Black Careers Matter: 10 Steps Employers Should Take to Follow Through on Those #BlackLivesMatter Statements

The Problem

The last couple of months have seen a remarkable, and largely unprecedented, outpouring of support for people of African descent in the US. Across the corporate world, employers are making public statements about the value they place on the lives and professional contributions of Black employees. It is heartening to see these displays of empathy. However, as with many employers’ existing statements regarding the value they place on diversity, the numbers often tell a different story regarding an employer’s, or industry’s, history with respect to the hiring, retention, and promotion of employees from underrepresented demographic groups.

I appreciate these public statements of support, and I hope that Corporate America is sincerely looking for ways to foster more inclusive work environments in which all employees can truly bring our full professional selves to the workplace and thrive in any and every industry. To that end, I have prepared a list of concrete steps that every employer should take in order to attract and nurture talented employees of all backgrounds.

The Solution

Here are ten steps that you should take to put your money where your mouth is when it comes to valuing all employees. Change won’t happen overnight. Transformation takes time. Without an earnest commitment to living these principles—not just while there are protests happening outside, or for the following quarter, or even just through the end of the next fiscal year, but permanently—there will be no lasting change, and numbers with respect to retention and promotion of non-majority employees will continue to look as anemic for many employers as they do right now.

1. Hire Black and other non-majority employees for skilled and senior positions

Many employers like to show off the numbers of Black employees they hire at entry-level positions. However, those same employers are frequently reticent to discuss the numbers of Black employees and employees of other underrepresented groups in senior roles, particularly upper-level management. Most efforts and attention are directed toward students and recent graduates. Employers often like to repeat the refrain that it’s difficult to find qualified Black candidates (or Latinos, or women, and the list goes on) to fill skilled positions or leadership roles.

My question to those people is: where have you looked? When you receive a resume from a graduate of one or more top universities who has relevant work experience and belongs to a demographic group that you know is underrepresented in your workforce, do you make sure to give that candidate due consideration? Are you actually looking at all of the qualified candidates who apply?

Furthermore, what proactive steps are you taking to find qualified employees? Has your HR department or recruiting team reached out to Black alumni groups affiliated with highly ranked universities? What about other professional networks? If you’re looking for Black engineers, for example, have you established ties with the National Society of Black Engineers in order to generate a pipeline? Alternatively, if you’re looking for diverse business leaders, for instance, have you connected with the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management in order to find well-qualified candidates of all ethnicities? This is low-hanging fruit, as other people have already done the work to establish these networks of highly qualified candidates of different ethnic backgrounds for you. All you have to do is get in touch.

Just establishing a pipeline of applicants isn’t enough to boost your numbers, however. Once you’ve established that pipeline, are you giving all qualified candidates due consideration? If you have a diverse pool of applicants but your workforce looks the same as ever, what steps have you taken to eliminate implicit bias in hiring?

Build multiple pipelines of talent from underrepresented groups, and then learn to recognize talent when you see it.

2. Stop overlooking non-majority employees for promotions and leadership positions

Hiring employees of diverse backgrounds is one step. Recognizing their contributions and promoting them from within is the next. If you are hiring high numbers of women, Black employees, or others who are underrepresented in your workforce, but most of those employees seem to disappear within a few years, then your problem is not recruitment. It is internal.

Across the legal industry, for example, there is a huge discrepancy between the talent pool that law schools provide to firms, and the talent that firms actually mentor and promote to partnership or other senior positions. The December 2019 Diversity Report from the National Association for Law Placement indicates that the proportion of women among law firm associates is almost twice as high as the proportion of partners who are women. Just over a quarter of associates are “people of color”—that’s all non-White attorneys combined—but that number drops below 10% among partners, and isn’t much better among counsel at 11.5%.

