Study shows AAPIs feel lack of support in employee diversity groups

A new survey reveals Asian American communities are the most likely to join employee diversity groups but still don’t feel enough support from the company.

Key findings by AAPI Data show AAPI workers seek connection in employee resource groups and are less likely to feel represented in leadership positions at their workplace. They also face skewed perceptions about their roles from others at work. Data shows 30% have made assumptions about the type of work they do based on their race or ethnicity, a similar rate to Black workers (31%), but much higher than White (15%), Hispanic/Latino (22%), NHPI (25%), and Native American/Alaskan Native (26%) workers.

Employee resource groups first appeared in the 1960s when Black workers rallied to call for a stop of race-based tensions in the workplace. ERGs are more popular now, aiming to provide a more diverse and inclusive workplace for employees.

Karthick Ramakrishnan, the founder of AAPI Data, said ERGs don’t always translate for Asian Americans.

“The pattern they see is, regardless of whether they’re involved in these ERGs, they’re not seeing much in the way of progress in terms of people being promoted to leadership and executive positions within the company,” Ramakrishnan said to NBC News.

“In terms of feeling unsupported and unrepresented, Asian Americans are very off the charts in a bad way,” Ramakrishnan said. “I think it’s important to see that there’s a lot of improvement needed in how corporations provide leadership opportunities and also effectively communicate with their Asian American workers.”