The vast majority of employees who identify as belonging to marginalized racial and ethnic groups have experienced racism at work, according to a new survey of over 5,000 women, men, transgender, and nonbinary employees around the globe.
Two thirds—or 66%—of employees from marginalized racial and ethnic groups questioned by the consultancy Catalyst said that they had experienced racism at work during their career. The research also found that more than half—or 52%—of respondents said that they had experienced racism in their current job. Respondents to the survey were based in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
“Our findings show that racism in the workplace is deeply embedded, often flying under the radar in the form of offhand comments or other exclusionary behaviors,” said Lorraine Hariton, president and CEO of Catalyst. “It’s imperative that leaders at every level of an organization act to combat racism and build antiracist workplaces, address racist and discriminatory incidents, and create environments of physical and psychological safety that enable employees to report racist experiences.”
Catalyst found that racism most commonly presented itself in the form of workplace harassment, with 48% of respondents saying that they had been subject to “racist jokes, slurs, and other derogatory comments.” Almost a third said that they had experienced “employment and professional inequities” such as pay gaps, or incidents where they were passed over for promotion or were assigned more or less work than their colleagues as a result of race.
And while respondents indicated that leaders were most often the instigators of racism, co-workers and customers or clients also frequently initiated acts of racism. Based on Catalyst’s findings, in four out of five cases, acts of racism were initiated by White people, while in one out of five they were instigated by another non-White person.
Catalyst’s finding echo research conducted by the Pew Research Center earlier this year. Pew found that there are more than 21 million Black Americans in the U.S. labor force today but that their workforce experiences “stand out from people of other races and ethnicities.”
Pew found that Black American are more likely to be employed in certain postal work, transit, health care and security fields and are significantly more likely to report experiencing racial discrimination on the job. They are also, according to Pew, more likely to place a higher value on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the workplace.
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