By Lynne Pederson, ALF Senior Fellow, Class XXXVII––
After the George Floyd killing, we all received emails from companies pledging their commitment to advocating equality. Since then, many companies have invested in businesses owned by people of color or organizations dedicated to pursuing equality in our justice system, democratic system, the banking system, and educational institutions. As a person of color, I appreciate the allegiance to equitable treatment. I was encouraged by the outpouring of allyship. It was refreshing, inspiring, and filled me with hope. I, myself, fielded questions from friends and acquaintances asking how they could advocate for racial equality. I encouraged them to say something if they see something – to speak up if they witnessed discriminatory, sexist, or disrespectful behavior. One friend asked, how do I do that at work?
The question is a good one. We have been conditioned for many, many years, to avoid discussions of politics, race, or religion at work. If people are being denied their livelihoods, the careers they have worked their entire lives for, for advocating equality, how can we ask our coworkers to risk retaliation for speaking up for something bigger than themselves?
We have all witnessed inappropriate comments or discussions in the workplace. Our responses, or lack thereof, to those expressions, either reinforces or discourages future expressions. When a coworker walks past his manager yelling at his peer, his silence reinforces the behavior. By walking past the event, the coworker misses the opportunity to speak up and advocate for a more respectful and positive work environment. Yet, if the coworker wants to speak up, who does he speak to? Does he interrupt the heated dialogue? Does he report it to his manager’s manager? Does he report it to HR? For employees to feel safe in speaking up, companies must establish programs, processes, stakeholders that are responsive, and leaders who are skilled at talking about race and racism and its implications for the organization.
How a company addresses discriminatory, sexist, or disrespectful behavior defines the company’s culture. The last time I spoke up against discriminatory and sexist behavior in the workplace, my request for assistance was met with threats and marginalization. The company’s response signaled to me as well as others who witnessed the behavior to keep quiet. So, how do we embolden our colleagues to speak up when their advocacy may make them a target? How does an organization promote, facilitate, and advocate dialogue, empathy, and allyship throughout its ranks?
We are at a critical moment in America, and the deep divisions must be addressed with systemic change. Taking a real stand for racial equity in our corporations is the measure of leadership. And now, a new set of challenges are testing corporate leadership’s ability to support their employees and their communities. With that said, there is no singular or right way to engage in race equity in the workplace. Creating a race equity culture requires an adaptive and transformational approach that impacts behaviors and mindsets and practices, programs, and processes. And while each organization will follow its own path towards a race equity culture, there are actionable steps your organization can take to launch its race equity work.
“We are at a critical moment in America, and the deep divisions must be addressed with systemic change. Taking a real stand for racial equity in our corporations is the measure of leadership.”
One of the first steps is to identify race equity champions at the board and senior leadership levels. Select leaders who can set race equity priorities, communicate them broadly, drive accountability, and influence the depth at which race equity is embedded in the organization. Another step is to name race equity work as a strategic imperative for the organization. Define and communicate how race equity connects to your mission, vision, organizational values, and strategies. Then, open continuous dialogue about race equity culture. Creating an environment where these dialogues are possible fosters inclusion, belonging, and safety. Employees need to feel heard, safe, appreciated, respected. Next, collect, disaggregate, and report relevant data to get a clear picture of inequities and outcomes gaps, both internally and externally.
When your organization has fully committed to a race equity culture, equity becomes part of the culture, moving beyond special initiatives. Employees know when there is an inconsistency between inclusive words and divisive deeds. For employees to feel supported, safe, and valued, trust is a critical element, and the alignment of word and deed is under scrutiny. So how a company deals with reports of experiences of inequitable treatment is essential. The systems are then put in place to prevent these unconscious, systemic, and structural biases from continuing are critical. Companies need to look at whether employees are complaining en masse about a particular issue or whether the company is suffering from high turnover or if there are consistent claims of inequities being expressed by employees.
The two things employees are looking for in a race equity culture are competency and empathy. Employees are looking for a commitment to specific actions within their workplace. Organizations that demonstrate this commitment exhibit characteristics, such as leadership ranks holding a critical mass of people of color; staff, stakeholders, and leaders are skilled at talking about race, racism, and their implications; programs are culturally responsive and explicit about race, racism, and race equity; communities are treated as stakeholders, leaders, and assets to the work; evaluation efforts incorporate the disaggregation of data, and continuous improvement in race equity work is prioritized.
We are all complicit when we tolerate injustice. Each of us needs to commit to speaking up and speaking out even when we are not directly impacted, for there is no such thing as neutrality in the quest for equity, justice, and inclusion. However, if an employee speaks up and the company is unresponsive or hostile, a race equity culture will not be possible. If an organization has taken steps to create a safe, responsive environment, but employees will not speak up, a race equity culture is difficult to maintain. Building a race equity culture requires our organizations and leadership to create, foster, and facilitate an environment for anti racism to flourish and for the unaffected individuals to be as outraged as those who are. It may not be our nature to work together, but the work cannot be done alone.
So, for my friend who asked how he can advocate for race equity at work, In the words of the late John Lewis, “…it is not enough to say it will get better by and by. Each of us has a moral obligation to stand up, speak up, and speak out. When you see something that is not right, you must say something. You must do something.”
Lynne Pederson (Class XXXVII) is an organizational leader focusing on diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging. Lynne graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara with a B.A. in political science; and from Golden Gate University, School of Law with a LLM with a concentration on labor and employment law.
