Employees with an Asian heritage continue to struggle for inclusion and belonging in the workplace. Asian Heritage Month is a good reminder that bias still lurks in the workplace but can be ferreted out with a well-structured DEI effort that is fully inclusive.-By Anna Gonzalves

May is Asian Heritage Month, so a good time to look at all aspects of this diverse group in the workplace. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are not just buzzwords. They have deep meaning among minority employees who continue to struggle for an equal footing in the workplace. Employees with Asian heritage have been striving to gain full acceptance, but surveys reveal that the struggle continues year after year. Asian women, in particular, face enormous barriers to getting support for professional growth and opportunities for leadership development. The sense of workplace belonging is an elusive feeling for Asian employees, and cultural differences influence social networking and communication. Fortunately, there are many steps that employers can take to change the story, discovering along the way that the lack of inclusion and belonging harms their company and their employees.

Exchanging Bias for Equal Opportunities

The Asian Corporate Survey is a biennial survey of over 2,000 Asian and Pacific American (APA) employees, and for comparison purposes, over 500 non-APA employees. The survey establishes benchmarks for assessing progress and identifies best practices in equity, inclusion, and opportunity for Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander talent. The 2020 survey is the most recent, as the Asia Society is currently working on the 2022 survey. The dimensions that have been assessed annually are diversity, professional growth, employee resource groups, work-life insights, and overall satisfaction & belonging. The 2020 survey added the response to COVID-19, racial equity and social justice issues, and support for the development of workforce skills for APA employees under 40. The demographics of the APA employees indicate 63% were first generation, and 32% were second generation. 71% have lived in the U.S. for over 20 years.

The results show that the struggle for equal opportunities continues. APA employees struggle with getting career development support, gaining visibility and recognition for success, building relationships with supervisors, and finding well-matched APA mentors and sponsors. It also found that 25% of APA employees under 40 did not believe the opportunities to advance their careers were satisfactory, nor did management prioritize their career pipeline progression. APA employees found ERGs most helpful, that remote working negatively impacted networking and sense of belonging, and they fear meaningful action to address racial equity and social justice will not endure for them.

There were many helpful recommendations made. Employers should develop early career APA employees and include those in technical roles. One of the barriers to advancement that Asians experience is being labeled as a “technical worker” and incapable of moving into leadership due to stereotyping of the “quiet, hard-working Asian.” Additional suggestions include increasing transparency for how job changes and promotions are decided; offering unconscious bias and microinequities training; assigning executive leadership as ERG sponsors; and considering the differential impact of remote work on APA employees regarding their sense of belonging, work-life experiences, and career trajectories. Metrics should take a deep dive into cultural differences among key groups like East Asians and South Asians.

Inclusion Means the Same to All Employees

Jane Nam summarized a Bain & Company survey that found that only 16% of Asian men and 20% of Asian women felt fully included at work. The report found that what an inclusive organization looks like is “remarkably similar” across different diverse groups. However, “challenges with ‘assimilation’ and ‘stereotypes’ play a role in the workplace experiences of Asian employees.” The pressure to assimilate into Western cultural norms remains strong in many workplaces and leads to feelings of isolation.

Asian women in the workplace face even more struggles in the workplace than Asian men. The stereotype of Asian women is that they are submissive and quiet, and that bias holds them back from moving into leadership positions. Author of Inclusion on Purpose and founder of Candour, Ruchika Tulshyan, points to systemic racism at the intersection of Asian and female as erasing the existence of racism in leaders’ minds. That may seem like an oxymoron, but she is saying that stereotyping Asian women leads to calling them a “model minority” and hence the belief that they are not strong enough to lead. So they are bypassed for career progression opportunities.

Even in the tech industry, Asian women face many difficulties, despite their talent. A study reported in Pinning Down the Jellyfish: The Workplace Experiences of Women in Color in Tech found that women report being discriminated against because of their accents, are forced to fill more administrative roles, and are underrepresented in leadership positions. They were 42% more likely than white women to be demeaned and disrespected, pitted against one another in the workplace, and have their language and competency skills questioned. Asian women also have their work questioned more often than white women. There were even women who were given all DEI responsibilities without compensation. Many other studies back up this research. USA Today examined the records of 88 companies in the Standard & Poor’s 100. Asian women are half as likely as white women to achieve executive leadership positions.

Time to Address the Persistence of Bias

Asian men and women face significant barriers to entering management and reaching the C-suite. Jackson Lu, assistant professor of work and organization studies at MIT Sloan, said that East Asians are more underrepresented in leadership positions than South Asians because the U.S. culture has a focus on assertiveness. The issues can be broken down, but the conclusion is that Asians – whether immigrants or Americans – continue to face discrimination that holds them back in many ways. This is not a new issue. It is a persistent issue, yet company leaders have many ways their organizations can change this.

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month is an excellent time to evaluate the status of this diverse group of employees with so much to offer their organizations. Is top talent in the leadership pipeline? Are Asians represented in all leadership levels in a proportionate number? Are specific bias issues included in DEI training? Inclusion and belonging for Asians are as vital as they are for other minority employees. The differences between diverse groups of employees are sources of new energy and innovation and should be embraced rather than hidden through bias.