8 Actionable Ways Organizations Can Support Asian Employees in Anti-Racism Work
“The violence will only end when the silence ends.” -Michelle Lee
In the last year, Stop AAPI Hate recorded 2800+ hate incidents against Asian Americans nationwide, including events of physical assault, barring Asians from establishments, and verbal harassment.1 It is disheartening that hate crimes in NYC against Asians have increased by 1900% in the last year and it has been an unsettling start of the year.2 President Biden recently signed an executive order condemning anti-Asian racism related to COVID-19. This post will share actionable ways for organizations to create a safe work environment to support your Asian employees.
1. Acknowledge the Anti-Asian Violence
There cannot be silence to the violence against the Asian community. If your leadership team has not done so, work with HR and ERGs to send a note to all of your employees to act in solidarity with the AAPI community and acknowledge what is happening to act against xenophobia and hate.3 This kind of commitment will make employees feel safe to thrive and be seen. You can see examples including:
● Airbnb Fighting Anti-Asian Discrimination
● Twitter’s Allyship #StandForAsians
● Suzy An, Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Porter Novelli
● Dan Schulman, President & CEO, Paypal
2. Offer Resources and Educate Your Organization
We are happy to share resources to help you educate your organization. Some examples of anti-Asian violence resources include:
● Education
○ Humans Rights Watch: COVID AAPI Racism
○ The Fight Against Anti-Asian American Violence
○ Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans are Nothing New
● Mental Health
○ Support Employees Mental Health
○ Asian Mental Health Collective Therapist Directory
○ National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association
○ Asian American Psychological Association (AAPA)
● Allyship & Bystander Intervention
○ National Association of Asian American Professionals Building Allyship
○ Guide to Bystander Intervention
○ Bystander Intervention Training
● Petitions to Sign
○ Get Mainstream Coverage of AAPI Assaults
○ Become an Ally - Stop Discriminasian
3. Continue to Support Asian Employees on an Ongoing Basis
Do not check it off your list to think after you send out a statement and resources that you are done with your work as a leader. Make sure you continue to commit to the long-term anti-racism commitment to invest in the growth and support of your Asian employees. As Richard Leong, DEI Consultant reminds us to ask, “Do Asian employees feel seen and presented in the company’s leadership?” and “Are their stories told as part of the company narrative?”3 Consider the professional growth of your Asians to leadership positions and make sure they are selected for professional development. For example, you could hire executive coaches for your AAPI employees, share the opportunity for Asian employees to apply for the BIPOC Scholarship to receive access to Strong Training and Coaching’s Manager Essentials Course or companies like PwC pay the membership for their AAPI employees to join Ascend, the largest, non-profit Pan-Asian organization for business professionals in North America. As Joyce Chiao, Founder of Inclusion Labs reminds leaders to consider promotion and compensation of API employees: “Are API employees paid equitable across racial demographics and role band? Are API employees promoted at the same rates within your organization?” Take the time to identify what works best to start with and know that this is a long-term commitment as a marathon, not a sprint for creating anti-racism solutions to support Asian employees.
4. Amplify Asian Voices to Be Shared
This is an opportunity for leaders to step up and check in with your Asian employees to create a safe space for them. Be empathetic to ask them if they feel comfortable sharing their experience and listen to what they’re sharing with you instead of wanting to respond with your own story. For those employees who are open to the idea of sharing their perspective more widely to the organizations, amplify their voices to be heard and seen. For example, Eric Toda, Facebook leader shared his personal experience with AdWeek about how hateful, painful memories return. Consider their overall employee experience to ensure they feel safe and belong by actively listening to their lived experiences.
5. Share Asian Leaders and Resources
As Benjamin Franklin once said, “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” It is critical to keep learning and sharing anti-racism resources with your employees. Here are some Asian leaders, organizations, and resources we recommend you to follow to get you started:
● Leaders
● Resources / Organizations
○ Asian Americans Advancing Justice
○ Museum of Chinese in America
6. Create Mentorship Programs
There are various opportunities you can create as a talent development leader to continue to support employees and their growth. Mentorship is a valuable relationship to help your employees reach their full potential to support their personal and professional development while enhancing leadership and coaching skills. Consider creating a mentorship program and making sure your Asian employees can join to benefit from it as a mentor or mentee. For those who may not have the capacity to create an internal mentorship program, many organizations offer these resources to leaders across industries. For example, the 3AF Next Gen Leaders recently launched this year specifically designed to help rising leaders in the Asian American Pacific Islanders in the marketing, advertising, and creative industry or Women Who Create offers a mentorship program that connects young women of color in the creative industry.
7. Leverage Employee Resource Group
You do not want your Asian employees to feel a lack of belonging or access to opportunity in the workplace. This is why we encourage you to leverage or create an employee resource group for them to have a community. As shared by Aaron Fung shared in “Set Your Employee Resource Groups Up for Success”, you will need to identify your why, build your coalition, execute, review and refine. xenophobia and hate.1 Some of the benefits of the ERG include the ability for employees to have a community among other employees to share experiences, identities, interests, along with increased employee retention and leadership opportunities.
8. Match Donations Supporting Asian Communities
For companies that offer matching to non-profit organizations, you can consider Asian nonprofits to donate to or encourage employees to support Asian communities by sharing the list of resources to increase awareness. Some organizations to support include AAPI Women Lead, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Stop AAPI Hate, Hate is a Virus, and Send Chinatown Love.
Additional Sources
1. What API ERGs Can Do in the Wake of Anti-API Violence
2. Influencer Tina Craig Has An Important Message About Racist Attacks On Asian Americans
