Workplace Mistreatment Takes Tougher Mental Toll on Black Employees

Key Takeaways

• Toxic workplaces could be worse for Black employees than whites

• Black employees being mistreated on the job had more depression and less sleep than whites

• America’s legacy of racial prejudice could make Black workers more vulnerable to mistreatment

THURSDAY, Aug. 15, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Black employees in a toxic workplace are more susceptible to depression and sleep loss than whites are, according to new research.

Black workers being mistreated by employers got an estimated 100 fewer minutes of sleep per night than white workers or Black people not enduring mistreatment did, results showed.

They also were more likely to develop symptoms of depression, researchers found.

Follow-up research revealed this response could be due to America’s history of racial prejudice, the researchers said.

Mistreated black employees were nearly eight times more likely to perceive prejudice attributed to their race than mistreated white employees were, researchers found.

White employees were less likely to attribute mistreatment to race and were able to more easily shake it off, results showed.

“Our findings are not intended to put the onus on Black employees for being too sensitive, but to inform organizations that mistreatment is experienced within the context of one’s identity,” said researcher Erik Gonzalez-Mule , chair of management and entrepreneurship with the Indiana University School of Business.

“Organizations must strive to create an inclusive workplace for their Black employees and should find ways to reduce workplace mistreatment, for example, by implementing accountability measures or encouraging bystander intervention,” Gonzalez-Mule added in a university news release.

For this study, the team first analyzed data gathered from more than 3, 500 people as part of a study on midlife health conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Institute on Aging.

Participants were asked about workplace mistreatment, and some were asked to wear devices that monitored their sleep or fill out questionnaires assessing depression symptoms.

The data showed that workplace mistreatment was associated with depression and loss of sleep, but only for Black employees.

In a second phase of the study, researchers recruited about 500 people online and asked them to recall an instance where they felt mistreated by a coworker or a boss.

Black people were more likely to attribute that mistreatment to their race, results showed.

The findings were published recently in the Journal of Applied Psychology .

The researchers argued that companies may need to take extra steps beyond providing lip service to diversity, equity and inclusion.

“Many of them have predominantly focused on the diversity aspect, with most attention paid to simply staffing a more diverse workplace,” the team wrote in the study.

“We encourage managers to heed the oft-quoted line, that ‘Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.’ Workplace mistreatment is the antithesis of inclusiveness, even if consistently applied across racial lines,” they added.

More information

The American Psychological Association has more about toxic workplaces .

SOURCE: Indiana University, news release, Aug. 9, 2024

What This Means For You

Employers should take steps to stop all toxic workplace behavior, with an understanding that it might affect Black workers more than whites.