Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month in the Workplace
Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month (in the Workplace)
The term AAPI has been used a lot in recent years. With good reason. Not that the very white woman needs to lecture anyone on the subject, but I think it’s important that we all recognize and embrace diversity. So, rather than a lecture or me trying to sound like I have all of the answers or know better than anyone else, I’m simply going to write this post from the perspective of the work environment and issues I’ve personally witnessed or heard about occurring within it.
There are things that we all can do to celebrate and support our friends within the AAPI community. My take is that the workplace is no different. Thankfully, I’ve never experienced any discrimination directly, only heard of it happening second hard. However, that doesn’t mean that our colleagues of AAPI backgrounds don’t need our support. Here are some ways we can support them:
Fight for pay transparency to combat racial and gender pay differences.
When the idea of salary transparency first came about, I was a little taken aback. I was raised to not talk about finances and money with others and that extended to the work environment. Further, I’ve worked for companies who had policies against discussing salary or pay amongst employees. But, then I got to thinking…why? I’ve worked in education long enough that my pay has been broadcast online and is often the subject of intense debate among those who “pay my salary.” Some believe I made too much money, others say not enough and others don’t care or think the pay scales for educators are just fine. With over 9 years of experience in public schools, I’ve heard it all. And, all that anyone has to do to figure out how much I made was to ask how many years of experience I had and do a quick google search. So, yeah, it didn’t make much sense for me to care about pay transparency.
That’s my rant on the transparency side of it, now comes the part that I advocate for it so that everyone can see if there are pay differences between races and genders. As a woman, I’m here to tell you that there is. Not in every field, but there are most definitely pay differences in some, if not most. I worked doing the same job in college as a man and got paid $1 an hour less. If you calculate my 40 hour work week times 50 weeks a year (yes, I know there are 52, but we will say I took 2 weeks vacation), that is $2,000. That makes a big difference when you are only making minimum wage!
Now, imagine being a woman of a different race, how much less would she have made at the same company. Let’s be honest, there is no reason any of us needs to hide what we make in this day and age. Having transparency will hold companies accountable for pay equity among everyone! Let’s advocate for that, starting now!
2. Be Aware of AAPI Biases and AAPI Microaggressions (both yours and others).
If you are reading this article, I assume you are aware of biases already and want to find ways to fight them in the workplace. I would really love for this blog to reach someone with discriminatory behavior and have it make an impact, but since it’s unlikely that they are googling ways to be a better person, I’ll focus this part on our own microagressions (we are often unaware that we are even engaging in these) and other’s biases. First and foremost, if you see discrimination in the workplace, put a stop to it! That may involve confronting the other person or reporting the incident to HR or a supervisor. Either way, you need to do something. As far as microaggressions are concerned, make sure you are aware of them. If you are interested in what microaggressions are and why it matters, you can read this article. Microaggressions happen in all workplaces. If you witness this, as a white person, you may not know what to do. But, just like bullying, you can confront the person who is acting this way. Confronting them doesn’t need to be and probably shouldn’t be aggressive. By confronting, I mean, stopping and engaging in a conversation with the person of AAPI heritage and asking them more about their culture or community right in front of the offender as a way to educate them. You can also just tell the offender that you are personally offended by what they are saying.
3. Keep learning about AAPI culture.
That sounds obvious, but we should all take an interest in learning what we don’t know. You can:
Engage in conversations with colleagues to learn more about their background and culture
Start a resource center
Encourage your organization to have some diversity training or include diversity in your own training
Visit an AAPI Heritage museum. I personally like the one here, in Corpus Christi, TX, but you can certainly check your area for one as well.
No matter what you do or how you decide to engage this month (and every month!), helping people we work with is just as important as helping those we work for.
Many Thanks!
Valerie Palmer - Career and College Admissions Expert
