CEO Reflections on Juneteeth

It’s been more than a year since MarkLogic went fully remote. All of our team members have adapted well and I want to thank them for embracing change while working through challenging times. The learnings and successes of the last year will set the tone on how we will manage the future of work at MarkLogic.

Similar to other top IT companies, our employees will continue to have the flexibility to work where they can effectively meet customer expectations, achieve business goals, and realize work/life balance.

Team members at MarkLogic remain engaged sharing feedback through our employee engagement surveys, departmental Town Halls, and our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) group. We’ve branded the DE&I group internally as the “Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Advocacy, and Success” (IDEAS) team.

The IDEAS team was created in 2020. I wanted to take the time to acknowledge this initiative and MarkLogic’s efforts. The team has worked through DE&I surveys to create high-impact initiatives suggested by our employees. These have included Unconscious Bias training, review of our job postings and sites, and the creation of our internal DE&I information resources on our wiki and via Slack. They made heart-warming videos that represented their feelings surrounding recent social developments, and produced videos that showcased cultural Holiday celebrations and International Women’s Day.

Human Resources with leadership support have sponsored the team from its inception and introduced icebreaker activities so that all employees could share their unique place in the world. Topics such as “Ask Us Anything” representing the Asian team members during AAPI month and “You’d Be Surprised to Know this About Me” bonded the team through their stories and their sharing of their upbringing and differences and similarities.

This Saturday, June 19, is Juneteenth. Juneteenth marks the celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S. I encourage everyone to please take time to learn, reflect, volunteer, and support one another as we strive to make MarkLogic and all our communities more equitable for employees, stakeholders, and people of all backgrounds.

MarkLogic recognizes the importance of Juneteenth to our purpose and values as we promote and support a diverse and inclusive workplace and social justice across the globe.

—Jeff