Dr. Erin L Thomas Profile picture
Feb 7, 2020 5 tweets 1 min read Read on X
If your company is serious about #Belonging, make it clear to employees that they don't have to codify their feelings. Folks from marginalized backgrounds are seasoned detectives when it comes to sussing out an environment./1
This means that pinpointing exactly what they're feeling or why can be a challenge. It's like when someone asks me how I get to work: I can do it with my eyes closed but I'd struggle to actually name the streets I drive down./2
Scrutinizing one's surroundings is a rote expertise that most people of color, LGBT+ folks, etc. have mastered./3
Invite and encourage your employees to speak up about their belonging uncertainty or feelings of misfit even when they can't quite name that thing. Belonging is a vibe, a texture, squish. Remove the barriers you're placing on folks to be fluent in their feels./4
Proactively communicate that you'll believe them when they say they don't feel great - even if they don't know or can't say why./5

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More from @ErinLThomasPhD

Dec 21, 2022
I was recently on a panel when an #hr leader encouraged folks from multiple companies to "bring their whole selves to work." No nuance; just an open call to show up fully in the spirit of engagement. Though well intended, this advice is reckless. 🧵/1
I encourage workers from disenfranchised identity groups to critically inspect these types of invitations, especially in the current macro environment./2
In this struggling economy within a charged political landscape; scarcity mindsets, short-term thinking, low risk tolerance and a laser focus on profitability are to be expected. These are not rife conditions for #diversity or authentic individual expression./3
Read 15 tweets
Dec 13, 2020
🧵In January, our then-new CEO asked if we should have a Rooney Rule to increase racial diversity in hiring. (Yes, she’s a dream.) Here’s how I approached the question & what I’m thinking now in case it’s helpful as you consider new #DEI policies for 2021./1
January 2020 reflections:

The NFL’s Rooney Rule is a hiring policy that requires teams to interview at least one candidate of color for head coaching positions. The Rule has failed to yield diversity 17 years after its adoption./2

google.com/search?q=roone…
That being said, numerous companies have adopted the rule or a variation of it in the name of diversity best practices. To assess if Upwork should institute our own version of the Rooney Rule, we analyzed the pros and cons of this rule and of diversity mandates more broadly./3
Read 22 tweets
Sep 27, 2020
📣 For those committed to #InclusiveLeadership & #antiracism at work: One of the primary reasons that we aren’t progressing on #DEI is that we’ve been oversold the value of diversity and haven’t dug deeply enough into the personal costs. A thread./1
In my view, the greatest individual cost of DEI is the comfort of the status quo. As @mjmichellekim calls out, we love to coddle it. Breaking the inertia requires all of us to wrestle with the costs and benefits of change and reckon with what we are willing to give up./2
Here are 3 ways in which progress threatens key aspects of who people leaders are and what we can ask ourselves if we’re truly committed to leaving a positive legacy on the future of work./3
Read 18 tweets
Aug 30, 2020
I think James Baldwin oversimplified. Being Black in America is to be in *grief,* almost all of the time. After George Floyd was murdered, we encouraged Black employees in particular to take bereavement leave./1

fortune.com/2020/06/04/geo….
I took this leave myself last week. Grief is typically a private process but now we’re in a global pandemic that’s forcing us to work from home, nay to live at work./2

medium.com/age-of-awarene…
And the weight of injustice after injustice is like carrying a ball in a box 24/7/365.

.

It’s non-linear and it can take you by surprise./3
Read 21 tweets
Aug 23, 2020
Dear Egalitarian/Antiracist/Feminist/[Fill In The Blank] Manager:

One of the most impactful actions you can take to increase diversity on your team is MANAGE MEDIOCRITY.

/1
Most workers are average. No shade, just facts. Think about your job candidate debriefs and 9-box matrices. Most people perform in the middle of the respective rating scale or grid./2
It’s in the gray zone of mediocrity - “when given latitude for interpretation” - when -isms surface. -isms don’t surface in macro and micro decisions about superstars or low performers./3
Read 19 tweets
Aug 16, 2020
🚸 After weeks of research, I’ve identified 4 categories of solutions employers should consider to support parents through the next year of childcare & education. On the back of a pandemic. And a race crisis. While they show up to meetings with a smile…/1
#1 - Give money & time. This is tough during a recession but we saw just how quickly companies could open up the coffers during June’s acute race crisis. CFOs got creative & budgets were rearranged./2
For parents, dollars for childcare provide the freedom and flexibility to cobble together the supports they’ll need during this unpredictable time.

Parents will also need time to simply hold down the fort, homeschool and serve as their own backup childcare./3
Read 22 tweets

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