Work Strain

Pre-pandemic, many companies placed high value on in-person face time in the (predominantly white) office. In this environment, inequity — particularlyple of color — arose from lack of clarity on informal mechanisms of evaluating performance, including relationships and connections stemming from social networking events and company happy hours. These face time expectations in and out of work often caused strain, particularly for Black employees.

But when companies tout the accomplishments of Black people or support Black causes while ignoring the inequities holding people of color back in their own organizations, their actions feel like “performative wokeness,” especially if they’re largely abandoned the other 11 months of the year. We’d...