Because of systemic racism and discriminatory practices, Black people are disproportionately performing invisible work – unpaid labor, tasks, and responsibilities at home and the workplace that are not compensated or recognized as valuable or essential in our society. Black people also have an additional burden to bear – stereotype management.
Many people, particularly women, are encumbered by invisible work, with women in the U.S. spending an average of 4.1 hours per day on unpaid household chores and caregiving and men 2.5 hours per day. But as we outline in our new book, Our (In)visible Work, the emotional toll and daily stress is even greater on Blacks, who also must navigate microaggressions and racism as they perform their duties in the workplace. This emotional burden is a significant and often harmful aspect of their invisible work.
In interviews for the book, Black executives detailed some of their unique encounters with invisible work. They are forced to moderate their hair, tone, and attire while managing their emotions and maintaining composure to meet societal and organizational expectations. This can be exhausting and lead to emotional dissonance.
Further, Black executives recounted experiences of “the glass cliff,” a phenomenon referring to the trend of underrepresented individuals being appointed to leadership positions in corporations and organizations when the entities face significant crises or complex challenges.
They are put in vulnerable situations where they can be easily blamed for failures, even if they begin to turn things around. Some recent examples include Simon & Schuster naming Dana Canedy the first Black woman to head a major publishing firm and Simone Oliver appointed global editor-in-chief of Refinery29. At the time, both entities faced turmoil. Neither are still with the companies.
Clearly, evidence of the glass cliff has extended to racially and ethnically underrepresented executives. A study by professors Alison Cook and Christine Glass analyzed Fortune 500 companies, finding that Blacks and women were more likely to be promoted to a CEO position after an organization experienced a decline in performance. Khalil, who is in his 40s and has over 15 years of leadership experience, noted in his interview for our book that most, if not all, his promotions were to fix dysfunctional scenarios throughout his career.
Said Khalil: “I find myself in these leadership positions — the repair mode of fixing things others can’t fix. Or they recruit people like me, people of color and women, to fix it. We are put in dysfunctional scenarios to save the day. It is an uphill battle. No matter what you do, you’ll never really feel as though you’re making progress. However, you’re laying enough of a foundation for someone else to learn later that you did make it better; you fixed the foundation. Instead of getting the legacy positions or inheriting a successful team to come in and fine-tune the bells and whistles. We don’t tend to be put in those same positions; we get the fix-it opportunities.”
Miles, a 40s finance executive, agreed, saying, “I’ve lost count of how many recruiting calls I get for CEO roles at organizations in financial disarray.” Increasingly, when trouble is brewing, Blacks and women are generally called to fix the problems. They are consistently called upon to help when profits fall; customers are outraged, employees are disengaged, a house is a disaster, or a last-minute party needs cake. Throughout history, there has been an unhealthy obsession with positioning certain individuals as only worthy of serving, saving, or solving when societal and operational ills demand it.
“For over five decades, this organization has never authentically targeted the Black and Latina community, and all of the sudden, they hire me and expect me to fix it within months,” said Patti, a Black woman in her 30s working in business development. Khalil and others interviewed in the book discussed how their attire and tone significantly affect how colleagues and supervisors treat them. The choice of attire also carries implications for identity and personal branding. Khalil also noted the need to actively disarm others in certain situations to ensure his voice is heard.
“If I’m not dressed a certain way, I’m not treated a certain way,” Khalil said. “As soon as my slacks or business attire come off, I don’t get acknowledged or served. So I’ve learned that my dress, my talk, my tone, my mannerisms, my body language, all of that has to be evaluated and toned down or turned off in certain situations. I’ve also learned that I over smile to disarm people because naturally they are already defensive interacting with a Black man, so smiling has helped with opening the dialogue and relationship building.”
Moreover, Miles said, “Until about two years ago, I had to consistently think about my hair and hairstyles. I’ve had an Afro. I’ve had dreads. I’ve had twists, yet just Google “unprofessional hairstyles,” and you’ll see the majority, if not all, are pictures of Black men. Ah, and then don’t even get me started on having to have a clean-shaven face. For seven years, between 2001-2008, I lost track of how many times I was written up by my manager for not meeting the policy of clean shaved — even though I had a doctor’s note in my personnel file. Once again, it is such a colonized version of what was and is still considered professional.”
Our (In)visible Work also has stories of the emotional labor women, particularly Black women, experience being characterized as having tonality problems simply because society has been socialized and primed to expect a softer, more nurturing tone from a woman.
Kenzie, a 40s, Black, sales executive, reflected on her 20-year career and said others have been uncomfortable because of her confidence and directness but masked it as tonality and emotionality.
‘I’m confident, driven, and direct, always have been, always will be,” she said. “And for so long folks made it about me, saying I should watch my tone and calm down. I am calm, and I realized it wasn’t me. It was them and their discomfort sharing space with a strong, confident, Black woman.”
Invisible work may go unnoticed, but its impact significantly shapes our society. Let us not overlook the invisible work done by Blacks, but instead, give credit where credit is due and strive for a more inclusive and equitable society. We must actively work towards dismantling systems of oppression and valuing the contributions of Blacks and other marginalized groups, especially by acknowledging, valuing, and compensating for invisible work.
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Dr. Wells and Dr. MacAulay are award-winning scholars at the Muma College of Business at the University of South Florida.