By Sedef Dourmoush (20-21)

Diversity and inclusion have been the hot topic for organisations for the last decade[1]. There remains a lack of diversity and inclusion within organisations particularly in the highest positions of leadership. So, what is the difference between diversity and inclusion? Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance. This is an important analogy when discussing career progression for Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) professionals. BAME make up only 11% at mid to senior level of the working population and this decreases even further at the CEO level making up only 4% of positions [2]. Although improvements are being made across industries, with statistics as low as these something must be done to ensure there is representation and equality for all.

Diverse workforces can bring a whole range of benefits including:

• Competitive business
• Better performance
• Employee happiness,
• Increasing staff retention [3]
• Attracting the best candidates [4]

so, why do organisations still not have equal representation in leadership positions?  The reason is barriers to career progression. In 2022 many barriers continue to exist for BAME professionals. New research has investigated the barriers that exist for BAME senior leaders progressing to the most senior positions within the advertising industry. The world has evolved so why hasn’t equality? Discrimination still exists within organisational cultures with one-fifth of BAME employees feeling like discrimination existed for them regarding their career progression opportunities[5]. Alongside equal opportunities, equal pay remains a barrier for BAME professionals

as the ethnic minority pay gap continues to exist, female ethnic minorities are paid 54% less than their white colleagues[1]. It is, therefore, no surprise that minorities do not make it to the top of organisations without the opportunities and the pay others are entitled to. Whilst glass ceilings continue to exist across organisations, BAME professionals often refer to this as a concrete ceiling which is more of a dead-end not knowing how to achieve leadership roles. This denser ceiling represents a longer and tougher journey to leadership that encompasses a lack of mentors and role models making it difficult to navigate career progression[2].  

C-suit and senior leadership continue to lack representation of BAME professionals and there are several reasons for this including unconscious bias, lack of effective role models, ineffective policies, and a lack of support in the form of mentors, allies, and line managers. Having role models and representation at the top, allows BAME professionals rising in their careers to visualise themselves in these roles. It provides access and connections for networking and allies to be formed. Mentors are a key source of support for BAME professionals at all levels as they give exposure to build meaningful connections and relationships within organisations to help them navigate their careers by providing insightful knowledge, guidance, and support on what is required to reach the most senior positions. However, often BAME professionals do not have access to mentors or allies meaning their progression is stunted. These barriers will of course impact the individual themselves, BAME professionals often tend to hide or change parts of their identity to fit in at work[3]. This is to avoid stereotypes and to progress within organisations. However, concealing identity can cause even further problems such as a lack of confidence and invisibility bias. Organisations need to work on ensuring inclusive cultures exist to ensure everyone has the same opportunity to progress. It is important to understand that not all BAME barriers and experiences are the same, each ethnic minority need to be treated as individuals to understand the specific barriers that exist for them. Even with all the knowledge of barriers that exist little attention has been given to BAME leader voices

to understand their views, experiences and opinions on the barriers that have existed for them on their journeys to the top.

The study, what did they do?

New research conducted interviewed fourteen BAME leaders to understand the barriers they faced on their career progression to the top. They wanted to understand these barriers from the individual’s perspective to give voice to their experiences and opinions within the advertising industry.

What did they find?

They found three key barriers existed for BAME senior leaders when climbing to the top within advertising these were:

1. Organisational barriers, the two key areas identified were:
2. Discrimination such as biases, being overlooked for opportunities and unequal pay.
3. Stereotypes which highlighted the assumptions that others make about BAME professionals based on their differences.

• Lack of supportive champions, the key areas associated with this barrier was:
• Lack of representation which showed up as a lack of visibility, lacking role models and a lack of having a voice.
• Lack of support, which consisted of lacking allies, mentors, and line manager support.

• Finally, the self as a barrier, the two key areas associated with this barrier was:
• Negative thoughts and influences consisted of imposter syndrome, a lack of confidence, self-doubt and not asking for opportunities.
• Identity, concealing identity to fit in and lacking resilience.

So, what can be done about it?

These findings give guidance for organisations to step up and make changes towards more inclusive workforces to reduce the barriers that exist for BAME professionals and increase representation at the top. Organisations must provide clear career guidance on how BAME professionals can reach the top levels and ensure they are equally paid for these positions. It is essential BAME are recruited into the top levels of leadership to increase visibility and representation. To retain BAME professionals’ organisations should keep their staff motivated, inspired, and ensure they support their wellbeing[1]. Diversity and inclusion need to be tackled seriously by everyone in the organisation, not just a select few individuals, a few things organisations can do include strategic networks to track and mentor BAME employees to support their career progression to ensure they are not overlooked or discriminated against. This can be encouraged by implementing role models[2]. Education and awareness are essential around the barriers that exist and individual experiences to ensure the whole organisation moved towards a more diverse and inclusive workforce. Training programmes to align company objectives, increase knowledge on the differences between different ethnic groups would be beneficial to tackle stereotypes and unconscious bias. Finally creating active allies in organisations for BAME leaders to ensure they feel heard and respected is key.