The problem is not restricted to one industry—indeed, the challenge would be to find an industry that presents an exception to this rule. Top tech companies, despite spending years tracking and publicly releasing statistics on the ethnic composition of their workforces, have yet to make a meaningful increase in the numbers of any employees other than those of Asian descent. Hollywood seems to have started to realize that films starring women and non-White actors (including non-White women) can be among the most lucrative films ever created, but the industry still has work to do on the other side of the camera.

Hiring impacts those numbers, but what you do with underrepresented employees after they join your team is just as important as getting them to join your team in the first place.

Give non-majority employees equitable consideration for new assignments, roles, and leadership positions.

3. Stop viewing non-majority employees as disposable

When employers hit hard times, who are the first people to get laid off? Black employees, Latinos, and women. It has happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, but this is not a new phenomenon. Managers are much more likely to lay off individual contributors than to lay off managers or reduce employee compensation in order to retain employees through downturns. Because women and non-White employees primarily occupy those roles that management views as disposable, those groups are hit harder by layoffs.

This ties in with the first two points: valuing women and non-White employees in the workplace entails that they won’t be the first employees of whom you dispose when you want to buffer your profits or mitigate your losses by enacting layoffs. Layoffs are already not a long-term solution to the problems that cause a business to be unprofitable, but if you’re going to use them as a management tool, then be even-handed about it.

Take a long-term view of your employees and their worth. Layoffs won’t save your business, and history shows that you’re more likely to lay off the underrepresented employees you claim to value.

4. Be open to input from non-majority employees regarding the work you do

It’s common for employees from underrepresented groups to get the sense from some of our colleagues and managers that our ideas—and even our very presence—are unwelcome. People often intimate in subtle or not-so-subtle ways that we should be happy that we were simply allowed through the front door.

How can you combat this hostility? In part by ensuring that all employees you hire—not just those who look and sound like the managers—have the regular opportunity to do meaningful, impactful work.

In addition, be open to constructive feedback about how you do the work you do, and ideas about how you can do it better. Many employers and managers like to say that they are open to constructive criticism from younger generations, for example, and might even go so far as to actively solicit it. However, actually receiving constructive criticism is another matter. Many employees, especially when we’re younger, take those statements seriously, so if we see that something is broken, we’ll share ideas about how to fix it. Unfortunately, for those of us who aren’t members of the right background, this is the quickest way to get ourselves branded as “not a team player,” no matter how politely we frame our ideas, and even if we nominate our White colleagues as potential leaders who can manage the action items we suggest.

Learn how to receive thoughtful critiques without feeling threatened by them—especially if you’ve pressured your employees into giving you constructive feedback in the first place. If they have ideas about how to improve your workflows, that’s because they care about what they—and you, collectively—do. Quelching that passion by silencing or alienating those who bring new ideas to the table is the surest way to demoralize your employees and start your team on the slow march to stagnation.

5. Be open to critical feedback from non-majority employees about your work environment

One of the most common responses that employees from underrepresented backgrounds receive when we speak up about any sort of discomfort or harassment in professional environments is that we should stop talking about these issues, or no one will hire us in the future. That response is intended to stifle exposure and discussion of problem areas that an employer needs to address—and it works, probably much more often than not. Critical statements about the work culture are even more apt to get a non-majority employee ostracized and branded “not a team player” than critical statements about the work. In the interest of preserving our own livelihoods and careers, non-majority employees often have to make the conscious decision to bite our tongues for fear of retaliation and blacklisting.

If you’re reading this article, then you already know that you have work to do with respect to diversity and inclusion. Instead of reacting defensively, take steps to temper your own reaction, listen, and jointly identify action items that will enable your team to move forward in harmony. Additionally, even if you enter these conversations with good intentions, take care not to commandeer the conversation to be about what you want, think, or need, or allow other majority colleagues to do so. Again, you are receiving this constructive feedback because your employees value being part of your team and want to feel more comfortable both being on the team and bringing in others like them. They are already taking conscious steps to accommodate and please you on a regular basis. Now it’s your turn to do the same.

Don’t react emotionally to constructive feedback regarding your work culture. Listen to learn, and frame your response in terms of what you can do to support and collaborate with your employees.

