June 5, 2020
To our colleagues, partners, customers and communities:
Here in the United States, and increasingly around the world, we have seen a flood of public grief and outrage over the killing of George Floyd last week in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We were horrified watching the footage of yet another tragic instance of senseless brutality against Black men and women in our communities.
Our thoughts are with not only Mr. Floyd’s family, but also with the families of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, other recent victims of racial violence, the entire Black community, and thousands of our colleagues whom these incidents impact in very real and personal ways. If any of us feel this doesn’t touch us, it underscores the need to ask whether we truly understand and empathize with others’ experiences.
The demonstrations taking place now in many cities show in vivid terms how much more work we must do to address racism, hate, and discrimination. This injustice has no place in our communities. Yet, inequality and discrimination are daily realities for too many people, including our colleagues. We believe that business organizations like Bechtel have the power — and the responsibility — to be a force for positive change. This starts with leading by example, and by being personally accountable, starting with me and our leadership team.
Bechtel’s Vision, Values and Covenants commit us to the ideals of fairness, diversity, inclusion, trust, and collaboration, among others. These values help define our culture, our way of doing business, and the positive impact we aspire to make in the world through our people and projects. At our project sites and offices, we have many colleagues from different nationalities, religions, and backgrounds working together to accomplish amazing things.
We have been working toward becoming a truly diverse and inclusive company. We are not moving fast enough. Too many of our colleagues, partners, customers, and neighbors continue to experience racism, discrimination, and bias in their daily lives in their workplace and in their communities. Even here at Bechtel, our feedback and data indicate we can and must do better.
We have therefore made a personal commitment to our colleagues across the globe to do whatever is necessary to eliminate any and all forms of racism, discrimination, and bias at Bechtel. We will operate with a new sense of urgency as we fight racism and improve the diversity and inclusion of our company, our culture, and — most importantly — our people. We will take actions, starting with ourselves as leaders making unbiased choices and being antiracist, to help create a more equal society within and beyond Bechtel.
We will rely on our colleagues, our partners, and our communities to hold us as a leadership team accountable for results. This is vital to upholding our values, to our personal credibility as leaders, and crucial to our company’s future, which depends on attracting, inspiring, and empowering the most capable people in the world while celebrating what makes each of us unique. We will accelerate and amplify our efforts to build the respect, trust, empathy, and equality necessary to accomplish extraordinary things together.
Brendan Bechtel, Chairman & CEO, Bechtel Group, Inc.
on behalf of and with the personal commitment of Bechtel’s Operating Committee