Research

Research, Reading, and Resources for the Antiracist: Ask Catalyst Express

Mar 13, 2023

Systemic racism has ravaged communities of color and ensures a continued legacy of discrimination, unfair treatment, and economic and social injustice. To make constructive change, each of us must do hard work to counter the racism, bias, and unfair treatment that cause us to have very different experiences and opportunities. We must have challenging conversations inside our organizations to understand each other’s experiences and perspectives. We must also understand that this is not just about one biased act or statement—it is about a long history of laws, actions, attitudes, and words that have systematically advantaged one group over others. Below are resources that can help you lead and connect across differences.

Catalyst Resources

Reports
  • Exposé of Women’s Workplace Experiences Challenges Antiracist Leaders to Step Up This survey of 2,734 women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups in Australia, Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States finds that 51% of respondents have experienced racism in their current workplace. For the many leaders around the globe who pledged to fight racism following the 2020 murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery in the United States, this finding points to a large disconnect in what leaders say they want to do and the reality that racism is still pervasive in workplaces internationally. What’s worse, the links between the multiple oppressions that women from marginalized racial and ethnic groups experience at work are often ignored and go unaddressed. The authors show that senior leaders who demonstrate allyship and curiosity can combat racism, in part by decreasing the climate of silence in their organization and increasing its diversity climate.
  • The Impact of Structural Racism on Black Americans Many of the disparities between Black and White communities in the United States are an outgrowth of a long history of discriminatory and dehumanizing laws and policies that have created and exacerbated inequality in almost every sphere of life. Understanding how racism is built into various social structures and quantifying its long-term effects is fundamental to the anti-racist work of dismantling these barriers.
  • Racism in the Workplace: Expert Voices from Around the World We interviewed 21 business professionals and academic scholars from around the world whose work focuses on race, ethnicity, and culture to hear their unique insights on this question. Their candid and eye-opening stories from across the globe are reminders that racism persists in almost every environment—and that demonstrating empathy and having potentially difficult conversations are essential to making progress at both the individual and organizational levels.
  • Allyship and Curiosity Drive Inclusion for People of Color at Work Through curiosity and allyship, champions of equity and inclusion at work can start to unearth the deep roots of racial and ethnic inequities and take meaningful action to destroy them and, in their place, sow seeds of equity and understanding.
  • Emotional Tax Learn what Emotional Tax is and how it affects both employees of color and organizations in this Catalyst research series.
Practices
  • Forging Career Pathways for People from Marginalized Racial and Ethnic Groups Supporter Exclusive In 2020, Uber announced new commitments to antiracism, including a mandatory 8-hour training course for all managers. This course is divided into four two-hour modules and focuses on inclusive management skills and cross-cultural competencies. One unit focuses on how White supremacy shows up in organizations; employees were reluctant to talk about this topic at first, but the unit has received very positive feedback.
  • Dow: Combatting Microaggressions and Reigniting Psychological Safety in the Workplace Using Interactive, Experiential Learning Supporter Exclusive How can we leverage emerging technologies to initiate the next stage of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) learning? Dow’s HR team and the Office of Inclusion, along with education technology company Mursion, created learning modules featuring virtual reality simulations for leaders, covering the topics of microaggressions and bias in performance evaluations. Participants interact with avatars—controlled by human moderators—who lead them through real-life scenarios. This experiential learning has radically shifted leader mindsets and improved DEI learning outcomes across the company.
  • Enbridge: Informed Insights and Inclusion Supporter Exclusive A special effort has been made to increase outreach to support the economic participation of Black and Indigenous communities. This has been enhanced by the launch of an Indigenous Employment Plan and a Black Equity Plan in 2021.
    • The Indigenous Employment Plan includes: Indigenous Cultural Awareness training to better acclimate all employees to the culture and history of First Nations, recognize the importance of treaty rights and an awareness of the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, as well as set the stage for the company’s increased economic participation with Indigenous communities (completion of training is tied to bonuses for all employees).
    • The Black Equity Plan includes: Anti-racism training and unconscious bias training (completion is tied to bonuses for all employees).
  • Boston Scientific: Accelerating Progress for Women by Creating Equal Opportunities for Growth Supporter Exclusive Boston Scientific instituted a required online unconscious bias training—available in 18 languages—to help employees reflect and recognize their own biases and embrace DEI efforts. To date, 98.6% of employees have completed this training. The company also created an online Inclusion Toolkit that offers employees on-demand content, including an inclusive behaviors self-assessment, manager skill-building resources, and educational anti-racism resources.
Tools
Knowledge Bursts
Infographic
Spotlight Story
Blog Posts
Webinar Recordings

Additional Resources

 

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