Are workplaces really too woke?

“Woke” is a label whose uses are so broad that it’s almost meaningless. That said, how woke a workplace culture might be really does matter in terms of employee loyalty and retention.

When Jordan Belfort, AKA “the wolf of Wall Street”, said workplaces are getting too woke, a grain of salt might not suffice. In a recent episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored, Mr Belfort was asked how his business could have possibly survived in today’s “human resource-controlled world, in today’s cancel-culture world”.

When a workplace becomes known for things like an employee eating another’s goldfish or cash changing hands to fund colleagues’ breast implants, a better question might be how that kind of office could ever have survived. Mr Belfort’s is a particularly incendiary example of a non-woke workplace, but the woke conversation has genuine implications for human resources professionals.

According to a Randstad poll of 2,000 people, one-third of workers aged 55 or over described their workplace as “too woke”. More importantly, this appears to really matter to that third of over 55 workers as they were found to be nearly twice as likely to want to leave their workplace.

A lot is made of workplace diversity, of which age is an important component, and surely this should give managers some pause – if not for cultural reasons, then at least for the bottom line implications in terms of turnover and hits to employee loyalty.

Diagnosis is the easy part. We can point to a problem such as wokeness and identify a divisive issue, but knowing what to do about it is far more challenging. For one, there’s no consensus on what wokeness even means. According to linguist and lexicographer Tony Thorne, the word has been redefined through a kind of dynamic clash of cultures. At first, pre-2016, the word meant “socially aware” or “empathetic”, said Mr Thorne. Now, it’s more often used as a kind of moral repository in which allegations of naïve optimism and bleeding heart short-sightedness are tucked away.

While the woke debate might appear novel, it’s helpful to see it as yet another instantiation of the cultural differences between workers of different backgrounds. In the modern workplace, where, for the first time, it’s not uncommon to find members of five different generations working under a single roof, getting diversity right is more important than ever.

It’s important to note that age is not a perfect indicator of political or cultural beliefs, and how likely someone is to champion woke causes could have just as much if not more to do with other factors, such as where someone grew up, their gender, level of education, religious affiliations, personality traits and so on. For instance, according to Randstad, men are nearly twice as likely to say their workplace “is too woke” than are women.

While managing wokeness is an ongoing challenge, some believe that overthrowing the labels is an important first step. As noted by Michael Thomas, labels are an easy shorthand, but they “put up a wall that blocks empathy, compassion, and listening”. When we label someone as woke or conservative, as progressive or traditional, we import a whole range of beliefs, values, and predispositions that can rarely be defended with a bit more digging.

So, what can a business leader do to create a more tolerant and open-minded workplace?

According to Mr Thomas, it’s a matter of leading by example. “[Leaders] can embrace their own vulnerability and give their workforce permission to do the same. They can understand their own stories and feel comfortable removing their own masks,” he said.

“Good leaders recognise that as the world gets smaller through globalisation and rapid changes in technology and demographics, fostering a shared sense of belonging is not just the right thing to do, it is simply good business.”

The answer is not to destroy diversity but to look beyond the surface to learn how these differences can complement one another.

“Creating belonging is not about being woke. It is about embracing a world and workforce that is increasingly more diverse. And it means having the courage to embrace vulnerability and build a culture of belonging for everyone – even when we disagree,” said Mr Thomas.

Nick Wilson

Nick Wilson is a journalist with HR Leader. With a background in environmental law and communications consultancy, Nick has a passion for language and fact-driven storytelling.