The High Cost of Being Authentic at Work
▼ Summary
– Jodi-Ann Burey was accused of having a “race agenda” shortly after starting her role as an inclusion marketing manager, highlighting corporate hypocrisy in diversity efforts.
– Companies often feign interest in racial equity and gender parity but fail to deliver on these promises, as Burey experienced firsthand.
– DEI initiatives are being rolled back, with recent policies targeting minorities and weakening antidiscrimination laws, contributing to rising Black unemployment.
– Burey’s book examines the costs of authenticity in the workplace, citing burnout, pay gaps, and systemic issues rather than individual negotiation failures.
– The book critiques corporate performative DEI investments and calls for reimagining workplace culture with care instead of control.
Navigating the professional world while staying true to your identity often comes with a steep price. Jodi-Ann Burey experienced this firsthand just two weeks into a new role as an inclusion marketing manager for an outdoor retailer, when she was accused of pushing a “race agenda.” As a Black woman, Burey recognized the workplace as a concentrated reflection of society’s complex dynamics. Her reaction to the 2020 accusation was one of disbelief, she laughed, recalling, “I was like, you knew who I was before you poached me. This is exactly what you wanted me to do.” That moment, arriving just before the racial reckoning sparked by George Floyd’s murder, revealed a painful truth: many organizations claim to support racial equity or gender parity but fall short on delivering real change. Burey observes, “It’s so weird the ways that people will contort themselves to make you a willing participant in their lie.”
Today, racial identity can feel more like a professional liability than it has in years. Equity initiatives are being scaled back, and political rhetoric has reframed diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into a divisive term targeting Black, trans, and other minority communities. Recent executive actions aimed to eliminate DEI efforts across federal agencies and challenge similar practices in private companies. These moves, combined with weakened anti-discrimination enforcement, have had profound effects. By August, Black unemployment reached its highest level since the pandemic, according to Labor Department data.
A tightening job market adds another layer of strain. Many people voice their exhaustion online about lengthy, discouraging job searches. Younger workers, especially Gen Z, confront particularly tough employment prospects, with research indicating a decline in opportunities for prime-age laborers. This economic pressure forces many to rethink their entire approach to work.
Burey’s recently released book, Authentic: The Myth of Bringing Your Full Self to Work, arrives at a critical time. It meets a growing desire to understand workplace mechanics and find a genuine place within them. The book presents a clear-eyed examination of how employers often exploit their staff and how workers can reclaim their power. Blending personal stories with investigative reporting, Burey details the real expenses of authenticity, from burnout and corporate negligence to shrinking job protections and stagnant wages. She states plainly, “Authenticity costs, and I mean cash. Just existing as women means we are paid eighty cents for every dollar paid to a white man for the same role. We don’t need better ways to negotiate. We need a better system.”
Drawing from her experience across nonprofits, education, and tech startups, referred to pseudonymously in the book as “The Org” or “The Shop”, Burey analyzes the fallout from 2020, when many companies made performative DEI commitments. She uses this analysis to open a broader discussion, asking, “Can we imagine care rather than control?” Her work explores the consequences of showing up as your true self in professional settings, telling a story of how the American workplace has repeatedly failed its workforce. It suggests that building a truly healthy work culture may remain out of reach under current systems.
(Source: Wired)
