Many offices these days have cheerful instructions for their employees to signal that they have an open, inclusive, and caring culture: Show up authentically! Let us meet the real you!
Unfortunately, as it turns out, these messages can frustrate and repel the job seekers they aim to welcome, according to new research by Columbia Business School Professor Rebecca Ponce de Leon and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Professor Katherine M. Du.
The idea that an employee should bring their whole self to work is a “well-intended message” that companies often fail to think through, Ponce de Leon says.
Across six studies with 2,888 participants, the researchers examined what they call an “authenticity ideology,” or a company’s message that employees should act like themselves to succeed. The researchers asked participants how often people like them face disrespect, discrimination, or devaluation at work.
The reason for that “can really be any identity, any characteristic, that tends to make you be viewed as less than in the eyes of others,” Ponce de Leon says.
Participants who felt people like them faced more workplace stigma saw greater risk in following a company’s “be yourself” advice. They were more frustrated with companies that used such messaging and expressed less interest in working there. All participants expressed similar skepticism, regardless of how much stigma they reported. Job seekers who anticipated more stigma felt that company leaders had ignored the unequal professional cost of self-expression.
A company may sincerely want employees to feel free to be themselves and still overlook who faces consequences for doing so. For someone who expects to encounter bias or disrespect, an invitation to reveal more of themselves offers permission without proof of safety, Ponce de Leon notes.
The researchers found a remedy, however. When companies paired the message with concrete evidence that employees from stigmatized groups could succeed, those negative reactions largely disappeared.
‘You need to show you’ve actually taken steps to make sure that everyone is valued’
Before employers invite applicants to bring their whole selves to work, they should confirm that their corporate practices support that promise, according to Ponce de Leon. Can employees from varied backgrounds reach leadership roles? Do policies and benefits support people with different identities and family circumstances?
“You essentially need to include some cue that you’ve thought through the fact that authenticity might be difficult for some groups,” Ponce de Leon says. “You need to show you’ve actually taken steps to make sure that everyone is valued regardless of who they are.”
In one experiment, Black participants reviewed organizational charts with the same number of Black and White employees. The researchers placed Black employees either in the four lowest roles or in higher-level positions. Among participants who anticipated more racial stigma, those who saw Black employees in senior roles rated the company nearly two points higher on a seven-point attraction scale than those who saw Black employees only in the lowest roles. They also saw less chance that following the company’s advice would cost or harm them professionally.
In another experiment, gay and lesbian job seekers saw either a company’s “be yourself” message alone or the same message with a 4.8-star Glassdoor rating and a positive review from an LGBTQ+ employee. The added evidence reduced risk and frustration and increased interest in the company, especially among participants who anticipated more stigma.
The researchers found no reliable recruiting advantage among job seekers who reported less stigma. Across the studies, those participants reacted neutrally or only modestly positively to companies that told employees to be themselves. The message did not strongly attract one group even as it pushed another away. Companies that lack support for stigmatized job seekers may therefore gain little from the slogan and risk losing talent.
Ponce de Leon recommends that you look beyond the Careers page of a prospective employer when searching for a position. Try to get a sense of who gets promoted. Which policies remain in place? What do employees with similar identities say?
Those signals reveal more about a workplace than a tagline and can demonstrate whether authenticity and success can truly coexist for all.
