You Can’t Give Up: A Guide to Effectively Supporting Black Employees
If you’re an employer, and you haven’t said anything by now — it’s time. You haven’t missed your window. Systemic racism has existed for well over 400 years, and it’s not going to end this month.
For those of you that have said something — the work isn’t done. You may have found that you’ve said some of the right things, or some wrong of the things, or a little of both. It might feel uncomfortable right now, that’s okay. Lean into that vulnerability and discomfort, because that’s the kind of self-evaluation and accountability we’re going to need to dismantle systemic racism that exists in and out of the workplace.
I bet many of you are wondering when things will feel resolved. How long will this whole dismantling of systemic oppression take? Now that we’re all realizing how real the sense of burnout is in regards to non-Black people acknowledging and fighting racism, you may be feeling anxiety about where things will go for your workplace. I’m here to tell you that those of us who are Black are hoping that things never go back to normal. We don’t need you to burn out; we need you to not give up. Not for your own sense of accomplishment, but for the Black employees that you have the responsibility to lead and serve.
We don’t need you to burn out; we need you to not give up. Not for your own sense of accomplishment, but for the Black employees that you have the responsibility to lead and serve.
We’re well aware that we are fighting two pandemics right now. One is a novel coronavirus that has arguably left no working person’s life unaltered. The other is the age-old pandemic of racism, a deadly disease that has infiltrated every corner of the world. A vaccine doesn’t exist for the first, and a vaccine will never exist for the second. So we sit in discomfort — waiting, fighting, trying. We all have to work together not only so the vulnerable among us can survive these deadly diseases, but so that society can heal and thrive as a whole.
As it pertains to your workplace, ask yourself — what have you done to fight coronavirus? What have you stopped doing? What practices have you implemented? What costs have you incurred? And are you willing to employ the same energy and resources to tear down systemic racism?
Let’s say you are willing to take the necessary steps needed to protect your employees from bigotry and “flatten the curve.” Whether your workplace is currently a physical space or a virtual one — here are some steps you can take to support Black employees right now:
Speak Up
There’s no gray area here: you either believe Black lives matter, or you don’t, so make it abundantly clear, loud, public, and unequivocal.
Listen
Don’t use “listening,” as an excuse to stay silent any longer, but instead make it known that you are learning. Learning shouldn’t stop. It is a lifelong commitment. You can be well-meaning and not be listening. Failing to listen can look like sharing misinformation on what black experiences look like, what racism looks like, what systemic oppression looks like. It can look like, if you’re Canadian like me, assuming that racism “isn’t that bad” compared to in the States. See Doug Ford’s ridiculous comments ignoring the experiences of Black Canadians. Failing to listen can manifest as covert (as opposed to overt) racism.
Speaking without listening is hurtful because the offender is speaking out of turn and undermining the personal, first-hand experiences of Black people. Learn to listen so you can use your position of leadership to accurately amplify the voices of Black employees.
In addition to being siloed physically, our virtual spaces have been inundated with triggering content for weeks on end. We are mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted.
Give More Paid Time Off
Start by encouraging Black employees to take time off as needed right now. As we’ve been working from home, it might not seem that we need time off, but we’re dealing with a lot right now. In addition to being siloed physically, our virtual spaces have been inundated with triggering content for weeks on end. We are mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted.
Don’t limit extra PTO to Black employees. Offer a day off to all employees to educate themselves on systemic oppression. There are countless books, documentaries, curriculums and other resources out there to make available to your company.
Commit to making Election Day a paid holiday so your employees can actually take part in democracy. Learning about a broken system only accomplishes so much if we don’t have the opportunity to vote for the institutional change we need.
Give us a Raise and a Therapy Stipend
Statistically speaking, your Black employees are undervalued and underpaid. Make the commitment to paying us a living wage, and beyond that, equal pay to that of our white counterparts.
Money can’t solve everything, but it can help a lot. Besides the obvious reasons, like living through four hundred years of institutionalized racism and oppression, we need therapy. We need to invest in our own self-care. We need insurance to cover these services. And all this takes money.
