This post originally appeared on Forbes on November 14, 2023.
"What pressure might your organization impose on people to minimize their identities?" That’s the thought-provoking question in Deloitte's latest report, Uncovering Culture, in partnership with the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at NYU School of Law.
The answer is much higher than you might think and spans more identities than you might imagine. The official term for engaging in this behavior is "covering," and it describes the various ways in which people feel obligated to minimize certain parts of their identity.
"We did this research initially 10 years ago, and we see that the problem of covering has not shifted substantially," says Kwasi Mitchell, Chief Purpose and DEI Officer at Deloitte. According to the report, 60% of U.S. workers reported covering at work in the last 12 months, and 63% reported covering before they even begin a job.