Addressing Disparities Within the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Communities in the Workplace
By Kerry Rosado, DEI Consultant
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Awareness Month in the U.S. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, racism and violence against the Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community has increased. Racism manifests in different ways and the Asian communities have experienced everything from physical attacks, verbal harassment, and violence leading to death. The workplace is also very challenging for Asian American professionals. A recent study in 2021 from the IBM Institute for Business Value revealed the following:
80% of Asian Americans have experienced discrimination based on ethnicity or race;
More than 60% feel they must work harder than non-Asian counterparts to succeed because of their identity;
Only 40% feel empowered and supported professionally
Ways to Be an Advocate to the AAPI Community
Employers can show allyship towards the AAPI community in a variety of ways. Here are five amazing ways to show allyship.
Support the AAPI Community - All AAPI employees are diverse in their experiences, understanding, and integration of their identity and culture. Creating a supportive workplace means actively acknowledging their struggles, doing the work to develop solutions that can reduce workplace discrimination, and intentionally offering direct routes for advancement. Leadership at all levels must take the extra effort to challenge their own biases.
Take Ownership - Leaders must take ownership and active responsibility for coming up with solutions to aid their employees against discrimination and harrasmessent. Take and provide courses and workshops on oppression and bias to continually increase organizational understanding. Practice active listening and create a safe space for employees to share their struggles without judgment. Approach conversations with openness, willing to learn and collaborative to find solutions to fully address the situation.
Recognize Bias - It’s critical for company leaders to look out for the signs of internal bias and ensure they aren’t limiting opportunities for growth and development. Companies can develop mentorship programs that connect AAPI leadership to AAPI employees, providing them a direct line toward networking and advancement.
Recognize AAPI’s View on Mental Health - AAPI individuals are less likely to access mental health services than any other racial group, because of the cultural bias against receiving mental health and a lack of culturally relevant treatment approaches. Employers can partner with local cultural community mental wellness spaces such as acupuncturists or yoga studios run by those in the South Asian community to provide employee discounts. Offer a benefit like Spring Health, which has a diverse provider network. Provide webinars and workshops led by AAPI facilitators. Create healing circles or support networks to connect AAPI employees at all levels of your company.
Understand the Bamboo Ceiling - Managers may not promote AAPI employees, assuming they’re content where they are or already have fulfilling lives with no financial struggle, thinking they don’t need a promotion. Project leads may assign more work to AAPI team members, assuming they enjoy it and don’t need or want the recognition they deserve for working harder than their team members. It is essential for leaders to recognize their own biases to avoid suppressing AAPI employees.
Organizations Advocating for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
Stop AAPI Hate - tracks and responds to incidents of violence, harrassment, discrimination, and child bullying against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) - “advocates for the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and other underserved communities to promote a fair and equitable society for all.”
The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum is “focused on building power with AAPI women and girls to influence critical decisions that affect our lives, our families, and our communities. Using a reproductive justice framework, they elevate AAPI women and girls to impact policy and drive systemic change in the United States.”
The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) - a coalition of thirty-seven national Asian Pacific American organizations around the country. NCAPA serves to represent the interests of the greater Asian American (AA) and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (NHPI) communities and to provide a national voice for AA and NHPI issues.”
Books Written by Asian Authors
Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White by Frank Wu
The Karma of Brown Folk by Vijay Prashad
Yellow Peril! An Archive of Anti-Asian Fear edited by John Kuo Wei Tchen and Dylan Yeats
Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People by Helen Zia
Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation: On the Social and Psychic Lives of Asian Americans by David L. Eng and Shinhee Han
Sources