This article was co-authored by Cassandra Le and Dr. Fox Mega
Your DEI colleagues are not ok
If you asked us to keep a mandatory journal describing our daily activities, emotional experience, and mental capacity as DEIB* professionals — what might you find?
For us, and our extended network, our notes would vividly highlight a growing issue: people working in the DEIB* space are living on the verge of burn-out.
Before we get into the details of why that is and what we can do to improve the lived reality of DEIB professionals, let’s take a moment to clarify who we are talking about when we say “DEIB professionals”. For the purposes of this article, we mean people who:
- Are working inside organizations, and hold formal DEI positions (e.g. Chief Diversity Officer, or similar), or whose role includes DEIB related responsibilities
- Are leading or actively participating in the work of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
- Are working as DEIB Consultants and Trainers advising companies and organizations from an external perspective
Although the causes of this “extreme fatigue” are many-fold, two of them stand out:
- Most DEIB professionals hold multiple, marginalized identities themselves, causing an amplification of the minority stress experienced through systemic exclusion and oppression
- The value of DEIB work is often not recognized or fully supported by companies.
Often, folx working in the DEIB space hold multiple, marginalized identities themselves. This comes with its own set of challenges, such as constantly needing to live with micro-aggressions and the effects of minority stress, not feeling comfortable to share their views, fearing their presence in certain spaces is not quite welcome, and frustration around the lack of recognition for the work.
Naturally, this only ends up making the complex and delicate nature of DEIB work even more stressful and triggering for everyone involved.
Moreover, the kind of double stress that many DEIB professionals experience in their work lives is something that white cisgender heterosexual people may not fully comprehend because they’ve never experienced it in the same way. A situation that ends up marginalizing DEIB professionals even further.
Other causes of the exhaustion and burn-out that are rampant within the community of DEIB professionals, whether internal to a company or external DEIB consultants, is that…
- Many have either taken on this role as a volunteer (usually folx working internally)
- Or need to manage the added burden of not having sufficient (company) support, i.e. resources, in the form of adequate budgets and staff support.
With this unequal scenario in mind, what can organizations that want to support and champion DEIB work do, to alleviate the enormous pressure and stress that these workers experience on a daily basis?
It all starts with establishing a true and sustainable support system for DEIB professionals within the company.
Note: To simplify this article somewhat, we’re focusing on what organizations can do to support the people working to further the DEIB mission and impact inside of their own organization. How external DEIB folx can be better supported is a whole other beast and will be the topic of its own, upcoming article.
Lack of support: why does it happen?
Before we explore some suggestions for improving DEIB professional’s work environment, let’s consider what causes this lack of support and how minority stress impacts the mental health and self-care practices of DEIB professionals and internal champions
Cause: unpaid labor and volunteering are still the norm.
Of course, volunteering for a cause that you are passionate about is a beautiful thing — as long as all parties involved agree to it and honor each other’s boundaries. However, when unpaid work becomes the backbone of a strategy, issues inevitably arise.
According to a Forbes report, although 90% of companies say that DEI policies are crucial, only 25% of those organizations are taking the necessary steps to recognize DEI-related work as substantial, pay-deserving work.
Unfortunately, an overwhelming number of companies still consider this line of work as an added benefit of sorts: a collection of tactics that leadership agrees to follow, hoping it improves a deficient or downright toxic work culture.
Besides its inability to bring in real change, this piecemeal DEIB approach also creates another problem: it encourages companies to underfund their DEIB initiatives.
When this happens, organizations refuse to adequately compensate DEIB professionals for their work — or, in some cases, don’t offer any sort of compensation.
This situation leads to your typical unhealthy and toxic cycle: companies don’t offer proper compensation → hindering the the impact that internal DEIB professionals can make → companies become even more unwilling to invest in DEIB
The rationale being: why should a for-profit company invest more time and money into something that isn’t “making true change” or “bringing in more money”?