References

1. Carter, S., Mwaura, S., Ram, M., Trehan, K., & Jones, T. (2015). Barriers to ethnic minority and women’s enterprise: Existing evidence, policy tensions and unsettled questions. International Small Business Journal, 33(1), 49-69.
2. Rethink-tm .(2018). Diversity Report, Gender and Ethnic Diversity Review by Business Function. Retrieved from: https://thisisrtm.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/rtm-diversity-report.pdf
3. Stewart, C. (2016). How diverse is your pipeline? Developing the talent pipeline for women and black and ethnic minority employees. Industrial and Commercial Training.
4. Velma, E. M., Barbara, R. W., & Chris, K. P. (2004). Leading the diverse workforce. Profit, prospects and progress. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 25(1), 73-92.
5. Miller, J. (2019). Tackling Race Inequalities in Career Progression in UK Organisations. In Inequality and Organizational Practice (pp. 265-285). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
6. Temple, B., & Tucker, J. (2017). Workplace justice: equal pay for black women: fact sheet. National Women’s Law Center.
7. Beckett, M. H. (2020). A Phenomenological Qualitative Study on the Concrete Ceiling for Women of Color in the Workplace (Doctoral dissertation, University of Phoenix).
8. Opara, V., Sealy, R., & Ryan, M. K. (2020). The workplace experiences of BAME professional women: Understanding experiences at the intersection. Gender, Work & Organization, 27(6), 1192-1213.
9. Akpinar-Sposito, C., (2013). Career barriers for women executives and the Glass Ceiling Syndrome: the case study comparison between French and Turkish women executives. Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences, 75, 488-497.
10. Friedman, R. A., & Holtom, B. (2002). The effects of network groups on minority employee turnover intentions. Human Resource Management, 41(4), 405-421.

The moderating effect of work as a calling.

By Sara Perez Martinez (20-21)

The incorporation of new technologies used for working purposes such as apps that share work-related information being used during non-working hours are hindering employees´ respite from work during non-working hours (Mellner, 2016; Mellner et al., 2016) This respite is scientifically denominated psychological detachment (PD) (Etzion et al., 1998) and it is important because it produced an impact on wellbeing and employees´ performance at work.

 What is psychological detachment?

PD takes place when the process of recovery from a psychological stressor (e.g., high workload, role ambiguity…) that is no longer present occurs in an adaptive way (Sonnentag, 2011). On the contrary, when the recovery from a stressor is delayed, the body´s response becomes less adaptive and more harmful to health (Sonnentag et al.,2010).

Why is psychological detachment important for… wellbeing?

 Poor PD has been associated with reduced life satisfaction and reduced work life balance, increased emotional exhaustion, and increasing levels of stress and anxiety (Sonnentag, 2012). PD predicts higher wellbeing which as it is known, is a multidimensional term formed by multiple concepts and not reducible to only one (Lambert et al., 2020). Therefore, PD predicts higher wellbeing meaning, that PD is associated with higher quality of life, life satisfaction, positive emotions and the many other contructs of wellbeing. This study hypothesized that psychological detachment from work during non-working hours will have an impact on wellbeing.

Why is psychological detachment important for…performance at work?

 Furthermore, research has not only shown PD to be related with wellbeing, but it also has a relationship with increased performance at work, meaning that PD predicts increased performance at work (Swanson et al., 2011; Kaliyaperumal et al., 2017). It is worth mentioning that this study refers to performance at work, by the effectiveness of an individual at work and relationships with colleagues, as something beyond just doing a job, but contributing to the progress of the team and of the organization as well as the effectiveness of their activities (Yedgarian, 2021).

PD has been associated with having better sleep at night which is related to having a higher performance at work the day after (Swanson et al., 2011). On the contrary poor PD leads to suffering high stress, anxiety, and depression, which will be reflected in the quality, efficiency and productivity of an individual in the workplace (Sonnentag et al., 2008). This evidence indicates that PD is important for the well operationalization and organizational development of the organisation. Based on the previous evidence this study hypothesized that PD from work during non-working hours will have an impact on performance at work.

How could we moderate these relationships?

Previous studies have been conducted to learn about the impact of psychological detachment on wellbeing and work performance but to my knowledge so far, only very few of them have focused on specific types of jobs or employee profiles.

For instance, Olafsen and Bentzen (2020) investigated whether autonomous work motivation played a role in the relationship between psychological detachment and wellbeing. This study found that when both groups had low PD, high involvement employees scored significantly higher in life satisfaction, work effort, positive affect and work quality than the low involved employees.

This study demonstrates that when other variables are taken into consideration, the harmful impact of poor psychological detachment on wellbeing can be reduced. Therefore, it provides insight to investigate in more depth how other employee profiles and characteristics such as the “work as a calling” could moderate the relationship between psychological detachment and wellbeing or psychological detachment and work performance.