6. Recognize the contributions of your non-majority employees

It’s not enough to simply stop punishing certain employees for challenging the status quo. When an employee achieves some sort of positive result for the team, acknowledge it. Praise it. You don’t need to hand out trophies or give everyone a bonus for every win, but do give positive recognition where it’s due. A toxic manager will attempt to downplay the achievements of individual contributors in order to protect his or her own position by making everyone else’s contributions seem less significant. A discriminatory manager will offer praise, new projects and responsibilities, and promotions only to employees whom (s)he prefers personally, while ignoring or downplaying the accomplishments of other employees when they achieve comparably positive results.

Don’t be toxic. Don’t be discriminatory. Give praise to all employees who have earned it.

7. Don’t use underrepresented employees as guinea pigs to try to reform your “bad apples”

It takes only one toxic co-worker to create a toxic environment. If a colleague, or in particular a manager, simply refuses to acknowledge the merit of his or her colleagues or reports from other backgrounds, or their right to be part of the team, then it is unreasonable and unfair to expect an employee from an underrepresented group to single-handedly catalyze a transformation of character in that problematic employee. Our careers are not disposable resources that you can use to test your other employees’ willingness to work with their fellow humans.

A person who has trouble respecting people of other backgrounds is naturally not going to place much weight on what they have to say. However, a co-worker who exhibits prejudice might still listen to members of his or her demographic group. A man will likely have more luck challenging another man regarding a sexist statement than a woman who challenges that statement, precisely because their sexist co-worker is less inclined to listen to women. Similarly, a racist employee will likely respond more positively to a colleague of the same ethnicity than to a colleague whose ethnic background (s)he views negatively. If you are White, challenge racist statements made by your White colleagues or employees. If you are a man, challenge sexist statements made by your male colleagues or employees. The burden is on everyone to push for evolution beyond bigotry, not just the targeted groups. Leaders are in the best position to set the tone for the rest of the team.

Do your part to advance the conversation and challenge intolerance. Make it clear that this ideal is a team commitment. Don’t try to shove the entire burden of solving prejudice onto the people it harms.

8. Don’t default to a majority-first view of your workforce

Once, in business school, I posed a question to some of my White classmates about whom they would want on their team between an openly racist, White prospect, and someone like me: a non-White prospect who will openly and unapologetically challenge racist views in the workplace and remind people that bigotry is unprofessional and has no place in the office. The answer from the first of my classmates to respond was telling. They said not only that they would prefer the racist, White employee over me, but that they would not want to disrupt the existing team to bring on someone (me) who, in their minds, would create friction.

There were at least two key things wrong with that response.

First, I had never indicated in my hypothetical question that the White prospect was already on the team, or that I was not. In their heads, however, some of my White classmates had already decided that the fictional White person was an existing member of their team, whereas I, an African American (a real, live one!), was an outsider trying to get in. That viewpoint is unfortunately not uncommon. If your employees view non-majority job candidates or employees as outsiders, then you have a culture problem. The way to fix it is by communicating clearly and regularly that all of your employees are valued contributors who are on equal footing and deserve equal respect and consideration. Lead by example. Demonstrate acceptance and appreciation of your employees of different backgrounds by giving promotions, work, and recognition wherever and whenever they are due.

The second problem with my classmates’ response was the default to appeasing the toxic co-worker in order to avoid conflict. If you have a toxic employee who actively chases away your other talent and refuses to stop, then you have a choice: either (1) continue to let him/her chase away other talent by harassing them when they join the team, (2) stop hiring diverse talent, which some of my classmates apparently decided would be their approach, or (3) get rid of the problematic employee and make room for people who can do the same job without antagonizing their co-workers.

If you want to create a work environment where all employees are genuinely welcome and feel welcome regardless of their ethnic or national backgrounds, sex, gender, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or other demographic traits, then the choice is obvious.

(For anyone struggling with it: it’s the third option).