The precarity and stress that this line of thinking creates in the DEIB space cannot be downplayed!
For the time being, many DEIB professionals and internal champions within the company operate through volunteer work; a situation that ends up generating unnecessary financial stress and other mental health burdens to DEIB professionals and often, marginalized folx within the company.
Cause: experiencing firsthand marginalization and oppression.
Experience has shown that a substantial number of DEIB professionals come from marginalized groups themselves. Because of this, we find ourselves dealing with issues that have the potential for triggering all sorts of trauma responses.
A good example of workplace issues that elicit a heightened emotional response and need for self-regulation are microaggressions. As you may know, microaggressions are behaviors or verbal expressions of racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, and ableism, that might be either intentional or unintentional.
Although these comments may not seem harmful per se, when directed to a person who comes from a marginalized and historically underrepresented group, the meaning altogether changes.
Learn more about microaggressions and how to stop these “subtle acts of exclusion” through Dr. Tiffany Jana and Michael Baran, in their book “Subtle Acts of Exclusion: How to Understand, Identify, and Stop Microaggressions”
The worst part is that, although these microaggressions are extremely common in the workplace, challenging them is no easy feat. After all, they are embedded in language and daily conversations, and changing those requires a conscious awareness of one’s biases and prejudices –work that’s not always easy.
Moreover, as the recent case of Vivianne Castillo, a former manager at Salesforce’s research and innovation unit demonstrates, trying to function in an environment where constant microaggressions are the norm is exhausting.
Having to constantly defend one’s identity and beliefs takes a deep toll on the body, the mind, and the emotions, leading to burnout and other fatigue-related issues.
How can companies provide support for DEIB Professionals and champions, improving their (mental) health and well-being?
- Professionalize DEIB work
Unsurprisingly, the first step a company can take to provide support for DEIB professionals is acknowledging that DEIB work is substantial, professional, and pay-deserving work. The best way to do this is by implementing a cohesive DEIB strategy that touches all the key areas of your company.
This is crucial because DEIB topics are closely interconnected with all other areas of a business. When a company adopts a cohesive DEIB strategy that actively works to remove discrimination, exclusion, and microaggressions from its culture and work environment, the mental health of all its employees improves, along with the ability to attract and retain top talent and thereby, ultimately, positively impacting the business bottom line.
Professionalizing this work can also look like acknowledging the actual positive impact on the business that DEIB work has, with celebrations, more appreciative communication, and of course, compensation — which takes us to our second point.
- Setting a budget for Employee Resource Groups
The second-best thing that companies can do to provide support to DEIB employees is to bring in more resources to properly support effective community care, such as creating Employee Resource Groups (ERG) as part of their DEIB Strategy — and setting a realistic budget for the work of DEIB teams and ERGs.
ERGs are groups made by employees based on their identities or experience, and they help foster a sense of community that, conversely, creates a sense of belonging. ERGs are focused on providing support for employees, contributing to personal and professional development at work, and helping create a better company culture — with belonging at its center. These groups are mostly volunteer-based and committed members normally invest their own hours into recruiting members, hosting meetings and so much more.
- Having a sustainable and holistic DEIB strategy
If you truly want your DEIB efforts to be sustainable, there needs to be a plan to make sure internal DEIB champions and DEIB professionals are supported in this type of work and NOT burning out.
This is why at Dr. Mega Consulting, we focus on weaving the golden thread of Belonging throughout our strategies.
Want to scale your impact? Focus on Belonging. Click here to read the full article on scaling your impact with Belonging as your driving force.
On a personal level: how to improve your own mental health?
As you may probably suspect, as a DEIB professional, the first step to improving your mental health is recognizing and acknowledging what your body and mind are signaling to you. Feeling exhausted and drained doesn’t have to be your norm. You are a complex, multidimensional human. Noticing your own limitations and taking care of yourself doesn’t make you selfish or mean that you care less about others. In fact, it makes you more able to do so and do so for longer.
