As conflict in Gaza and Israel continues, those of us hearing about these events from thousands of miles away are distanced from them physically. On a human level, being distanced mentally and emotionally may be a different story, even if you have no direct connection to the people or cultures involved. To see pain and devastation across mainstream and social media can be unsettling.
It can also exacerbate challenges that many of us may already be facing as we navigate our work, as emotional strain and burnout continue to impact Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC) at disproportionately higher rates compared to white peers. According to a Hue report published earlier this year in partnership with The Harris Poll, nearly one in five BIPOC don’t feel mentally or emotionally safe at work, and more than one in four BIPOC feel uncomfortable speaking out about burnout, fatigue, and other emotional strain at work. This becomes particularly pronounced with BIPOC women, who are two times as likely to report not feeling comfortable being fully themselves at work.
As the workplace continues to become a space where issues affecting our personal lives are being recognized as affecting our professional lives, the need for a thoughtful approach, in turn, is increasing. Today, professionals of all backgrounds and beliefs are unsure of how to react and behave. They report feeling this tension but also internal conflict and fear for acceptance or retaliation based on their values.
Joshua Cruz, a recruiter at a mental health startup, shares in a LinkedIn post, “I too have been scared to say something…as a Black person in corporate, if we speak too loudly about racism, prejudice or anything of the sort…it can put a target on our back and get us fired or pushed out for talking too loudly.”
Gina Gacad, a public relations professional with a history of social activism, notes that her professional network looks different from her personal network, and the way she discusses current events is different across those two realms. She acknowledges it has been difficult and confusing to navigate at first.
One of the big lessons for her, she says, is that “it’s not always about being right. It’s about showing up for people in the right way and being cognizant of how other people are affected. It's a real test right now.”
That means that when a client is feeling one way, your coworker may feel another way, and your friends may feel a different way than those two. According to Gacad, the nature of your relationship with those people is to listen and learn, because you never know how close to home an issue may be for someone.
As several brand and business leaders made statements in recent weeks either externally or internally to staff, some BIPOC professionals say it has led them to feel even more concerned about their well-being at work. One marketing leader at a global media company, who wishes to remain anonymous, shared her perspective with Wellth, noting she felt conflicted about her company’s response, a sentiment that has been echoed by other BIPOC professionals we spoke with in the context of this story.
“I definitely have very complicated personal feelings about this. As the daughter of an Iranian immigrant and a poli-sci major, my context of recent events is definitely differing from many of my peers and leadership, and it’s been a really difficult conversation to navigate,” she says. “You can’t rationalize the loss of human lives.”
Stephanie Nadi Olson, Founder of We Are Rosie, tells Forbes she has “often been scared to openly embrace my heritage at work for fear of discrimination,” wanting to “concurrently scream into the void that we should be demanding the stop of Palestinian genocide…, embrace my Jewish friends…, and keep my mouth shut altogether out of fear that I will say or do something that could jeopardize the ability of the team around me to succeed in their work.”
A vice president at a large financial services firm, Linda Alnadi-Bathich, shares a similar view, saying “As a Palestinian American, I refrain from speaking loudly and proudly of my identity and heritage, or my family and our beliefs, in fear that it may impact my safety and livelihood.”
So what should corporate leaders be thinking about during this time? Michelle MiJung Kim, author of The Wake Up: Closing the Gap Between Good Intentions and Real Change and former executive at performance management software company BetterWorks, offers guidance, saying that “even when emotions are running high, you have the skills to create big enough containers to hold and validate people’s grief and fear, while guiding people to challenge the conditions that create violence…You know you can love and value Jewish people in the same breath you’re denouncing the oppression of Palestinians. You know this.”
As corporate leaders work toward creating a positive environment setting the tone for how their employees show up at work, now is the time to ensure that the environment they create bridges divides rather than widening them. After all, as Alnadi-Bathich shares, “You do not have to agree with your friends and colleagues who are impacted by this, but listen with compassion and ask about their well-being. Remind them that you care and recognize our common humanity.”
