What your Asian employees need right now

iN the wake of the Atlanta spa shootings and the skyrocketing increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans, I waited for an outpouring of corporate messages in support of the Asian community.

I was optimistic, given how many companies renewed their commitment to diversity and social justice last summer in reaction to the Black Lives Matter effort. Instead, the response seems to have been mixed. Some organizations have done a great job. Etsy, for example, donated $500,000 to support Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and implemented bystander training for American employees. And Coca-cola gave $1.85 million to Asian American and Pacific Islander organizations. But others have floundered by remaining silent.

I wanted to understand how employees were feeling about these mixed results, so I reached out to my networks, asking people how they felt about their employer’s actions in response to the rise in anti-asian racism. I received an outpouring of replies from friends, friends of friends, acquaintances and acquaintances of acquaintances. The majority of the respondents were Asian American; overall, they wished their employers had done more.

Drawing on their responses, I have developed this set of best practices for senior leaders and managers to be better allies to their Asian employees:

Acknowledge

THE most common theme I heard from people was surprise over how leaders were silent, or disappointment that only the CEO had spoken up. They wondered what the silence meant. An Asian American employee at a biotech firm mentioned feeling let down because his company sent out a single email from the diversity office, and it wasn’t signed by any visible leaders or anyone he knew. “I’m happy to have strangers reach out and be supportive, but I wish it wasn’t just strangers,” he said. He also pointed out that several of his managers who hadn’t commented on the events had pride stickers and “support BLM” in their email signatures. This made him question the authenticity of their commitment to social justice.

Leaders up and down the chain of command should send a clear and firm message that anti-asian racism and hate crimes are unacceptable and that they stand in support of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Don’t stay silent, dilute the message or hide behind the diversity office. A favorite approach among the people I spoke to was Hubspot’s unequivocal Instagram post, which simply read: “We stand in solidarity with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. We always have. We always will. Period. #Stopaapihate.”

Be available

YOU can show your support in many ways, whether it’s by letting the team know that your door is open, allowing people to take time off to process their feelings or simply giving them their space. Not everyone on your team will have the same response. An Asian pathologist I spoke with mentioned that she would have felt uncomfortable if she’d been asked to share her feelings at work. A programmer said he would have liked to have a discussion with his direct manager.

To meet this range of needs, let everyone on your team know the resources that are available and that you’re there for them if they want to talk. That way, employees who want and need support can initiate the conversation. This will also prevent you from singling out or tokenizing team members based on their race. Remember that it may not be immediately obvious who on your team has ties to Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and is struggling: Some of the people I interviewed were not of Asian descent but had spouses that were. A hate crime impacts the entire community.

Discuss

CREATE a voluntary space for discussion. Some employees may want to talk about how they are feeling, while others may not want to. A white law associate was disappointed that her firm hadn’t created a space for discussion, particularly since they’d created well-thought-out programming for Black Lives Matter. An Asian American designer at a different company said she was grateful her organization had a discussion forum, because it brought everyone closer together. While the designer’s boss hadn’t personally said anything to her, she said that seeing that person at the company discussion made her feel supported. An Asian American health care employee mentioned that he didn’t attend his company’s discussion but knowing that it was there made him feel like the company took racial disparities seriously.

Commit

SEVERAL employees wanted to know about their company’s long-term plan to make a greater change in society. What this looks like will vary from company to company. “I genuinely enjoy my job, but what does it mean to ethically move through the world?” a law associate asked; she wished her company had made donations to groups supporting the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. In contrast, a manager at a pharmaceutical company was impressed by his company’s willingness to send out a message immediately.

People also wanted to know more about their company’s long-term commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Cultural sensitivity training? Improvement in hiring practices? More representation at the C-suite level? An Asian American partner at a consulting firm who leads diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at his company commented that in the long run, the most important step was for companies to think about how to make long-term changes to eradicate systemic biases. “We have to change as a firm, but like any change in corporate culture, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. So, we need to be committed to this for years.”

Taking a strong stance against anti-asian racism should be noncontroversial and is an easy way to show compassion, make employees feel supported and earn trust. Failing to do so shows callousness, and at worst can result in losing employee trust. Research shows that 68 percent of Americans expect corporations to take a stance on social issues. Remaining silent in the face of injustice is no longer a viable option.