Are you encouraging this toxic behavior at work?
I was scrolling on TikTok when I saw this hilarious skit by DeAndre Brown, who creates content based on BIPOC in corporate-leadership positions. In the skit, DeAndre says goodbye to his colleagues in a formal setting, before the music switches and he changes into fitted baseball and white muscle shirt as he drives off. I shared the video on my Instagram stories, which sparked conversation among my friends and followers about code-switching.
Code-switching has become a way for people to navigate uncomfortable places where their truest, most authentic selves have not been accepted by mainstream society, particularly in work environments. A mix of people said they code-switched occasionally, while others stated that they were entirely against changing their behavior to make individuals of other races and socioeconomic status feel comfortable.
Monti Hill (she/her) is the founder of Design and Racial Equity, a marketing resource that bridges the gap between design and community, and Gladiator Consulting partner.
The term ‘code-switching’ was coined in the 1950s by sociolinguist Einar Haugen who believed that code-switching was a practice where two or more languages were altered and mixed. The term has since expanded to reflect the intersectionality among BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and other marginalized communities who have long used the practice of code-switching to find a safe place in white cultural spaces. Code-switching is the ways in which a member of an underrepresented group (consciously or unconsciously) adjusts their language, syntax, grammatical structure, behavior, and appearance to fit into the dominant culture.
Since the 2020 social uprising and civil unrest that emerged as a result of the murder of George Floyd, corporate America and leaders around the nation have 'taken a stand in solidarity to “do better” and change the culture of their work environments. We’ve witnessed CEOs and executive leaders write open resignation letters and step down from organizational roles held by non-Black and POC leaders for decades. We’ve read DEI statements from major corporations and institutions professing their commitment to anti-racism and equity.
You can’t help but think for a moment that the revolution for some people was being televised, and that racial equity was starting to become a real-life scenario instead of a narrative that we implement in policy change reports. And yet, three years later organizations are still finding it difficult to accept all intersectionalities of BIPOC in executive spaces.
“Companies often claim that they want employees to ‘bring their whole selves to work,’ without realizing that they are unintentionally penalizing Black employees who do not fit into the culture. Our findings suggest that organizations would really benefit from examining how they may inadvertently reward code-switching behaviors.”
It is essential that leaders who have vowed to implement anti-racism policies and practices interrogate how professionalism is defined in their organizations, and commit to embracing a range of cultural norms, behaviors and values.
Here are some ways to implement new practices and policies to support BIPOC employees in feeling accepted as their true, authentic selves:
Your employees come from all cultural backgrounds. Stop expecting people to put in extra effort or add inflection to their voices to appear more relatable or palatable to you. This micro-aggression tends to fall on most Black women who tend to be portrayed as angry when speaking with their natural inflection.
Invest in local interpretation speakers for Indigenous staff and community members at every function unless they decline. This practice also includes marketing or digital branding in different languages depending on your organization’s community. Changing your work environment’s culture means having more inclusive options for interpretation at meetings, events, and working environments, adding ASL or interpreters and transcription to conferences, or working with a translator to provide language options to your website.
Most executive spaces were built for a work culture that centers white supremacy through urgency, right to comfort, and one-right-way. Since the height of the pandemic, Zoom and other co-working softwares have become another avenue where tenants of WSC reign supreme. Consider implementing best practices from One Justice. to make your digital meeting spaces equitable + inclusive for all team members.
Your dress code plays a critical part in promoting diversity and inclusion at your organization. Over the years, corporate work environments have become more open-minded about dress codes + professional attire. However, they often fail to take into account the specific needs of employees when it comes to their unique identities including disability, culture, gender, and religion. Create a non-biased dress code policy for your team.
In that same vein, remove “traditional grooming policies” from your organization. Not everyone has the same type of hair, nor do they have the same relationship with their hair. Requiring BIPOC employees to adopt ‘professional’ hairstyles in lieu of their natural hairstyles, discouraging head coverings and dictating how facial hair should be kept contributes to a discriminatory work culture that upholds white supremacy.
Please keep in mind that these tips address just a fragment of what might be happening at your organization. It’s important to ensure that your organization implements intentional steps to learn about inclusivity and build towards a more equitable future. Bridging all intersectionalities of BIPOC can help your organization discover your community in more purposeful ways and actively practice anti-racism best practices.
Monti Hill (she/her) is the founder of Design and Racial Equity, a marketing resource that bridges the gap between design and community. Monti also serves as a Gladiator Consulting partner and full-time Digital Organizer with Grassroots Leadership, an abolitionist organization focused on uplifting communities nationwide to abolish for-profit private prisons, jails, and detention centers. Monti’s work focuses on intentional digital and visual storytelling, branding, and marketing that ensures Black and brown folx are leading the narratives for collective community healing.
Monti’s recommended reads to help your organization in your equity journey: