Over the past few years, Delta has been working on diversity, equity and inclusion issues under the direction of a chief executive who believes that “ladies and gentlemen” is not inclusive.
Kayla Lynn Johnson, Delta Air Lines’ chief diversity, equity, inclusion and social impact officer, has said publicly that Delta strives to be “boldly committed to equity,” which influences every level of the company, from hiring practices to the language it uses in gate announcements.
“So we’re starting to take a hard look at things like our gatehouse announcements — you know, we welcome ‘ladies and gentlemen,’ and we’re asking ourselves, ‘Is it as gender inclusive as we would like it to be?'” Johnson said during a panel with other DEI stakeholders in February 2021. “We’re looking at some of the outdated language that exists in some of our employee manuals, and we’re getting to the root of how some things are described and saying, ‘Is that actually sending a message of inclusivity?'”
Delta Air Lines released a comprehensive language guide in December 2020, advising employees and leaders to avoid using terminology that reinforces the notion that there are only two genders.
“Use gender-neutral words and pronouns. Avoid language that suggests binary gender (male and female),” Delta’s guide says.
A Delta spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the airline encourages employees to use inclusive language.
“Delta encourages its employees to use language that is inclusive, knowing that our global customer base represents a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, identities and experiences,” the spokesperson said.
And during the 2021 DEI panel, Johnson emphasized how important it is for Delta to be an “anti-racist company.”
“It’s been really important to us as an organization to publicly state that we are an anti-racist company,” she said. “We’re going to actively pursue diversity, and we’re talking about how we’re going to boldly pursue equity, and we’re talking about the steps we’re taking to consciously foster inclusion.”
The concept of anti-racism was popularized by activist Ibram X. Kendi in his 2019 book How to Be Anti-Racist. Some critics say Kendi advocates for current discrimination to atone for historical wrongs. Like Johnson, Kendi believes it is not enough to be non-racist; one must also be an activist against racism.
“So, like many of you, we recognize that it’s not enough to say, ‘we’re not racist,’ it’s enough to say we’re anti-racist,” Johnson added.
In addition to its employee communications recommendations, Delta has also pursued a top-down approach in its talent pipeline.
“We said we were going to review and redefine our talent strategy,” Johnson said, with a focus on “intentionally securing the talent that we need.”
She added that these metrics will be closely tracked and measured by Delta’s DEI team.
“We’re starting to specifically measure representation gaps at every level within the company on a quarterly basis — looking at representation gaps on the front line,” she said.
In addition to applying DEI to Delta’s internal culture, Johnson said in a November 2021 interview with The Airline Tariff Publishing Company that the airline is looking to promote DEI externally.
She said the company was evaluating how it was spending its “PAC funds” and “what legislation it should support” to mitigate what it deemed “injustices.”
“The next thing we said is we’re going to tackle inequities head-on,” she said. “And when we say we’re going to boldly pursue equity, that’s what we mean. So we’re going to lend our voice and our brand to supporting justice and equity. We’re going to consider where to spend our PAC money. We’re going to consider what kind of legislation we should support,” Johnson said during the DEI panel.
But Johnson said some employees were “not happy” with the changes.
“Probably the biggest challenge has been normalizing these conversations,” she said. “Notice I said that as a company we expect these conversations to be normalized. That doesn’t mean that everyone feels that way. That doesn’t mean that everyone is comfortable having these conversations.”
When asked about Johnson’s leadership, Delta told Fox News Digital that the airline “has demonstrated a true commitment to being a workplace where everyone can thrive and that reflects the full humanity of our customers and communities around the world.”
