Only 3% of Black employees are willing to go back to the office full-time after the pandemic, a new study reveals. In contrast, 21% of white workers are looking forward to returning to the office.
According to researchers from Future Forum, a study group formed by Slack, the report proves that Black employees are less likely to feel a sense of belonging at their offices.
Many Black professionals face microaggressions and discrimination in the office and feel the need to "code switch," the researchers concluded, according to The Silicon Business Journal.
"Hybrid and flexible working arrangements create the setting for these more positive working environments to exist and for an employee’s sense of belonging to increase," researchers wrote, adding that remote work "can significantly improve satisfaction" for Black employees.
In contrast, according to the study, 70% of white professionals said they have a “good or very good” sense of belonging at work. That's compared to 54% of Black people who feel the same.
While 53% of Black professionals said they are “treated fairly at work," 74% of white employees expressed the same sentiment. Experts said business leaders must rethink how their offices function and make their workplaces more inclusive.
“This is about fundamentally changing your own ways of working and holding people accountable for driving inclusivity in your workplace, including how and where you hire, when and how you show support, the values of your organization, what types of behaviors you celebrate and the lasting culture you aim to build,” the Future Forum researchers said.
One social media user said the number of Black employees who want to go back to the office is less than she expected.
i’m still really fixated on the fact that only 3% of Black people want to return to work in their physical offices. i expected low numbers, but not single digits. this stat says *so much* about what Black people endure at work, all while being expected to perform.
— Kashia (@kashia) June 25, 2021
Others shared their unpleasant experiences at work, saying they left a work opportunity because of "selfishly unaware white women."
I left a corporate setting because of selfishly unaware white women and their need to touch my hair and not take direction without saying that I was “too aggressive”.
I’m your boss…
— NuthinButNette (@NuthinButNetteZ) June 25, 2021
I came to this realization almost 15 years ago. I was a manager at kohl's. I broke my foot and was on desk duty. We got slammed, so I took a stool and was running a register to help. At least 5 white women called the store manager out to complain because I was sitting…
— K-MO (@kmo_anywhere) June 26, 2021
Tina Gilbert, managing director of Future Forum partner Management Leadership for Tomorrow, said Black employees often carry the burden of being the only one representing their culture in an office. However, remote working lifts that pressure.
“The burden or the heaviness not only is reduced, but the productivity goes up and it allows knowledge workers to use more of that share of mind to be innovative and to bring new ideas,” Gilbert said, according to HuffPost.
Some social media users also talked about the pressure of often being the only non-white person in an office.
My worst work experience.. Well one of them. Was being the only non white. And they were talking about what they did for mlk day. They call it n word day. And then they started whining that "oh no. We've got one here I guess she's gonna tattle on us"
— ????????♀️ (@ethnicitiddies) June 25, 2021
Adjoa Osei, a licensed clinical psychologist and diversity, equity and inclusion consultant, said Black employees feel a sensation known as “double-consciousness,” or “this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.”
“Being home allows us to have space to be without having that white gaze constantly on us,” Osei told HuffPost.