 Moderator Variable: work as a calling.                                                        

The definition of the term work as a calling that this study has adopted is the following: work to feel fulfilled and to find a socially valuable end in itself (Bellah et al., 1986). Dobrow and Tosti-Kharas (2011) considered an occupational calling to be fundamentally enjoyable, meaningful and to be a further part of someone´s identity. Work as a calling has been associated with higher wellbeing and higher performance at work (Duffy et al., 2018), This study hypothesized that Work as a calling moderates the relationship between psychological detachment and employee wellbeing andWork as a calling moderates the relationship between psychological detachment and work performance.

Figure 1. Theoretical model of work as a calling as a moderator of the relationship between PD and wellbeing, and between PD and performance at work

Findings

PD and wellbeing and PD and performance were not related and therefore, these hypotheses were not met.

Work as a calling moderated the relationship between PD and wellbeing when calling was low and it negatively moderated their relationship when calling was extremely high.

Work as a calling negatively moderated the relationship between PD and performance at work when calling was high.

When levels of calling were extremely high, the relationship between PD and calling became negatively significant.  These results indicate that having high levels of a calling and have some of consequences on health, such as suffering workaholism, burnout and even organizational exploitation, all justified by the great meaning that employees who have a calling feel for their jobs.

In addition, low levels of calling also moderated the relationship between PD and wellbeing since their interaction was statistically significant. The results of this moderation remind of the results that Olafsen and Bentzen (2020) found in their study about autonomous work motivation as a moderator between PD and wellbeing. Both studies obtained similar results; the harmful impact of lack of PD on wellbeing could be moderated when employees have low levels of calling for their jobs and when employees experience high autonomous work motivation for their jobs.

CONCLUSION

Work as a calling moderated the relationship between PD and wellbeing and between PD and performance at work. The findings from this study could be applied for career choice counselling or organizational use such as improving selection processes, employee wellbeing and organisational development. This study presents early findings that would be benefited by future further research. Exploring these relationships on individuals whose careers are known to involve a calling (e.g nurses, teachers, doctors…) would be a good starting point for further future research.

References.

Bellah, R. N., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W. M., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. M. (1986). Habits of the heart. Individualism and commitment in American life. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

Dobrow, S. R., & Tosti‐Kharas, J. (2011). Calling: The development of a scale measure. Personnel psychology, 64(4), 1001-1049.

Duffy, R. D., Dik, B. J., Douglass, R. P., England, J. W., & Velez, B. L. (2018). Work as a calling: A theoretical model. Journal of counseling psychology, 65(4), 423.

Etzion, D., Eden, D., & Lapidot, Y. (1998). Relief from job stressors and burnout: Reserve service asa respite. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83,577–585. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.83.4.577

Lambert, L., Lomas, T., van de Weijer, M. P., Passmore, H. A., Joshanloo, M., Harter, J., … & Diener, E. (2020). Towards a greater global understanding of wellbeing: A proposal for a more inclusive measure. International Journal of Wellbeing, 10(2).

Kaliyaperumal, D., Elango, Y., Alagesan, M., & Santhanakrishanan, I. (2017). Effects of sleep deprivation on the cognitive performance of nurses working in shift. Journal of clinical and diagnostic research: JCDR, 11(8), CC01.

Mellner, C. (2016). After-hours availability expectations, work-related smartphone use during leisure, and psychological detachment: The moderating role of boundary control. International Journal of Workplace Health Management.

Mellner, C., Kecklund, G., Kompier, M., Sariaslan, A., & Aronsson, G. (2016). Boundaryless work, psychological detachment and sleep: does working ‘anytime–anywhere’equal employees are ‘always on’?. In New ways of working practices. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Olafsen, A. H., & Bentzen, M. (2020). Benefits of Psychological Detachment From Work: Does Autonomous Work Motivation Play a Role?. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 824.

Sonnentag, S., Binnewies, C., & Mojza, E. J. (2010). Staying well and engaged when demands are high: The role of psy- chological detachment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95, 965–976.

Sonnentag, S. (2011). Recovery from fatigue: The role of psychological detachment. In P. L. Ackerman (Ed.), Cognitive fatigue: Multidisciplinary perspectives on current research and future applications (pp. 253–272). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/12343-012.

Sonnentag, S. (2012). Psychological detachment from work during leisure time: The benefits of mentally disengaging from work. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(2), 114-118.

Swanson, L. M., Arnedt, J. T., Rosekind, M. R., Belenky, G., Balkin, T. J., & Drake, C. (2011). Sleep disorders and work performance: findings from the 2008 National Sleep Foundation Sleep in America poll. Journal of sleep research, 20(3), 487-494.

Yedgarian, V. A. (2021). Adverse Effects and Intangible Costs for American Expatriates in Russia. In Handbook of Research on Institutional, Economic, and Social Impacts of Globalization and Liberalization (pp. 472-484). IGI Global