Here are some ideas that can help you learn better ways to cope.
- Adding play & pleasure to your schedule.
In a world and culture where overperformance and general business seem to be the norm, taking time off to enjoy any activity that gives you genuine pleasure seems counterintuitive. Yet, one study performed at the Brigham Young University has shown that adding pleasurable activities and effective downtime into your schedule not only helps you improve your mental health but also increases your productivity and focus by 20%.
If you want to better understand the concept of pleasure and play and its political significance, check out adrienne maree brown’s book, “Pleasure Activism”.
- Take time to create tiny moments of joy & gratitude.
Gratitude and joy are two life-saving practices for improving your mental health. The best part of it? They don’t have to be complicated! Something as simple as being present to enjoy that first sip of coffee/any other warm beverage in the morning, noticing the bird songs as the day draws to a close, or putting on a cute pair of doggy socks to brighten your day, can make a whole world of difference.
- Mindfulness practice to harness hope.
Hopelessness and other related feelings are one of the most common negative thinking patterns that DEIB professionals experience in their day-to-day activities. Unfortunately, this train of thinking can quickly become repetitive, pulling us down even further. One of the best ways to keep these feelings at bay is by establishing a mindfulness practice.
Mindfulness is not a synonym for meditation. It can refer to something as simple as being present during a given moment of your day, such as while enjoying your meals.
Take a moment to notice the flavors and textures of your food, eat slowly and try not to let your mind wander too much, especially if work-related issues have an uncanny tendency to pop up, unannounced — which is ok. It’s human! We’ve all been there. Being kind to yourself and turning your ability of compassion towards you as much as you are using it to benefit others is another integral part of mindfulness practice.
- Resting as a way of resisting.
Rest is another self-care practice that nowadays feels revolutionary. If you want to lean more into rest, try to book a slot in your calendar for doing nothing. You can take a nap, read a book, or just allow your mind to wander and relax. If you want to learn more about the restorative power of naps, check out The Nap Ministry on Instagram.
Believe us, give yourself some quality rest and you will notice the difference!
Want to learn more self-care practices for DEIB professionals? Then check the first episode of our podcast, Let’s Talk About It with Christiana Bukalo: Statelessness & Self-Care for Activists Christiana Bukalo | Let’s Talk About It | Dr Mega Consulting
Kind reminder: we need to promote sustainable change, not quick fixes.
Finally, one thing that every company and manager needs to keep in mind when attempting to improve the mental health of DEIB workers & other champions is that real, sustainable change takes time.
Just as you would not expect to launch a new policy today and reap its benefits tomorrow morning, you cannot expect to radically improve the mental health of your employees with a single and swift institutional change.
If you want your efforts to be truly sustainable, you need to make sure people are adequately supported and not burning out.
Mental and self-care practices are one of the best ways to help burnt-out DEIB professionals alleviate the physical and mental toll that excessive stress brings over.
However, if these strategies are meant to be truly effective, they need to be promoted at both an organizational and institutional level — mainly, they need to be sustainable and holistic.
Wrap Up
In this article, we explored a pervasive problem that Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging (DEIB) professionals face daily: deteriorated mental health due to excessive stress and work overload.
We analyzed two causes behind this stress — unpaid labor and volunteering as a norm, and firsthand experience of oppression and marginalization — and we talked about two ways in which companies can provide more mental health support for their employees, such as:
- Acknowledging DEIB work as substantial, professional, and pay-deserving work.
- Bringing in more resources to properly support effective community care
We also shared some practices that can help DEIB professionals to improve their overall mental health, such as:
- Adding play and pleasure to their schedules.
- Taking time to create moments of joy and gratitude.
- Following up a mindfulness practice to fight against hopelessness, and
- Taking time to rest properly.
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Words and abbreviations used in this article:
- DEIB = Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
- ERG = Employee Resource Group
- Folx = Folks, used to especially signal the inclusion of groups that have been commonly marginalized
