How to Support Your Asian-Canadian Colleagues in the Workplace

Author : Jenna Wenkoff, Communications Assistant at CPHR Alberta

May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada! It’s a perfect time to discuss the unhealthy stereotypes surrounding Asian-Canadians and what HR professionals can do to prevent them! To help tackle these questions, I interviewed two of our Asian-Canadian CPHR members:

First, I interviewed Norman Poon , the Co-founder and Chief Customer Officer at BitWide , a subscription-based sales and recruitment company that specializes in outsourcing tech labour and using modern tools like LinkedIn for recruitment.

Next, I interviewed Ankur Makanji , the Senior Advisor of Employee Experience and Organizational Effectiveness at Nutrien , one of the world’s largest fertilizer companies. Ankur supports employees by managing everything from onboarding to global engagement surveys that are sent out to 27000 employees across North America, Latin America, Europe and Australia.

The Model Minority Myth

Norman and Ankur had similar answers when asked which stereotypes they wished people would unlearn about Asian-Canadians. Norman argued that “Asian-Canadians have this unfair stereotype of being this model minority . They are expected to just sit there, be quiet, shut up and not cause trouble.”

The Canadian Encyclopedia claims that the model minority myth : “…depicts Asians as hard-working, successful at school and in the workplace, and as economically prosperous.” This myth not only pits other minority groups against Asians, but depicts Asians as being ‘compliant’ and passive as the model minority.  

Similarly, Ankur thinks “[people believe] that Asians aren’t suited for leadership roles because they lack the soft skills required by leaders and that our communication skills in English aren’t that good. There is a perception that Asian-Canadians tend to be more quiet and more compliant.”

Because of these stereotypes, Asians are often passed up for leadership roles. For example, a 2021 report by the CPAC Institute found that Chinese-Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area, despite making up 11.1% of the population, only make up 2.17% of chief administrative officers, city managers, deputy city managers and commissioners. This means they are represented 80.45% less than what they should be in proportion to their population size. CPAC had similar findings across every area of leadership they reviewed across the GTA. 

We must remember that the model minority myth is just that, a myth. Not only are Norman and Ankur great leaders, but Norman is so talkative and charismatic that he somehow got me talking about Sailor Moon during our interview, and Ankur was extremely articulate and well-spoken. Not to mention that both of them went into HR because they love people and psychology.

They also mentioned the stereotype that Asians are good at math or are STEM obsessed. Norman even enrolled in accounting in university before discovering his love of the human dynamics of HR. It’s a good reminder to not assume someone’s skill set based on how they look.

Accents

I asked Norman what employers and HR professionals can do to support their Asian-Canadian employees. He argues that accent reduction is key, which he admits is a controversial take. He believes that East Asians, when compared to other immigrants, are missing out on leadership positions largely because of their accents. “For example, I just interviewed a man from Latin America for a CEO role at a not-for-profit. He came to Canada 5 years ago, didn’t speak a lick of English and 5-6 years later he’s being interviewed for a CEO position.”

He thinks East Asian immigrants in particular have trouble picking up English pronunciation because “East Asian languages like Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese aren’t phonetic based, they are character-based.” Because of this, he thinks that HR teams and government organizations should push for accent reduction classes.

“We should push for the government to fund accent reduction, the government is so obsessed with ESL, but one group that’s falling through the cracks, are highly trained highly educated professionals that don’t really need ESL they just need help with accent reduction.”

I wanted to push back on this a bit. I asked Norman if hiring managers and such should learn to understand different accents, and of course he agreed.

“Yes for sure, it’s about hearing that accent, communicating and encouraging them to speak more, become more confident and use the language.”

Regardless of where you stand on this issue, accents are definitely something HR professionals should be thinking about and be sensitive to.

Get to Know Your Asian Colleagues

Ankur believes one of the best ways to support your Asian-Canadian colleagues is simply by having conversations with them and getting to know them.

“ Have a conversation with your colleagues from Asian backgrounds, ask questions about their background, get to know them. Ask what do they like? What is their family structure like? What kind of religion do they practice?”

Ankur’s company Nutrien set up something called a ‘ Living Library ’, where employees could interview volunteers about their personal background and experience. Nutrien hopes that “By learning about others and asking questions to understand more, we break down barriers. We learn that we are all human, no matter how different we may seem on the surface.”

Ankur also reassured me that it’s okay to ask questions like, how do you pronounce your name? It’s important that we treat everyone equally, and take the time to learn about different cultures.

“In Asian culture, we are taught to express ourselves with moderation and restraint, and to not disagree openly in order to maintain harmony. Keeping this in mind, don’t assume your colleagues of Asian background don’t have opinions. They may be a bit introverted, so you can take the first step to ask them for their thoughts and encourage them to speak up . Doing so continually will create a safe space for your employees.”

More Tips for HR Professionals

Here are a few more ways you can support your Asian-Canadian colleagues according to Norman and Ankur:

• Check-in with your colleagues to see how they want to advance in their careers.
• Implement a benefits program that include parents and grandparents as dependants.
• Be brave and address problems head-on.  
• As a hiring manager, consider why an Asian-Canadian applicant may not have been promoted or spent a short amount of time in their previous role.
• Consider giving people who struggle with English interview questions in advance.
• Remember that ‘Asian-Canadian’ is not an all-encompassing term, and that it includes many diverse groups of people.

Ultimately, it’s important that we get to know our Asian colleagues and that we offer them a safe space to speak their minds. We should also speak up if we see them being passed up for promotions! Let’s work together to challenge the model minority myth, not only in our workplaces, but in our communities at large.

About the author: Jenna Wenkoff is the Communications Assistant at CPHR Alberta. With a background in philosophy and communications, she loves asking 'why' and always tries to incorporate DEIB into her communications. She has experience with the Canadian Celiac Association, environmental non-profits, and is excited to learn more about the intersection of communications and human resources.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog post belong solely to the original author(s) and interviewee(s) and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of CPHR Alberta.