Leaders and managers are key influencers in creating and supporting respectful and inclusive workplaces. Catalyst reports that 49% of workers’ experiences of an inclusive workplace are explained by inclusive leadership. Furthermore, when workers experience workplace inclusion, they report higher levels of team problem solving, engagement, retention, and innovation.
Despite the research showing the benefits of an inclusive workplace for workers and organizations, Catalyst found that members of marginalized groups continue to experience bias, exclusion, or discrimination, resulting in high levels of emotional tax.
Emotional tax is the combination of feeling different from peers at work because of gender, race, and/or ethnicity and the associated effects on health, well-being, and the ability to thrive at work. Indigenous people and People of Colour report devoting time and energy consciously to being on guard for the potential of large and small acts of bias, exclusion, or discrimination.
Being on guard to bias includes feeling the need to prepare for possible insults or avoid certain situations where they anticipate bias may occur, both inside and outside the workplace. While most experiences of exclusion are detrimental, a lifetime of being marginalized can have uniquely potent effects, including those on health and well-being.
In a study of Indigenous people working in Canada, Catalyst found that 52% of survey respondents reported that they are regularly on guard to experiences of bias. Indigenous women (67%) reported being on guard more frequently than Indigenous men (38%), reflecting the disproportionate discrimination and violence they experience compared to other groups.
Catalyst also found in a study of the day-to-day experiences of emotional tax among People of Colour (Asian, Black, Latinx, and multiracial professionals) in the United States that 58% report being highly on guard because of their gender, race, and/or ethnicity. Black men (64%) and Latinos (60%) most frequently report being on guard because of their gender, race, and/or ethnicity. However, more women (40%) than men (26%) report being on guard specifically because of their gender.
Typical acts of bias, exclusion, or discrimination that cause workers to be on guard include:
- Colleagues using racially insensitive language around them
- Being mistaken for someone else of the same racial background
- Being told that they are more articulate than others of their race/ethnicity
- Others regularly taking credit for their ideas in meetings
- Being excluded from meetings relevant to their job
- Their manager meeting one-on-one with others on their team but not them
Despite feeling high levels of emotional tax, or perhaps because of it, women and men of colour who experience emotional tax also report high aspirations to succeed and thrive professionally, personally, and in their communities. The ability to consciously prepare for potential bias may enable some people to persevere and foster resolve in the face of adversity.
However, highly motivated workers who report higher levels of being on guard pay a high price. Respondents who experience higher levels of being on guard are more likely (38%) to frequently consider leaving their jobs than those with lower levels of being on guard (11%). Those who report higher levels of being on guard are also more likely to report sleep problems (58%) than those with lower levels of being on guard (12%).
Without active and ongoing leadership to address the sources of emotional tax, organizations also pay a price in terms of lower levels of team problem solving, engagement, retention, innovation, and morale.
Please feel free to share this email with your coworkers and anyone interested in creating a respectful and inclusive workplace.