Champion Us and Promote Us
On matters of racial equality in the workplace, you have no better resource than your Black employees. Allow us to voice our opinions, experiences and concerns. Welcome and champion our ideas, because they are inherently valuable. This doesn’t mean to place the burden of implementation on us — that’s your job.
On matters unrelated to race, champion us anyway. Our ideas and insights are valuable. Promote us into positions of leadership and influence. When your leadership is truly diverse, you won’t have to try so hard to create safe and inclusive spaces for Black employees.
Hire A Chief Diversity Officer
Your Diversity and Inclusion employee resource group won’t be able to move the dial on their own. If you want to make a commitment to doing great diversity, equity and inclusion work you will need a dedicated person or department committed to moving initiatives and programs forward. Please, stop seeing this as an extracurricular activity with which to burden your “diverse” employees. We do not have the time or energy to do our full-time jobs and make sure your company is doing its job of inclusion.
No matter the size of your company, you can bring in a consulting firm to come in and talk about race, or a facilitator to provide mediation sessions. You can provide career, financial, and general life coaching services to Black employees. Everyone can do something, and proper training is absolutely essential to helping people work consciously with others who are different from them.
Put New Systems In Place
Now is a great time to start or revamp your Diversity & Inclusion Programming. D&I has often failed at considering intersectionality. Research it and understand the many layers of diversity that your employees bring to the table, and consider what (or who) might be missing from that table.
Ensure that you’re including every employee in cultural sensitivity training, not just upper management. Microaggressions often come at the peer level. No one is exempt from the responsibility of creating a safe workplace for Black employees.
Your policies should reflect zero tolerance for any form of discrimination, inside or outside of the workplace. Understand that this means terminating employees who commit acts of racism and bigotry. See Franklin Templeton’s statement upon firing Amy Cooper.
Hire More Black People
Your diversity box isn’t ticked if you only hire white women, white LGBTQ+ folks, or non-Black POC. Black people are historically left behind, even in diversity hiring initiatives. Perhaps consider employing those who have been imprisoned for nonviolent crimes, as Black men and women are disproportionately incarcerated for nonviolent offences. They, therefore, face disproportionate hardship securing jobs after serving their sentences, thus perpetuating the cycle.
Employ us more, period. If you don’t know where to start, you can work with black-owned firms or consultants like me to help navigate this process.
Don’t Give Up
I repeat: Do not give up.
Right now we are heading into the fatigue and withdrawals that come from weaning ourselves off of the systemic oppression that has artificially sustained our civilization for centuries. To be clear, we’ve hardly done anything yet. The policies, standards, and every other system used to formally perpetuate a culture of racism and bigotry are still alive and well.
It’s not enough to say Black Lives Matter once and then go on living as though they didn’t. As if we didn’t. If you give up now, the Black people of your organization will have endured this brutal season, these excruciating conversions, the traumatizing images — only to be left feeling completely exposed, exhausted, and vulnerable. And for what?
To Black people in the workplace, it feels like we’re finally going to be heard, but once that door opens up, many of us wonder — when is that door going to shut in our faces?
We know it’s awkward and uncomfortable. Trust me — the discomfort has always been real for us. We know it’s exhausting — but understand that we’ve lived this exhaustion our whole lives. We know it will cost you time and money — but remember that it has cost us our lives. We’re asking you to take that burden. But I want to be clear: while I’m asking you to stand with us — I am not asking you to save us. We don’t need white saviours. We need long-term, foundational and fundamental ways to support us and dismantle four centuries of damage.
You might have done some work these past few weeks. Now let’s try the next few months. The next few years. The next few generations. And then, and only then, will we begin to chip away at the work that needs to be done. We have always needed you to take these steps. But now, for hopefully more than a moment, you seem to be listening.
Talk soon,
Avery
One more thing — At Bloom, we support companies who aren’t ready to hire a full-time HR or Recruiter but need the leadership on an interim basis. We do the nitty-gritty foundational work like implementing the best tech, tools and processes that are infused with your org’s values. We build diverse teams, develop equitable hiring systems and design inclusive workplace experiences. Read this article and still need help? Feel free to connect with me here.
