Issue #103: Feelings on Asian Heritage Month at work

👋🏽 Clea here, an HR and DEI consultant on the Bright + Early team, here to talk about Asian Heritage Month in May.

Every time there’s a specific month to celebrate and amplify support for folks of different identities, I feel a blend of emotions. Gratitude that we’re holding space to learn and acknowledge that other identities exist that navigate unique experiences day to day. Perplexed, because I wonder why we even need to acknowledge these ‘months’ or ‘days’ in the first place. Frustration that these ‘months’ or ‘days’ (initially designed to foster joy and celebration) have shifted to education opportunities on how to combat anti-Asian racism in white spaces, and then also for how these ‘months’ or ‘days’ don’t do a great job of navigating who people are, holistically.

Too often, when Asian Heritage Month comes around, I feel like employers look at their Asian employees like a monolith of culture that must experience the same challenges and opportunities in and around the workforce. That couldn’t be anywhere farther from the truth. To reflect on my own family, our experiences with our Asian identity embody a range of differences between my Lola (Grandma), Dad, and I. We all hold the identity of being “Asian” with pride, but also the nuance that comes with being so different. My Lola is a Filipina that lived through the Marcos martial law in the 70’s. My Dad is a Filipino that moved to Canada under the age of 10 for a better life. As for myself, I’m a Filipina that is part of the diaspora of Filipinos that have been born and raised in Canada, all trying to understand how we “fit”. All of these identities have been what we’ve brought to Canada for the past 60+ years as we’ve lived and worked here, and all of these experiences have impacted how we’ve shown up in our different workplaces.

To extend that to other socio-economic subcultures and then to the 48 other countries within “Asia” is difficult. The fact that we celebrate and have an Asian Heritage Month that is acknowledged once a year is great, but it lacks depth.

Yes, it is an opportunity to uplift and listen to Asian leaders in our industries, but it also needs to go beyond this month and start to impact how we build employee experiences longer term. Asians are not a monolith, and like every other human, they experience intersections within our identities that show up throughout the year. Instead of focusing on our one identity as Asians (that, of course, we are very proud of), I encourage individuals to think of their Asian coworkers as whole people and all the other identities that we have along with being Asian.

For those celebrating at work, I encourage you to not turn our Asian Heritage Month into an opportunity to profit off of the lived experience of Asian people. This is not an opportunity to expect Asians to train your entire company on what it means to be us. Encourage your team to dive into individual learning and participate in Mutual Aid towards communities that support Asian elders (this group, amidst many other groups, have been deeply impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic and the negative Anti-Asian Hate attacks that increased in the past few years), and unpack any bias you have towards all Asians– not just the monolith of Asians that get portrayed in the media. For more on this, Michelle MiJung Kim and Lily Zheng have both shared some thoughts that really resonate with me.

For my fellow kin this month and all months, I encourage you to find collective joy, and I wish you space to navigate our intergenerational healing. We and our ancestors have overcome so much and continue to experience challenges in our day-to-day experiences. May you find glimmers of peace, rest, and ease. There is heaviness, but there is also so so much joy.

-Clea

Coming Up

• Big announcement! Our next Early Session is on the calendar and ready for your signups! This time, we’ll be covering Conflict Management– specifically how you, as a leader or HR pro, can manage (and diffuse) those annoying beefs between others: colleagues, teams, execs, people you manage, and anyone else who is coming to you to complain. Hosted by the fun duo of Steph Little and Stephanie Bergman, you’ll log off with immediately usable tools and tricks to get folks working harmoniously again. It all goes down virtually, for free, on May 16, 1-2pm (ET).

• On May 9, our own compensation queen Trisha Neogi will be speaking virtually at the Pay Equity Summit. If exploring questions around pay transparency is on your mind, you should check this one out.

• Will you be at Tech Talent North in Vancouver on May 31? B+E’s Stephanie Bergman will be joining the stage to talk about fostering Indigenous tech talent.

• April 28 is World Day for Safety & Health at Work - a great time to review your Health and Safety programs and policies.

• May is Asian Heritage Month (Canada) and Asian American Pacific Islander Native Hawaiian Month (US)

• May is Canadian Jewish Heritage Month and Jewish American Heritage Month (US)

• May 17 is International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia

Bright Reads

• Apparently, faking it is over in the tech world, and a new kind of startup, focused on being ultra lean, is coming.

• A reminder that discussions on the 4 day workweek (or any other perk involving rest) isn’t just about recharging to work more. It’s about the ability to be a whole person.

• Want to see if your DEI efforts are really working? A/B test them!

• Move over, 4 day work week: It’s time for the six hour workday.

• Obama is going to host a new show about work! Here’s the just-released trailer.

• “The Denver office has been absorbed into the cosmic void!”

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