(Bloomberg) -- Canada has long promoted itself as a haven of diversity and inclusion. A pair of recent studies report the opposite: Racial discrimination at work may be more prevalent than many think.
In a study of more than 700 people who identify as black, East Asian and South Asian, nearly half the respondents said they need to be on guard at work to “protect against bias.” The study, by Catalyst and Ascend Canada, didn't include First Nations people.
“People of color are an engine of Canada's economy,” said Jennifer Thorpe-Moscon, one of the authors of the study. “Over three-quarters of women and men of color that we interviewed shared terrible stories of exclusion and this need to be on guard.”
Respondents said they were most concerned about racial and ethnic bias, and sexism. They also said they did things like changing what they wear or how they speak to better fit in.
People of color make up more than one-fifth of the Canadian workforce, and Catalyst said the perceived discrimination amounts to an emotional tax that hurts business performance. About 69% of people of color interviewed said that they had seriously contemplated leaving their jobs due to increased emotional distress.
Non-white applicants in Canada were also less likely to get callbacks when applying for jobs, according to new research by academics at Northwestern University, Harvard University and Sciences Po, among others. The study analyzed 97 previously-conducted experiments involving over 200,000 job applications in countries including Norway, the Netherlands, and Germany.
“When people reported that they felt empowered in their work environment, they were more likely to report feeling valued for their uniqueness and this predicted a lower sense of being on guard for bias,” Thorpe-Moscon said. “Leaders who create empowering work environments can drive intent to stay.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Simran Jagdev in Toronto at sjagdev1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Janet Paskin at jpaskin@bloomberg.net, Jeff Green
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
