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An insightful view of how diversity is changing the landscape of business
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Good afternoon and welcome back.
The pandemic has reordered everyday life into a jumble of the personal, professional and political. In the year since the murder of George Floyd, conversations about equity and inclusion have proliferated in workplaces across the country. Companies have weighed in on social issues and assured employees that they are taking stock.
But at Basecamp, an influential software company, management is pushing back against discussions of social justice. The company recently announced that it would curb political conversations at work; as a result, many employees have decided to leave, my colleague Katherine Bindley reports. One employee, a diversity-and-inclusion advocate within the company, published an open letter criticizing the move, calling it silencing and oppressive. After a yearslong shift toward bringing one’s “whole self” to work, the pendulum appears to be swinging in the other direction.
Last fall, for instance, the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase declared its culture apolitical. Chief Executive Brian Armstrong said employees shouldn’t expect Coinbase to take public stances on social issues. Meanwhile, Facebook and Alphabet’s Google have introduced features such as customizable work feeds (to modulate exposure to political debates) and new internal community guidelines.
For underrepresented and marginalized groups, “You can’t detach from it because that’s who you are,” said Lekisha Middleton, founder of the Good Success Network, an organizational consulting and executive coaching firm that works with tech companies on D&I issues.
“That’s just not the answer,” Ms. Middleton said of banning political debates at work.
Read on for more news at the intersection of diversity and business.
—Brandon Sanchez, WSJ Reporter
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Black Homeownership: The homeownership gap between Black and white Americans has grown larger in recent years than at any time since the 1968 passage of the Fair Housing Act. In Minnesota’s biggest city, the gap is more like a canyon. (Read)
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Hiring Practices: Some executives suggest companies should consider hiring workers without a degree and provide training. (Read)
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Representing the Crown: Businesswoman Peaches Golding, the first Black woman to hold the post of Lord Lieutenant in the U.K., has made headlines in recent weeks for her ardent defense of Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family against charges of racism. (Read)
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Federal Charges: Three men have been indicted on federal hate crimes charges in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was chased and fatally shot in February 2020 while out jogging in southeast Georgia, the Justice Department said. (Read)
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California Dreaming: The Los Angeles Times named Kevin Merida as its new executive editor, as the publication looks to raise its profile and jump-start digital growth. (Read)
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Deluge of Debt: BlackRock, Bud owner Anheuser-Busch and a plastic packaging maker in Portugal are among a flood of borrowers using financial carrots and sticks to improve their performance on things such as the environment and boardroom diversity. (Read)
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Financial Honesty: How much money do millennials make? Unlike with previous generations, young adults these days find it freeing to talk about their personal finances. (Read)
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Author and communications expert Jennifer R. Farmer published “First and Only: A Black Woman’s Guide to Thriving at Work and in Life” earlier this year. She examines the workplace for people of color, specifically Black women, and offers strategies on how to be successful. This interview has been edited for length.
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Q:
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Can we be vulnerable at work without losing respect?
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A:
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That depends on where you work and who you are vulnerable with, because I've been in spaces where it was absolutely not safe for me to be vulnerable. And in those situations I had to seek support from someone external. And in other spaces where it was very clear that I had an ally or two, I could be vulnerable.
I encourage people to really observe. Spend time observing who are my allies and then watch that person's character. Is it safe to put my trust in them? And for what kinds of things can I trust them? I always try to assess where the power centers are in an organization, because sometimes there are other people who may not be on that (organization’s) chart in terms of leadership, but they have a considerable amount of power.
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Q:
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How have you seen the pandemic impact Black women in the workplace?
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A:
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Many have not had the capacity to leave the workforce. I would love to see a study post-Covid around the criminalization of Black children and Black women. We know that before the pandemic if children were absent their parents would be held responsible, sometimes criminally. I think it has had a unique and an outsized impact on Black women because we still have to work. We won't be able to quantify it until there is research specifically around this group.
[Note: The Wall Street Journal reported the sixth annual Women in the Workplace study by McKinsey and LeanIn.org in September. According to the report, “Black women are even more likely than women overall to consider downshifting or taking a leave from work and cite health concerns as a reason.” The report was one of the most comprehensive pandemic-era surveys of working women and men, in which researchers at McKinsey and Lean In polled more than 40,000 North American employees.]
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Q:
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What else should we know?
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The presence of the first or only is not about talent. It's about who has been able to navigate or who has been permitted to thrive. (Some prior people) didn't know the rules or didn't understand the power centers and didn't make it.
I really want people to know I consider this book a resource manual, like something that could help you, but the organizations we enter still have to do their own work. The onus is not simply on Black women.
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The Journal Podcast: Black and Latina women have been disproportionately affected by job losses during the pandemic. They're also one of the most financially fragile groups in this country. We talk with three women of color about what getting laid off in the pandemic has meant for them. (Listen)
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Fighting Hate: Some of the wealthiest and most influential Asian-American business leaders are mounting an ambitious plan to challenge anti-Asian discrimination, rewrite school curriculums to reflect the role of Asian-Americans in history and collect data to guide policymakers. (The New York Times)
Remote Learning: Many Black parents are finding a benefit to remote learning: being better able to shield their children from racism in classrooms. (Associated Press)
Improper Dismissal: A San Francisco judge on Thursday tentatively ruled that a public defender in an attempted murder case improperly excused potential Asian jurors because of their race. (The San Francisco Chronicle)
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