Fostering an inclusive workplace culture requires uncomfortable conversations and tough decisions to ... [+]
Cancel culture has become a new and trending global phenomenon in which people are exposing companies for turning a blind eye to discrimination. This act of social justice damages a company’s reputation, causes consumers to boycott them and forces them to change their ways. While employers fear being a victim of cancel culture, confronting discrimination and wrongdoing can be a difficult conversation. However, creating an inclusive workplace culture means having those difficult and uncomfortable conversations and being aware of the discrimination marginalized individuals face.
According to Farzana Nayani, diversity, equity and inclusion consultant and strategist, “underrepresented groups including women and minorities systematically face discrimination due to unconscious bias and policies that prevent their full leadership potential from being recognized and fully realized.” As a result, many are conditioned not to speak up for fear of retaliation or not being taken seriously.
Pir Fahad Momin, digital marketing expert at Slyecom, said “speaking up can be risky, but history shows that it’s also vitally important.” To many, it’s easier to bring mistreatment to HR’s attention instead of addressing it in the moment. While HR is committed to eradicating workplace discrimination and mistreatment, they rely on their workers to be their eyes and ears. Therefore, it’s better to try to address comments or behaviors immediately. The widening gap between the offensive behavior or comment and the time it’s confronted reduces the effectiveness of the feedback given.
Here are four ways you can empower your employees to call out discrimination in the workplace.
Use Storytelling To Educate
The reality is, many employees don’t come forward about discrimination because they’re not always knowledgable of what it looks or sounds like. To remedy this, employers can create open communication to share their own stories with discrimination and invite employees to do the same. Storytelling is a powerful way to help others understand how detrimental discrimination is to ones mental health. Furthermore, it provides clear examples of how it occurs.
In 2018, Starbucks had all of its stores for a one-day racial bias training. The training included a video titled “The Story of Access” that featured accounts from minority individuals on their daily experiences with racism and how it impacted their emotional and psychological health. The training educated employees on how to build healthy relationships, foster empathy and better understand their own unconscious bias. To have the greatest impact, companies should make sure all underrepresented groups (BIPOC, women and LGBTQ) are included in their training and discussions.
Equip Employees With Skills And Resources
Nayani asserted, companies should have their unconscious bias training coupled with a bystander intervention training. The combination of these two trainings will empower workers with the skills and resources to report any bias they witness or experience. In addition, they’ll be more aware of where unconscious bias exists as well as what discrimination looks like. Furthermore, employees should be trained to keep thorough documentation of each incident.
These trainings help to give employees the confidence to call out discrimination as it happens whether it’s on the spot, having a private conversation or making a report to a higher up or another manager. Samantha Moss, editor and content ambassador at Romantific, explained “calling employees out is the best step to do so they can be knowledgeable that there is something wrong with their actions. They have to know that their behavior is affecting the team so they can be more cautious.” She added, “if you have already talked to them and to no avail, this is the time that you send the issue to the management and let them handle the situation.”
It goes without saying that employees look to leadership to see if it’s worth confronting discrimination or if their reports and efforts will be ignored. This is why it’s important for companies to stand behind their zero-tolerance policies and commitment to an inclusive culture by taking every complaint seriously and doing their part to stop discrimination immediately.
Implement Anonymous Reporting
Having a whistleblower system in place allows employees to feel safe reporting any wrongdoing. David Reischer, Esq., employment attorney at LegalAdvice, said “in order to be successful, the hotline telephone number should be available 24 hours a day, and available all year round.” Likewise, the telephone number should be displayed in a prominent location and appear on all company communications.
Jack Wang, CEO at Amazing Beauty Hair, stated “dealing with a manager or someone in a leadership position puts you in a compromising spot, if you want to call them out. Because they have authority over you, it makes the situation more challenging. You may feel apprehensive, with the idea that your job is at risk. It’s an entirely different situation when dealing with a colleague.”
For this reason, having an anonymous reporting system gives victims the courage to come forward. Implementing an anonymous reporting system requires consistent communication around how the system works and the importance of reporting any wrongdoing. Employers should also emphasize the anonymity of the system to make employees feel more comfortable utilizing it.
Connect Action To The Impact
A majority of employees never confront discrimination or wrongdoing in the workplace because they’re unsure of how to do so. Thus, they become a silent bystander and never do anything at all. Employers who take the time to teach their employees how to appropriately handle situations where wrongdoing occurs will ultimately empower them to call it out immediately.
Dr. Lily Kelly-Radford, psychologist and partner at The Executive Development Group, said it’s important to call out a comment in a rational tone. This may mean you have to take time before you confront the situation, but not too much because feedback should be immediate. She explained, when someone challenges discrimination with an emotional or irrational tone, it takes the focus off of the comment or behavior that was offensive and places it on the irrational speaker.
When confronting a situation, one should share how the offending comment or behavior will impact others (team morale, company success, leadership, etc...). Likewise, it’s important to remain respectful when addressing the actions or behavior you believe to be discriminatory. One should never make a scene when confronting discrimination. Ashley Schwedt, facilitator at LifeLabs Learning, provided an example of how to ease into a difficult conversation especially if it’s with a member of the leadership team. She said, saying something along the lines of “Hey (name), this is pretty uncomfortable for me to say, but I know you care about the team members feeling like they belong, so... (insert situation)” can set the conversation up for success.
