5 Reasons Your Black Employees Don't Trust You

Despite efforts to become more inclusive and address shortcomings in diversity and equity, organizations have failed to establish possibly the most important thing: trust. Black employees still have a deep mistrust of their leadership and employers, which is at the root of why 97% of Black employees don’t want to return to their offices as the pandemic’s constricting gates open up. 

Why is Black employees’ trust so important? The majority of recent social justice activism has been ignited by Black issues, and statistically, the Black community deals with the worst extremes of national racial inequity, disparity, and discrimination. As a result, Black employees are those most likely impacted and affected. Essentially, Black employees will be the pulse that determines whether DEI initiatives and efforts are converting to sincere and tangible benefits.  

Five reasons your Black employees don’t trust you:

They see you as a racist. Studies show that almost 60% of Black employees experience or have experienced a racist boss and other forms of racism in the workplace. Regardless of the actions employers take to celebrate diversity, like multicultural potlucks, diversity events, and newsletters, Black employees still experience quite the opposite on a daily basis. 

They feel excluded from your company culture. Fortune.com’s survey “Working While Black” highlighted what Black employees wanted like their non-Black coworkers and leadership to know. They detailed experiences of dealing with racist white bosses, feeling singled out, observing how the company culture allowed for microaggressions, and being excluded from opportunities to climb the corporate ladder.

They think you're going to fire them for not fitting in. Black employees still face higher scrutiny and negative racial assumptions that inevitably affect their careers. They know that “company/culture fit” is inherently discriminatory and excludes them if the companies are majority white or non-Black. Given the negative racial assumptions and fears of discrimination or being fired, Black employees often find themselves shrinking their personalities and code-switching in an attempt to fit in and keep their jobs. 

They don't trust that they'll be paid fairly and on time. A Pew Research report in 2015 reported a large racial and gender wage gap. Despite recent progress, new studies show the unequal pay disparities haven’t improved much when considering job, title, and industry. In addition, as discussing salary is still considered taboo, Black employees have great reasons to be suspicious and question if they’re being paid fairly. 

They are afraid of being treated unfairly by the law enforcement system if they get into trouble outside of work. Just because the racial unrest and protests are broadcast in the streets doesn’t mean those same worries, tensions, and fears simply disappear in the office. Black employees — and Black men, in particular — fear standing up for themselves to management, especially white management and white female management. When the assumption is that a Black man defending himself or his position equals “aggression” and illicit “fear,” there is the looming fear of law enforcement and more severe consequences, even if everything occurs within the office. 

If an organization wants to truly progress its DEI efforts to something substantial and tangible, just like any other relationship, it begins with trust. The only way to build trust is through transparency, honesty, policy changes, action, and accountability. Trust is difficult to build, or rebuild, but if your goal is a reimagined company culture, then it’s definitely worth the work.  

Image Credit - our gratitude to www.wocintechchat.com for their fantastic and inclusive photography that we featured on this blog under their creative commons license.