Managing Microaggressions in the Workplace: Creating a Safe and Inclusive Environment

Managing Microaggressions in the Workplace: Creating a Safe and Inclusive Environment

Maintaining an emotionally safe workplace environment is paramount to fostering a team of content, productive employees. While you would never condone blatant violence, discrimination or bullying on the job, there are other, more subtle behaviors that can be equally detrimental to a cohesive workplace, called microaggressions. These are common, unintentional, seemingly innocuous, communications based on prejudice or unconscious biases - a slight, snub, or insult - that convey prejudice and bias against those of a group that has been historically marginalized due to their race, gender, age, sexual orientation or disability. As the name implies, these are small, brief incidents, yet, compounded on a daily basis, they convey prejudice or bias and can cause significant harm to the target of these behaviors.

Some common microaggressions include:

Microassaults - Deliberate, overt discrimination against an employee such as withholding opportunities from them due to their race.

Microinsults based on stereotypes - Subtle insensitivity or rudeness, e.g., "You’re very opinionated for a woman."

Microinvalidations - Communication that negates or dismisses what another person experiences, feels or thinks, "Oh, can’t you take a joke?... You’re too sensitive!"

Exoticization - Making someone feel "less than" for their ethnicity, e.g., "You don’t look American... Where are you "really" from?"

Assumption of inferiority - Assuming there’s something defective - and therefore inferior in a person with a disability.

Victims of microaggressions experience a sense of:

• Disrespect
• Distrust
• Unwelcomeness
• Being undervalued
• Lack of safety
• Unequalness
• Being demeaned
• Dissatisfaction
• Professional burnout in the workplace, negatively impacting their mental health - by causing stress, anxiety and depression - as well as their overall productivity.

You certainly don’t want to be a perpetrator of microaggressions - or let them occur unchecked at your business, so let’s discuss how you can avoid them.

Some workers may not even realize they are causing another employee’s angst because of potential unconscious bias. Establish policies about acceptable and unacceptable employee behavior and communication. Educate your workforce about the various types of microaggressions and how they are hurtful to others. The goal is to maintain a workplace that feels safe for every employee, and where employees feel empowered to speak up about microaggressions they may experience. When a violation of policy occurs, listen to the reporter carefully to learn exactly what they experienced and why it was offensive to them. If it wasn’t included in your policy, add it so your policy can reflect the nuances of interactions throughout the history of your business.

As the workplace becomes more diverse, it’s important to ensure that its policies honor that fact - while helping those who may not even realize their own biases learn more inclusive ways of interacting with their colleagues.

How does your business deal with microaggression?