Creating a climate of safety for Black workers in America

2020 has seen a racial reckoning unlike one we have seen since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The killing of George Floyd and others, along with other societal issues have spurred racial unrest in the US. In this talk I will discuss the ways that societal racial unrest that leads to racial trauma can spillover and negatively affect people, particularly Black people at work. Then I will discuss ways that coworkers and organizations can start to create safe spaces for Black people to process trauma when coping with racism from outside and within organizations

“Say it Loud, I’m Black and Proud:” The Effectiveness of Racial Acknowledgments at Work

Research underscores engagement in identity management strategies as an effective way to reduce workplace discrimination, particularly subtle forms of discrimination. The aim of the current study is to examine the use and effectiveness of different methods of the specific identity management strategy of acknowledging race as a way to reduce workplace discrimination and lead to other positive outcomes for Black individuals. A sample of Black and White individuals with professional work experience participated in an online vignettebased survey. Participants read four short vignettes involving race in the workplace and responded to a series of questions assessing usage of various acknowledgment strategies, affective outcomes, and perceptions of effectiveness. Results revealed that Black individuals reported acknowledging their race to a greater extent than did White individuals, and Black people reported positive benefits of affirming race and using humor to discuss their race. Finally, Black participants found racial acknowledgments to be more effective than White participants. Implications and future directions are discussed

Gone Fishing: I–O Psychologists’ Missed Opportunities to Understand Marginalized Employees’ Experiences With Discrimination

This article focuses attention on research examining workplace discrimination against employees from marginalized groups.We particularly consider the experiences of seven different groups of marginalized individuals, some of which have legal protection and some of which do not but all of whom we feel have been overlooked by the field of industrial–organizational (I–O) psychology. We briefly describe the importance of studying each group and then delineate the brief amount of research that has been conducted. Finally, we make recommendations for I–O psychologists in terms of research and advocacy. Overall, we argue that I–O psychologists are missing an opportunity to be at the forefront of understanding and instigating changes that would result in maximizing the fairness and optimization of these often forgotten employees and their experiences in the workplace

Gone Fishing: I–O Psychologists’ Missed Opportunities to Understand Marginalized Employees’ Experiences With Discrimination

This article focuses attention on research examining workplace discrimination against employees from marginalized groups.We particularly consider the experiences of seven different groups of marginalized individuals, some of which have legal protection and some of which do not but all of whom we feel have been overlooked by the field of industrial–organizational (I–O) psychology. We briefly describe the importance of studying each group and then delineate the brief amount of research that has been conducted. Finally, we make recommendations for I–O psychologists in terms of research and advocacy. Overall, we argue that I–O psychologists are missing an opportunity to be at the forefront of understanding and instigating changes that would result in maximizing the fairness and optimization of these often forgotten employees and their experiences in the workplace

The Importance of Being “Me”: The Relation Between Authentic IdentityExpression and Transgender Employees’ Work-RelatedAttitudes and Experiences

The present research examined the relation between authentic identity expression and transgender employees’ work-related attitudes and experiences. Drawing on Kernis’ (2003) theoretical conceptualization of authenticity and expanding on current workplace identity management research, we predicted that employees who had taken steps to reduce the discrepancy between their inner gender identities and their outward manifestations of gender would report more positive job attitudes and workplace experiences, in part because the reduction of this discrepancy is related to greater feelings of authenticity. In Study 1, we found that the extent to which one has transitioned was related to higher job satisfaction and perceived person-organization (P-O) fit and lower perceived discrimination. In Study 2, we replicate and extend these results by showing that the extent to which employees felt that others at work perceived them in a manner consistent with how they perceived themselves (relational authenticity) mediated the relations between extent of transition and all 3 of these outcomes. However, perceptions of alignment between one’s felt and expressed identity (action authenticity) only mediated this link for job satisfaction. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our results, as well as avenues for future research on authenticity in the workplace