That inequalities still exist in the workplace is sadly becoming increasingly evident, despite efforts to make work fairer and more representative. There has been considerable research into how marginalized groups act, but new research from Penn Medicine provides an interesting glimpse into the values of marginalized groups in the workplace.
The research found that marginalized groups value professionalism more than their peers. What’s more, they were also found to be much more likely to leave their job due to issues of professionalism.
“What does it actually mean to operationalize an anti-racist, inclusive workplace? It means understanding the factors in an environment that allow women and minorities to thrive in your organization,” the researchers say. “We wanted to look at the ways that marginalized groups perceive and experience professionalism, so that we could move toward standardizing policies in a way that is really inclusive for all. Recruiting female and minority students and employees is not enough if an organization cannot retain them.”
The need for professionalism
In the medical profession, professionalism has typically been contextualized as a white, male thing, which can render professionalism something that is in itself non-inclusive. For instance, norms of professionalism around how we dress and speak may be discriminatory.
The researchers spoke to over 3,500 participants from a couple of health systems in the Philadelphia area and four medical schools. Participants were asked to rate their agreement with three statements related to professionalism, and the value they place on it at work.
The results reveal that minority groups were not only more likely to say they valued professionalism in the workplace, but also that they would consider changing jobs because of unprofessional behavior at work.
A second experiment then probed this hypothesis further. It asked participants to explain a time when they felt valued or devalued, or welcomed/not welcomed by their organization. The results revealed that people from marginalized groups more often expressed infringement of their professional boundaries at work.
These would include various microaggressions all the way up to blatant racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia. It also emerged that professional standards were being applied differently to certain groups, with those groups subsequently subjected to greater scrutiny.
“The narratives that we collected reveal disparities in how we assess professionalism, with minorities and women reporting a microscope over their behaviors.” the researchers explain. “A common theme was that being different was not perceived as being a good ‘fit,’ forcing individuals to alter their authentic selves to feel included.'”
The researchers believe their findings clearly illustrate the importance of revisiting our standards of professionalism so that they’re better informed by the diverse perspectives of the modern workplace, and are therefore more inclusive.
“We have to take every single policy and practice that governs culture, and we have to put it through an inclusion filter,” the researchers conclude. “Inclusion and diversity cannot exist in silos; they must be designed into the fabric of an institution.”
