WHY aren’t more Asians getting to the top at US companies?
They ought to be: Asians are highly educated, graduating from top universities and graduate programs at rates exceeding those of their peers. They’re also extremely ambitious, with 64 percent of Asians aspiring to top jobs, compared to only 52 percent of Caucasians, according to new research from the Center for Work-Life Policy (CWLP).
Yet their impressive credentials aren’t reflected in most senior leadership positions. Asians make up 5 percent of the US population, but only 1.8 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs.
What elements reinforce this “bamboo ceiling”?
Among the 3,000 Asian men and women surveyed by the CWLP, 25 percent feel they face bias in the workplace. Rather than outright discrimination, Asian professionals encounter unspoken inequities that make them feel that they don’t fit in. For example, 37 percent of Asian men say that their colleagues seem uncomfortable asking them about their personal lives, more than double the numbers for their Caucasian and Hispanic counterparts. Other trip wires are rooted in cultures that can instill Asians with communication styles at odds with the mainstream dynamic of assertiveness and directness.
The result? CWLP research finds that 63 percent of Asian men and 44 percent of Asian women feel stalled in their careers. And many are actively looking to leave their companies.
Corporations can’t afford to lose their Asian talent. But smart firms need to look for more solutions that just teaching their non-Asian managers to recognize the richness these groups can contribute.
Goldman Sachs is one company that understands this. “It was not enough to offer leadership training to East Asians,” says Gail Fierstein, managing director of human capital management. “We had to raise awareness and educate a wider audience, including managers across the firm.” In response, Goldman created the upcoming program Voices From East Asia: Redefining Global Leadership, which utilizes an interactive forum to educate managers about the spectrum of Asian professionals working at the firm and increase their awareness of the diversity across Asian cultures.
“The Asian community is a very large economic force both inside and outside of the US,” says Barbara Adachi, the managing director of Deloitte Consulting Llp.’s human capital practice. “The more you understand the impact that China and India are having on the world, the more you recognize the importance of having Asians be part of your leadership team.”
Ripa Rashid is an executive vice president at the Center for Work-Life Policy. Diana Forster is a Ph.D. student at the University of Florida and a fellow at the Center for Work-Life Policy.
