Emotional Equity: Creating Space for Historically Underrepresented Employees to Express their Feelings
White supremacist work culture creates an inhumane environment for Black, Indigenous and People of Color employees.
As an Equity Consultant, I consistently speak with historically underrepresented employees who are navigating complex issues of bias and discrimination in the workplace.
Without fail, many employees express fear that in raising a grievance at work they will be construed as “the problem.” Black women, in particular, highlight that their pain is often misperceived as anger. As such, when Black women speak up concerning their experiences of hostility and bias in the workplace they are met with defensiveness and accusation in lieu of support and advocacy.
In organizational psychology, the right to express one’s feelings at work is called the “right to comfort.”
When we pull back the layers of who has the “right to comfort” at work, we can see the ways in which the pain of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) employees in the workplace is understood as secondary and oppositional to organizational harmony.
Both Black and Brown employees must deploy emotional gymnastics in order to have their grievances heard without engendering a negative response from their place of work.
These emotional gymnastics highlight the ways in which historically marginalized employees must always prioritize how others (namely white colleagues) are emotionally experiencing them.
In my work, I refer to the ways in which the pain of certain communities is erased both in workplaces and in the broader world as “emotional equity.” Emotional equity is the term I use to describe the ways in which everyone should have the right to safely express how an environment makes them feel.
Research shows that Black pain in particular is not taken seriously. For example, in medical settings, Black pain is often dismissed. In fact, many medical students and physicians continue to believe the dangerous and egregious lie that Black people have thicker skin and higher pain tolerance. In the carceral state, Black people’s pain is erased under the guise of public safety. In clinical therapy settings, Black people are consistently under-diagnosed with depression. These examples demonstrate that a lack of emotional equity actually leads to systemic trauma and disenfranchisement.
Historically underrepresented employees deserve emotional equity. We deserve to be seen as full human beings who have valid emotional experiences. When the pain of certain employees is understood as exaggerated and illegitimate, BIPOC employees are forced to suffer in silence. UCLA Law Review highlights that BIPOC employees who speak up about their pain are perceived as less professional than historically underrepresented employees who silently bear the burden of their pain in the workplace. This is white supremacy at work.
Virtuosity and professionalism should not be connected to one’s ability to silently live under the duress of racism.
Ultimately, acknowledging pain is a part of equity. Why?
Because when we validate the existence of pain, we can work together to create inclusive and justice-centered solutions — solutions that center BIPOC people as full and complex beings, solutions that pave the way for all employees to thrive.
For example, in work settings, acknowledging BIPOC emotional discomfort means addressing the systems of power, privilege, and hierarchy exist. It means creating equitable solutions to issues like pay equity, promotion, retention and psychological safety.
Emotional equity is a site of systemic transformation. When we acknowledge that a some work environments are detrimental the health and wellness to BIPOC employees, we can work together to create more inclusive and equitable places of work.