I'm posting this article about BIPOC employees in the workplace because February is Black History month.
Nov. 29, 2021 "For BIPOC employees, remote work meant a welcome break from office microaggressions": Today I found this article by Anchal Sharma on CBC news:
Now more than a year into the pandemic, CBC Ottawa is looking at how people are adapting to new realities with its series The Slow Return.
As a Black woman in the corporate world, Mila Olumogba, 35, knows what it's like to experience microaggressions at work.
"I cannot tell you how many times someone has come up to me and touched my hair," the marketing executive said.
Usually, microaggressions are much more subtle forms of discrimination,
such as being confused for another racialized co-worker by a white manager,
being scrutinized by security
or having your name constantly mispronounced.
Working from home throughout the pandemic made it easier to avoid such behaviour.
"I would say that on Zoom, I didn't really have the thought like, 'Oh, I'm the only woman of colour here.' And maybe that's because I felt safer in my own space," Olumogba explained.
Now that she has been back at her office in Ottawa since August, she feels "more guarded than ever."
"It's been tough," Olumogba said. "In the workplace, I still have a lot of anxiety. It's exhausting."
Olumogba isn't alone in feeling that way.
'Not feeling respected'
Experts like Monnica Williams say working from home throughout the pandemic has provided a mental break to employees who are Black, Indigenous or people of colour (BIPOC) who are used to dealing with daily microaggressions in an office environment.
With many employers now beginning to consider a return to work in person, that feeling of safety is threatened.
"Often, it's just not feeling respected," said Williams, who is the Canada Research Chair in Mental Health Disparities at the University of Ottawa's school of psychology.
"And to not feel like you're respected in the workplace,
especially, when you're doing good work,
can be very demoralizing."
CBC spoke to more than a dozen people of colour, including lawyers, public servants and managers, who said the thought of returning to work in person made them anxious.
None of the other people with whom CBC spoke was comfortable being named in this article for fear of reprisals at their workplace.
In addition to dealing with microaggressions, many of them do not want to have to resume "code switching,"
or changing their
mannerisms,
appearance
or behaviour
to fit what is appropriate for a mostly white office setting.
As one of few Black women in her field, Williams understands these concerns firsthand.
A research study she conducted with racialized therapists and volunteers at a medical centre drew the attention of nursing staff,
who she says questioned why her team was at the centre
and whether they could prove they were allowed to be there.
"People with dark skin will tell you that just their presence makes other people uncomfortable," Williams said.
"Who wants to deal with that?"
Racism as a mental health issue
Williams says
while isolated microaggressions won't cause extreme mental distress,
they can contribute to trauma responses to ongoing experiences of racism.
At her current workplace, Olumogba has only experienced one instance of what she considers to be a notable microaggression (a joke about her being an "angry Black woman") by a colleague who is no longer employed there.
While she says she hasn't been made to feel like an outsider or a diversity hire by her colleagues, serving as the only person of colour on an eight-person executive team weighs on her.
After the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man killed by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020, Olumogba suffered from severe anxiety and sleepless nights, but it wasn't something she could talk to her co-workers about.
"I would have had a lot of difficulties trying to pretend like I was OK if I had to go to the office at that time," she said.
Another incident that took place in October was also a wake-up call for Olumogba.
She says a white man followed her husband, who is Black, home one night and called the police on him while they were on Olumogba's property in Gatineau, Que.
While she says the police were helpful and the situation did not escalate,
the experience was traumatic for her,
and she brought it up at work the following day.
Olumogba says she found herself trying to justify her feelings to her colleagues.
"I had to completely temper the story on how I truly felt and how everything really went down and why I felt it was racially motivated," she said.
"I felt like I was overly trying to express that my husband hadn't done anything wrong
… and no one forced that on me
or made me feel that way,
but it's still our reality that we face every day when we are a person of colour
and we work with people who don't understand our experience."
She says the experience has affected her ability to focus on her job.
According to Ottawa-based psychologist Helen Ofosu, that's a normal response.
"When our mental health is very fragile, we can't really tolerate some of the bumps and bruises at work as long as we could otherwise," she said.
When working from home, that was not a problem for her racialized clients "because all of a sudden, it was all about them just doing their work."
Now, Ofosu says she has clients who are seeking doctor's notes to negotiate a remote work plan with their employers.
Diversity training isn't a solution
For those who do want to return to work, there are ways employers can make the transition more comfortable, but diversity boards or equity workshops won't do it, according to Sharon Nyangweso, CEO and founder of Quakelab, an Ottawa-based communications agency that specializes in diversity and inclusion.
"The trouble with that is that a lot of the ... issues around equity
are structural,
and you can't solve structural problems with behavioural solutions,"
she said.
Instead, she focuses on looking at a company's policies and finding patterns through data.
One way her team is doing that is through a free resource to help workplaces acknowledge the challenges their BIPOC employees face.
It includes a survey that asks employees questions about the factors that impact their ability to work from the office,
such as child care
and the barriers they face in moving ahead in their careers.
Nyangweso says this will help employers identify patterns so they can better address employee concerns,
rather than relying on racialized employees to carry the burden of change.
This means organizations
"setting up the mechanisms to ensure that BIPOC folks aren't taking up the labour of anti-racism work,
whether that's through committees
or working groups,
unless they're properly included into their work plans
or performance management
and if possible, even compensation," she said.
Olumogba has started diversity initiatives at her own workplace,
including a mentorship program for BIPOC youth,
but she recognizes without her,
they likely wouldn't have taken off.
