Dear Leaders, Please Think About This Before Your Next Workforce-Impacting Decision
This article is written with the hopes that leaders—especially HR leaders—will read it and hopefully become more aware of the unconscious biases and other factors that could be influencing their decisions. Even if one person makes a small change in their decision-making process because of this article, it will be well worth the effort.
I firmly believe that most people don’t wake up in the morning with the goal of making someone feel bad or making the world a worse place. While this article is based on past observations throughout my career, I am not passing judgement on anything because I think actions and intentions in most of the cases I’ve experienced are completely mismatched, and we are all on a learning journey.
Without further ado, here are the unacknowledged privileges that I have witnessed in the workplace from leaders, and I think we can all do better on:
Leaders have more flexibility with how they use their time: As a leader, if you must leave the office for 2 hours for a dental appointment, you can have your team cover for you. You may not even have to use sick time if you choose to work 2 additional hours later in the day. Not everyone in your workforce has the privilege of having someone cover for them for two hours, or the option to not use their sick time when they must leave work. Please remember that your access to time and flexibility could be a luxury that your workforce doesn’t have; and try not to use yourself as the barometer for your organization’s vacation and time-off policies.
Leaders are likely to have more financial flexibility than their workforce: Just because you can afford a high deductible benefits plan with HSA contributions, it doesn’t mean the rest of your workforce can. This doesn’t make them bad people; nor does it mean they are “bad with their finances”. Typically, you have a higher earning power than most of your workforce. So, before you start making statements about how HSA contributions and high-deductible plans are the ‘smarter’ way to go, please be more cognizant that everyone in your workforce is in different situations financially.
Leaders have more options on where they work: Having a residence that is large enough to allow for a home office setup with a stable internet connection and minimal disturbances is a privilege. Being able to afford gas or public transportation to go to the office regularly is a privilege. Depending on the circumstance, these may not be privileges that your workforce has. So please don’t assume that hybrid / remote / on-site work is a one-size fits all solution for your organization.
Leaders may not have had to struggle with discrimination: This is a weird (and possibly sensitive) one. I have seen this often with leaders from historically marginalized groups, and it sounds something along the lines of “well, I didn’t experience [insert act of discrimination here]; do we really need to spend the time and effort on it?”. I can probably write an essay about that comment, but in short: just because you didn’t experience it, doesn’t mean that someone else has not experienced it and it is not happening in your organization. Please avoid invalidating and disregarding your workforces’ lived experiences.
Leaders may not be experiencing what others are: Just because it is not happening to you, your family, or your circle of friends, it doesn’t mean that the rest of the world isn’t experiencing it. Case in point: just because you, your family, and your circle of friends have not been impacted by the layoffs happening in the market, it does not mean that your workforce isn’t thinking about it or isn’t concerned about it. Please acknowledge that your experiences are yours only and don’t apply them to your workforce as a generalization.
At the end of the day, to better serve our organizations and workforce, we as leaders need to become more compassionate and empathetic to the people that we serve.