being a minority at work

[roseretrox]

Hi, have you ever worked in an environment where you’re in a minority group? Ie gender, ethnicity.

I currently am - the majority of my office is the same ethnicity and religion. This includes 3 out of 4 managers. Other staff members that are not of their ethnicity feel the same as I - we’re left out of social events and even just conversations in the office, as they tend to speak about topics only they would understand and not ask about us. It’s not necessarily done in a direct way, eg they meet every week for a religious dinner, so they likely see no benefit in inviting people who don’t celebrate the religious background and aren’t purposefully leaving others out.

As a result though, a clique has naturally formed at work. The colleagues in question have group chats in/outside of work and regularly socialise so they’re naturally going to be closer friends. This impacts me as managers aren’t as impartial eg poor work is conducted that impacts the public/our service users but this isn’t being taken further.

The people continuously causing issues at work but are friendly with managers, are more likely to be promoted (this could happen at any workplace though)

just wondering if I’m being unreasonable? I just feel like I have to make an extra effort to be noticed at work and have to constantly fix other’s messes. I am social but it’s not easy to be accepted by such a tight knit group that has bonded on shared experiences

I think YABU. Of course people who share the same religion, interests etc are going to be friends. That’s not cliquey, that’s just the basis of friendship.

It should affect management though.

Yes have experienced it, was shit so left and would never go back to working in such an environment - it only gets worse

OP "I just feel like I have to make an extra effort to be noticed at work and have to constantly fix other’s messes"

having to fix other people's mistakes is not on

what do you mean by "extra effort to be noticed"?

I was the only female in an office of 14 staff.

Didn't make much difference to me.

I never made any effort to be noticed. I just did my job.

Do we work at the same place OP? I started my role a few months back and it was pretty obvious since day 1. Sadly it ventures into microagressions and impact morale and undoubtedly care for those we support. Sadly management also take sides and gossip, cruel comments, bullying and nepotism is rife. I'm really struggling with this aspect tbh. I just do what I need to do and leave. Fortunately it's just a bridge until I graduate plus I work weekends and love who I work with.

I'm always the minority wherever I work, based on race. Now that I'm over 50 I'm a double minority as everyone is usually much younger than I am. Sometimes its been an issue, and sometimes not, just depends on what group I'm working in and if they are "clique-ish" to being with.

I'm a minority where I work based on race. A lot of people that I work with have nights centred around drinking alcohol, I don't drink so am not invited. Half the chat is based on the latest hangover, I can't identify with that so feel left out of the chat.

Oh.. well that's not good.
It would be nice if they at least tried to be more inclusive. :-(
I'm sorry I can't think of anything to help, it must be quite isolating. :-(

I work abroad and many of my colleagues speak in their native language. I've been 18 months in the job and never let on I also speak the same language. It is fascinating what they discuss and the way they talk about others.

I work somewhere where I am in the majority, my friend is in the minority. My friend has explained to me the ways they find it tricky. We are lucky to work for an organisation that makes an effort in this area.

I think it’s fairly normal, most people who are anything other than white and culturally Christian are in this position. It’s fairly natural to not consider that things you consider normal may exclude others, it’s usually not deliberate but still needs to be challenged

I work in the charity sector - after a few less than pleasant experiences I actively avoid roles with faith based charities.

Hi, have you ever worked in an environment where you’re in a minority group?

For several years I worked in a place where the manager (gender politics activist) and all the other staff were under 30 , hip, woke, and LGBTQ +. Thanks to the manager's agenda of providing employment for LGBTQ+ people.

I was the ONLY token straight heterosexual , middle aged and married.

Yes, in another country that is v biased towards foreigners. Was left out of everything due to race. Have NEVER experienced that due to race in the UK, have only experienced ageism/"prettyism" in companies here (I was over 30, not pretty enough, not slim enough). Think the men/boys in the companies making "top 20" lists of the "most hot" girls/women in the copmany, and never making the lists so never being invited out to events etc. Which is fine. Who wants shallow boys over a loving cat/dog who loves you for you when you come home at the end of the day? :)

I'm the only female in my team (of 8) the only non white, and the only parent. It's never bothered me and I've never felt excluded. We do have similar personalities and shared interests so that makes a big difference.

Yes, mine is slightly different in the only hearing person in my team. I definitely have to work hard for my place in the team