Discover Proudly Amplifies Diverse Voices
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It’s the American dream, a path that many immigrant parents hope that their children would follow: graduating college and landing a job as a working professional (preferably in accounting, law, or engineering). But after a few months in your new job, you’re starting to wonder if Apple TV’s “Severance” was on to something. You’re realizing that maybe it is not just the frigid office temperatures giving you the chills, but rather the workplace environment that leaves you feeling like a completely different person in the office than outside of it — and not in a good way.
It might be easy to think “it’s me, I’m the problem,” but the reality is that, among all racial groups, Asian American professionals reported feeling the least included in workplaces. And while only 25% to 30% of all employees report feeling included, only 16% of Asian men and 20% of Asian women said they felt fully included at work.
Asian American Workplace Inclusion: Understanding the Challenges
For Asian professionals in American workplaces, racism and discrimination, microaggressions, and the “bamboo ceiling” can all contribute to the feeling of exclusion, which can lead to burnout — with women feeling the brunt of these factors. Coqual found that 36% of Asian and Asian American professionals have experienced racial prejudice, with Asians reporting microaggressions at higher rates than other professionals of color.
S. Mitra Kalita wrote in Time magazine, “To some, Asian work matters more than Asian lives. There are so many misconceptions over the Asian experience in the U.S. that create this image. It starts to feel conditional, as if the only place for Asians in the U.S. is that of work, of subservience.”
I talked to two professionals about what we can do in light of these challenges, whether we are seeking a new role,…
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