programs. All of our programs will be open and welcoming to all applicants, with the goal of cultivating an inclusive home for world-class talent. By investing in world-class talent from wherever it comes, we are not only supporting growth and opportunity in this company but also strengthening the wider industry’s future.
- Ending Participation in Third-Party Surveys: While we will no longer participate in workplace surveys conducted by third parties, we will continue to gather internal data that allows us to understand how our employee base reflects the audience we serve.
Since our commitment to inclusion is essential to our business and our mission, we are undertaking this evolution thoughtfully. We are working with corporate and creative stakeholders from across the company to develop a refreshed strategy that aligns with both our business priorities and core values. We will share more with you soon as this progresses.
Telling stories that shape culture and engage people all over the world takes a commitment to diverse voices, perspectives, and experiences. Fully representing our audiences is critical to our business, our content, and our culture. We are now, and always will be, committed to ensuring our values underpin how we operate as a company.
Jennifer and Asif
Jennifer Remling
Chief People & Culture Officer
