Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there has been a significant increase in racist rhetoric, action and violence toward the Asian American Community. Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition that tracks incidents of violence and harassment against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S., reported nearly 3,800 instances of discrimination against Asians in the past year. The actual number could be much higher.
At Limeade, we do not tolerate racism or hatred of any kind. We understand the gravity of violence toward the AAPI community and we stand in solidarity. We are committed to supporting our Limeade employees and continuing to do the work to dismantle systemic racism.
Here are some resources and actions we’ve provided to Limeade employees to get started. If you’re not sure how to take action on this important issue, we hope you can use these actions as inspiration.
How to help employees take action against Asian American hate
1. Deepen knowledge with trainings
The first thing many of us can do is learn. Asian Americans Advancing Justice have partnered to organize free Bystander Intervention training that provides skills for identifying and deescalating instances of anti-Asian American harassment and xenophobia. Consider sending employees optional calendar invitations to attend.
2. Support racial justice through existing giving programs
At Limeade we utilize Cauze, where employees can contribute company and personal funds to the charity of their choice. We’re encouraging employees to support the Asian American Support campaign. We’ve also provided a list of organizations for employees to use their annual paid volunteer day, like Compassion in Oakland, ACRS Volunteer and Stop AAPI Hate.
3. Take care of each other and yourselves
We’re encouraging our employees to take time to pause, reflect, breathe and grieve. At Limeade this starts with healing circles and continues with Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), town halls and other forums. Managers might consider repurposing a team meeting or other meetings to give employees time for their own personal reflection. For more ideas we provided our managers with this article for more information on, “How to Manage Your Team in Times of Political Trauma.”
These events may impact employees differently, and it is important to honor the way your employees might be feeling. HR teams should proactively share relevant resources, empower internal councils and ERGs to provide space for discussion and make themselves available to support employees looking for support.