Job candidates of one background do not have more of a claim to the position than candidates of other backgrounds. They are not the default candidates to hire. Employees who are in the majority group do not have more of a right to be on the team than employees from underrepresented groups. Remember that and remind those who forget.

9. Don’t place the burden of proof on your employees from underrepresented groups

This is another area of unconscious bias that some people will have to train themselves to overcome. Many people have a tendency to default to believing the word of those they favor, while remaining skeptical of the word of others until they receive incontrovertible proof of its validity (and sometimes, even that is not enough). This implicit bias can manifest in any context; it is not restricted to discussions that explicitly entail issues such as workplace discrimination.

Sometimes, people will be able to prove their sides. For example, when I was practicing law, a senior partner once indicated on an email chain with several people cc’ed that I had never sent him a document that required his review and input. Fortunately, I had a paper trail, which I leveraged. Rather than simply attach the document to the current email chain, I instead forwarded the original email in which I had sent the document in question (with a polite “please see below”)—and I cc’ed all of the same people so that there could be no room for doubt as to whether I had previously sent it.

Another example comes from my experience working on the business side of the table. One of my managers, who worked in another office, habitually claimed that I was working from home even when I wasn’t. In one instance, during a meeting with the team’s senior leadership, this manager declared via conference call that I was working from home and should have come into the office for the meeting. I pointed out that I was in the office with everyone else, and that I was sitting close enough to the VP who led the team that we could high-five each other. I then offered him a high-five, which he accepted with a smile.

I was aware in each instance that I might ruffle some feathers by challenging the word of a more senior (and White) employee, even if I took care to do so politely. However, I was also aware of the potential damage to my reputation if I did not challenge their false statements. Your employees from underrepresented groups have to weigh these competing concerns on a regular basis when confronted with baseless or unfair accusations.

What happens in all of those instances in which an employee makes an unfounded claim and it isn’t so easy for your other employees to prove their innocence? When you are weighing competing claims by a White employee and a non-White employee, or a man and a woman, or a senior employee and a junior employee, do you default to the word of the White, male, or senior employee, respectively, or do you give both sides the benefit of the doubt? There is also the ever-present possibility that the damage has been done simply because someone made the claim, and others will believe it without question. Are you allowing hearsay to damage people’s professional reputations and careers? Do you ever reprimand employees who make unsubstantiated, negative claims about their co-workers?

Don’t default to trusting the word of majority employees over that of employees from underrepresented groups. If you value them equally, then value their word equally.

10. Be honest up front about whether you actually value diversity

How do you feel about the steps outlined so far? If you feel uncomfortable with any of them, or believe that while you as an individual agree with them, it just isn’t realistic to expect that you can make these changes in your work culture, then it’s time for you to acknowledge an unpleasant truth: your team doesn’t actually value diversity.

Don’t make public statements about it if you are not actively taking steps to assign meaningful work and leadership positions to non-majority employees, and to ensure that your other employees—particularly senior management—are aware that you will not tolerate harassment or discrimination. If you are unwilling to take this step—if protecting the egos of those who feel that they are entitled to disparage co-workers and employees from different demographic groups is more important to you than ensuring that all of your employees feel secure and valued in your workplace—then you don’t actually value diversity, and you should stop paying lip service to it. No one is convinced.

If you do value having a diverse workforce, then be aware that this journey is a paradigm shift, not a project. Cultural transformation requires a movement, and there isn’t a finish line. You have to be ready to live it every day along with the rest of your team.

Take a look in the mirror and be ready to walk the walk every day. Nobody will believe your public statements about diversity if they conflict with your actual work culture.

Closing

If you’ve already been implementing these steps in your organization, then that’s great! Keep up the good work and see what else you and your team can do to attract, retain, promote, and benefit from top talent of all backgrounds. If you’re behind, then there’s no time like the present to get started. Be open to change, understand that you will make mistakes, and iterate based on what yields tangible results. Remember that it’s a team effort, and everyone has to do his or her part.