After more than a year, many of us within the United States can see a glimmer of hope as vaccine distribution increases and, in some areas, reported covid-19 cases decline. Yet, for others, the reality is not so promising in areas of racial inequality.  While we should be years ahead in our progress, we’re still stuck.  This feeling can be visually compared to a hamster spinning on his wheel and remaining in the same place.  Sounds exhausting, right?

This exhaustion is what people of color experience daily.  The impact of this exhaustion is not limited to just a physical exhaustion, but it’s also mentally exhausting.  With no clear end in sight, people of color have one option: face tomorrow with today’s exhaustion hoping that the glimmer of hope needed will soon be in sight.  This is an unfortunate reality, but organizations can bridge this gap by ensuring their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs bring awareness and support employees’ mental health.

With the continued rise in racial and violent attacks against people of color, it’s clear why many of our colleagues are frustrated and mentally exhausted.  In fact, shortly after the killing of George Floyd, data from the government revealed a  41% increase in anxiety and depression among the African American community.  Unfortunately, this unjust burden does not stop with African Americans.  Recently, we have seen countless unprompted attacks on Asian Americans.  These events, more often than not, are unwarranted and senseless.   Yet, here we are, living through an ongoing, exhausting nightmare.

With this being our reality, organizations must be intentional in their approach.  They must not only focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, but also how these initiatives can address the mental health needs of their employees.  The approach must be multifaceted as there is no one size fits all button.  Managers are critical to the approach as they are typically the first line of contact for employees and can experience first-hand the employee challenges.   Support and resources must be varied enough to fit the unique needs of marginalized groups.

In a perfect world, we would not have to deal with these challenges, but since our world is not, it’s important to your employees to see that you too are exhausted and intentionally focused on bringing change.