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Can companies be “anti-racist?”

Start by looking at executive privilege and the tiered workforce.

Eliminate the notion of privilege, [that] some people are better than others.

JOHN CHUANG, AQUENT CEO

Executive perks like prime parking spaces, fancy offices, and administrative assistants set the stage for racial bias and other forms of discrimination. So says Aquent CEO John Chuang, who has created a flat, egalitarian workplace. Aquent provides temporary staffing so it's technically part of the gig economy, but all Aquent workers are classified as employees, receiving health insurance, paid sick days, and other worker protections. “The US built its social safety net system around the employer-employee relationship,” Chuang says, “and as soon as you call them 1099 workers, you circumvent that.”

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