Some Black women feel safer working from home and are opting out of office life to escape workplace racism

Even on her worst days, Joselyn Ink prefers working from home. She works at a nonprofit in Los Angeles that, she said, "has a 100% turnover rate for Black staff."

"They've never had more than five Black staff at a time," Ink, 32, said. "Last year they lost, like, every Black staff member they had — except for me." The nonprofit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Working from home gave Ink control over her space and allowed her to avoid certain troublesome situations, she said. Other Black women who spoke with Insider said working from home gave them more agency over their lives, often marred by racism; more freedom to express themselves in a world that has politicized their looks, and more confidence to speak up when something goes awry. 

It's true that, for many people, remote work provides unmatched flexibility and comfort. For Black women, it also provides an antidote from office environments frequently brimmed with misogynoir — a term coined in 2010 by the queer Black feminist and academic Moya Bailey to describe a toxic mix of racism and sexism toward Black women.

The pandemic forced many companies to embrace working from home, so some Black women professionals reveled in having less face time with their white coworkers. Last year, an Essence Magazine study found that 45% of Black women felt the workplace was where they most often experienced racism. A recent survey by Slack's Future Forum found that more Black professionals prefer working from home over their white colleagues. Black workers said, ironically, their sense of belonging at work increased 50% once they began working from home.

The opportunity for remote work can help improve the mental health of Black women, psychologists said. Many Black women told Insider they felt better expressing themselves and managing the type of microaggressions they encountered each day.

Working from home helps Black women have better control over their environments and stressors. Remote work also helps in eliminating commute times and childcare expenses, issues that disproportionately disadvantage Black women. Companies may still have work to do in becoming better working environments for Black women, but flexible working schedules in the meantime can help alleviate office stress, experts said. 

Ink recalled a work meeting with her company earlier this year that discussed racism. Afterward, a white coworker sent her an email saying she felt "unsafe" in the meeting, as well as "lectured and belittled." This time, Ink was able to get up from her computer, walk away, regroup, and recharge before heading back into the fray.

"If I was in the office, I wouldn't know what the hell to do," Ink continued. "I wouldn't even be able to leave my desk because someone would say, 'You just took your break.'" 

It's about control

Last year, Katherine Cauley bleached and cut 16 inches of her hair after realizing working from home would become her new normal. Cauley, 25, works as an energy utility specialist in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Her coworkers often commented on her hair, she said, asking if it was really hers, how long it took to groom, and how long the style would last.

"They asked a lot of questions that felt overwhelming to me," Cauley said, adding that many were "well-intentioned."

Working from home spared her the curiosity of her white colleagues. "I started changing my hair like crazy because I didn't have to hear anything about it," Cauley said. 

T.J. Lumpkin works in the finance industry and grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood in Georgia. She said growing up, children commented on her hair so much that she learned to internalize the way in which she should appear in majority-white spaces.

"I now make it a point to not change my hair nearly as much," Lumpkin, 25, said. Working from home freed her from that, and now she wears wigs, twists, sew-in wigs, and double Afro puffs. "Now I'm not in the office, I do my hair while I'm at work. I don't even have to take time off now."

Microaggressions such as these happen at such a high frequency in office environments for Black women that there's no time for mental recovery, said Erica Reed, a workplace psychologist. "That's the definition of toxic stress," she said of working in such environments. "When a person is removed from that environment, they're able to now work from home and have recovery time."

Situations, such as not seeking or being given the chance to touch a Black woman's hair, give agency and control back to the person; it's about defining space in the workplace and being able to successfully defend the set boundaries. "You cannot expect anyone to stay engaged, productive, or connected when they experience toxic stress of trauma," Reed continued.

Read more