"It's just not something white people think about," she said. For her, seeing some acknowledgment of that in the workplace would be a good start.
"There's just so many ways in which workplaces can make people feel more comfortable and can be their real selves and show up fully," she said.
"When you do that, you create engagement with your staff and your employees, and they want to come into work."
As pandemic restrictions ease, more employees are returning to work in person, causing anxiety about discrimination for some.
Working from home meant fewer in-person interactions with co-workers, so fewer chances for microaggressions
such as being confused for another BIPOC co-worker by a white manager,
being scrutinized by security
or having your name constantly mispronounced.
Executive creative director Stephanie Yung and the team at Toronto firm Zulu Alpha Kilo, have developed a new tool to educate workers and combat those microaggressions.
It's called The Micropedia of Microaggressions, an online encyclopedia of everyday snubs and insults that marginalized groups face.
They're often subtle comments or actions that come from implicit bias or stereotypes.
"How can we change something that we don't know?" said Yung. She's faced microaggressions herself,
including being asked where she's really from
or being told to smile more.
"Research shows that while less obvious than overt forms of discrimination, [microaggressions] really take a significant toll both mentally and physically," said Yung.
"The last three years has been really challenging for so many different reasons. And I feel like mental well-being is top of mind for everyone."
The Black Business and Professional Association helped with the development of the tool, along with a number of other Canadian diversity and inclusion groups.
"I think this is an opportunity for corporate Canada to really look at
the factors that impede and affect our employees
and look at this tool as an opportunity to understand and learn behaviours that impact individuals, said association CEO Nadine Spencer.
Spencer said remote work was a break from microaggressions for some, but she is hearing from members that anxiety is emerging with discussions of in-person working returning.
"The fear now comes back and that lack of confidence now comes back to individuals who are going to be working in an environment where they might experience these microaggressions," said Spencer.
In a recent survey of Black Canadians,
44 per cent said they have not experienced any microaggressions or discrimination over the last year and a half
and 24 per cent said they have experienced fewer microaggressions.
"While overall, Black Canadians are facing less racism at work, it is still an ugly reality for many," said Rob Davis, chief inclusion and diversity officer with KPMG, which conducted the poll.
"Many are concerned that the downturn was
driven less by changing perceptions and understanding
and more by the fact that many Canadians have been working virtually during the last 18 months.
They are worried about what will happen when they return to the office."
Fourteen per cent said they have experienced more microaggressions or discrimination at work in the last 18 months,
and 17 per cent said they continued to experience them at about the same level as before.
New tool being used in organization strategies
The findings come from a survey KPMG conducted between Dec. 22, 2021, and Jan. 6, 2022, of 1,006 Black Canadians about whether the promises made by Canadian employers to address systemic racism in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement were making a difference.
The Diversity Institute at the Ted Rogers School of Management has been using The Micropedia in its work helping organizations
become more inclusive
and in unconscious bias training programs.
"The extent to which those commitments are being translated into actions, I think, varies quite considerably.
So there's no doubt in my mind the first step is naming the problem," said Wendy Cukier, academic director of the institute, which was consulted in the creation of the resource.
"I was doing a presentation recently where someone from my team posted it in the chat and several people jumped in and said, 'It's fantastic, you know, we've been using it.'"
Yung said the response has been "really unbelievable" and she's received feedback like:
"Can't believe this doesn't exist before, this is just so helpful to see. I didn't know that that was a microaggression."
Users can submit entries and since the launch in December 2021, submissions nearly doubled the total number of entries to 230.
The microaggressions are divided into nine categories such as
race,
gender
and disability.
A 10th category on body size is being added after feedback from users.
So far, the site has had more than 29,000 unique visitors from more than 115 countries and 2.19 million impressions on social media, according to Zulu Alpha Kilo.
The project has received a positive response from a number of
global diversity,
equity
and inclusions
and human resources professionals
from private sector businesses,
government
and not-for-profit organizations
who have embraced and shared it, said Yung.
The Micropedia isn't about judgment, but understanding that people can change when they know more, she said.
"This can really help us create a better environment that really starts to achieve … the diversity, equity and inclusion goals of many businesses and organizations."
Yung said it's a tool for people who want to help
and can "create that future where people aren't anxious or scared to go to work and scared to go to school."
Anxieties about microaggressions rise as in-person work returns | CBC News
These are the other 2 blog posts:
"Companies make progress on anti-Black racism, but workers worry about recession: poll"/ "Black Canadians report high levels of racism despite workplace improvements"
"Remote work has vastly improved the Black worker experience"/ "I’m a Black woman and a CEO — and the return to office has me worried"
https://badcb.blogspot.com/2025/02/remote-work-has-vastly-improved-black.html
My week:
Maria A, Montréal, Québec, would like to know:
Are you planning to buy more Canadian products in response to the measures announced by Donald Trump?
Yes, when it's possible 47.60% (2264)
Yes 44.51% (2117)
No7.88% (375)
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How do you stay fit?
By combining a balanced diet and exercise 48.84% (3922)
Not applicable 24.69% (1983)
By following a balanced diet 13.24% (1063)
By exercising regularly 13.24% (1063)
In case you're wondering, places I have a birthday *party at go out of business. 
. And when my new boss bought a cake for work, I ended up leaving shortly after.
or just a coincidence?This is my Dec. 2021 blog post:
grey issues (Part 1)/ Justin Berry/ intervention/ abortions
Tracy's blog: grey issues (Part 1)/ Justin Berry/ intervention/ abortions (badcb.blogspot.com)
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