Celebrating Black History Month is so much more

My role as US Chief Diversity Officer is to ensure ASML team members know they are valued for the unique skills and talents they bring to the organization. And celebrating culturally significant dates – like Black History Month – provides yet one more opportunity to foster a welcoming space for all employees. It’s about raising awareness and opening lines of communication for meaningful conversations.

Every individual and every culture deserves to be treated with dignity – that’s the heart of true inclusion. By providing resources and virtual events throughout the month, we’re helping our team delve into the complexities of Black culture, experiences, and to go beyond what they think they know. We’re opening the door to necessary questions, and an understanding and respect. 

Black history is American history

Black Americans have made significant contributions, helping make the US an economic powerhouse. However, even as these accomplishments are beginning to be recognized, it’s important to understand the Black experience is not monolithic. Black History Month is a great opportunity to reinforce the many and diverse ways Black Americans have positively impacted our country and made it what it is today. 

To celebrate and acknowledge this history, ASML is hosting a lot of virtual experiences for our employees, including keynote speaker events and discussion forums. There will also be an informational session about our employee resource group SHADES focused on building inclusive communities open to everyone within the organization. The group offers a way to learn about other cultures, support one another and be allies. The name of the group couldn’t be any more perfect as it represents the many beautiful hues in which people come. 

There are a lot of ways for our employees to engage, and plenty of additional resources to encourage self-education: we want the team to lean into everything from websites, to books, to podcasts, to learn more about all facets of Black history and culture.

Truly recognizing Black history takes more than one event a year

At ASML, it’s important that it’s not just about spending one month talking about things Black people have done. It is about every human being’s right – to be valued for themselves all the time. 

With the benefit of insight and knowledge, we can all start to ask ourselves: How do we support colleagues of color in our own organizations? Have we been actively inclusive co-workers?  Have we ever mentored someone who didn’t look like us? What do we want to do differently? 

The answer isn’t simple, but there are some clear steps that can be taken. We can start by ensuring we give everyone respect and treat people with dignity. This is the real essence of diversity and inclusion.

As an innovation leader in the semiconductor industry, ASML is looking for talented teams of innovative thinkers to provide chipmakers with everything they need – hardware, software and services – to mass produce patterns on silicon through lithography. You can learn more at asml.com.