THE COSTS OF CODE-SWITCHING

At this point in my career, code-switching feels natural. I am not even cognizant that I do it anymore. —30-year-old black male researcher

In 2012, a video of President Barack Obama entering the locker room of the U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team went viral. In the clip, viewers can see that there’s a clear difference between how Obama greets a white assistant coach and how he greets the black NBA player Kevin Durant. This moment inspired a sketch on Key & Peele in 2014 that played off the idea that Obama “switches” how he greets people, depending on whether they’re white or black.

This kind of behavioral adjustment is casually referred to as “code-switching,” which has long been a strategy for black people to successfully navigate interracial interactions and has large implications for their well-being, economic advancement, and even physical survival.

Broadly, code-switching involves adjusting one’s style of speech, appearance, behavior, and expression in ways that will optimize the comfort of others in exchange for fair treatment, quality service, and employment opportunities. Research suggests that code-switching often occurs in spaces where negative stereotypes of black people run counter to what are considered “appropriate” behaviors and norms for a specific environment. For example, researchconducted in schools suggests that black students selectively code-switch between standard English in the classroom and African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) with their peers, which elevates their social standing with each intended audience. We also see examples of guidelines encouraging black people to code-switch to survive police interactions, such as “acting polite and respectful when stopped” and “avoiding running even if you are afraid.”

Based on our research and the work of others, we argue that code-switching is one of the key dilemmas that black employees face around race at work. While it is frequently seen as crucial for professional advancement, code-switching often comes at a great psychological cost. If leaders are truly seeking to promote inclusion and address social inequality, they must begin by understanding why a segment of their workforce believes that they cannot truly be themselves in the office. Then they should address what everyone at the company needs to do to change this.

THE UPSIDES AND DOWNSIDES OF CODE-SWITCHING

Workplace research suggests that code-switching can generate both positive and negative outcomes for black employees. In our review of the existing literature, we identified three main reasons people code-switch in the workplace:

1. For black people and other racial minorities, downplaying membership in a stigmatized racial group helps increase perceptions of professionalism and the likelihood of being hired.
2. Avoiding negative stereotypes associated with black racial identity (e.g., incompetence, laziness) helps black employees be seen as leaders.
3. Expressing shared interests with members of dominant groups promotes similarity with powerful organizational members, which raises the chance of promotionsbecause individuals tend to affiliate with people they perceive as similar.

At the same time, we know that code-switching comes with social and psychological repercussions. Downplaying one’s racial group can generate hostility from in-group members, increasing the likelihood that those who code-switch will be accused of “acting white.” Seeking to avoid stereotypes is hard work, and can deplete cognitive resources and hinder performance. Feigning commonality with coworkers also reduces authentic self-expression and contributes to burnout.

For our latest working paper, we investigated how and when these positive and negative outcomes occurred in our sample, how those outcomes affected black employees, and how code-switching was evaluated by others. The goal of this research was to examine how code-switching as an impression-management strategy informs black people’s work experiences. We also wanted to examine the pros and cons of this behavior for their professional and psychological well-being.

Our findings, while largely self-reported, add to the ongoing work of understanding how black professionals navigate mostly white American organizations. Creating workplaces that are inclusive of black people will enable companies to retain a diverse workforce and bolster innovation. However, black employees who feel pressure to code-switch may perceive that they are being devalued, which in turn may reduce their commitment to the company and desire to contribute their unique insights. Our work provides an in-depth review of black employees’ working lives that will allow companies to create better strategies for recruiting and retaining these workers.

THE COMPLEXITIES AND NUANCES OF CODE-SWITCHING

To begin our research, we developed a “code-switching at work” scale to assess the extent to which black people downplayed their race (e.g., “I try not to act like other members of my racial group”), avoided stereotypes (e.g., “I avoid behaviors that would make people at work think that I am lazy”), and promoted shared interests with majority-group members (e.g., “I try to talk about topics that other people would find interesting”) through adjusting their behavior and appearance. We sent an online survey to black individuals from alumni pools of two large public universities in the U.S. and a Qualtrics survey panel to assess when and how they code-switched at work. Our sample, which consisted of approximately 300 black college-educated employees in the United States, indicated the extent to which they code-switch on a 7-point scale (from strongly disagree to strongly agree). On average, across all three dimensions, participants responded at a 4, which indicates that code-switching is neither overly present nor overly absent from these employees’ work lives. Clearly, there is some complexity in when and how code-switching occurs.

Through our survey, participants largely acknowledged the benefits of engaging in the three kinds of code-switching listed above. They also articulated how they view and experience these benefits, and how different situations can influence the extent to which they code-switch. We list four of these situations below.

Leadership aspiration. We found that black employees with high career aspirations for leadership and promotion opportunities actively avoided conforming to black stereotypes to a higher degree than those with low career aspirations. “I operate under the assumption that most people expect less of me because of my race,” said a 31-year-old black male anesthesiologist. “Under that assumption, I find it easy to modify my behavior slightly to consistently outpace expectations of my abilities.” Respondents also named specific stereotypical behaviors that they regularly avoid. “I go out of my way to make sure I don’t appear lazy, because I know the stereotypes,” said a 23-year-old black female program manager. “People talk, and if you look a certain way, you really have to work twice as hard.” A woman in her 30s who works as a senior research program coordinator told us, “In my actions and verbal communications, I try to avoid any opportunity for someone to label me as the ‘angry black woman.’ I also carry myself in a professional manner that may seem to be a step above the somewhat casual professional environment of the office.”