Keynes’ centennial prediction assumes that all workers would be able to equally benefit from technological advances, which would increase leisure time. But in reality, many groups of workers have been taken advantage of in ways that perpetuate systems of inequity. Kaplan et al. (Reference Kaplan, Aitken, Allan, Alleiger, Ballardd and Zacher2025) provide a one-sentence description in the focal article on how the workday might look substantially different for underrepresented minority (URM) versus White employees. In this commentary, I explore how these “standard” work experiences may diverge for different groups of people.
Despite the increases in diversity in the US, URM workers are often absent from positions of privilege, too often occupy the lowest rungs within an organization, and/or experience the most isolating workplaces (Jensen et al., Reference Jensen, Jones, Rabe, Pratt, Medina, Orozco and Spell2021). It is little wonder that the “standard” work week might more dramatically shape minority workers’ day-to-day experiences and interactions. I propose such 40-hour work weeks result in disproportionately negative outcomes related to the mental and physical health of URM employees.
The stratification of jobs by race
Recently, President Trump categorized certain positions as “Black jobs,” referring to the reality that Black employees often work in many of the lowest paying, lowest prestige, and lowest resourced positions in organizations. This statement is a remnant of classist and racist ideologies that manifest as exclusionary practices in firms. For instance, both qualified male and female URM applicant materials are prematurely discarded at significantly higher rates than their White counterparts (Damaske, Reference Damaske2009). This issue persists despite the growing number of URM workers receiving higher education, and it creates a fissure in the types of jobs offered to URM workers. This discrepancy is reflected in recent census data illustrating that URM workers dominate the lowest-wage occupations, whereas White Americans occupy the highest paid occupations in the US (Zhavoronka et al., Reference Zhavoronka, Khattar and Brady2022). Typically, low-wage positions encompass frontline and physically demanding jobs that involve working long hours with an increased risk for injury. Thus, URM workers are not only occupying less prestigious, lower paying positions, but they also are disproportionately susceptible to subsequent risks at work.
Put simply, the classification of any job relies on stereotypes or widely accepted, often untrue, beliefs about a group of people. Stereotypes, coupled with social hierarchies that place non-White groups at the lower end and White groups at the top, provide context for the categorization of certain jobs as, for example, “Black jobs.” Indeed, research suggests that occupations held by Black targets were perceived as less prestigious and less desirable than the same jobs occupied by White targets (Weeks, Reference Weeks2021). Thus, positions filled by URM workers receive heightened scrutiny. Dramatic declines in the number of employed URM individuals compared to referent groups during the COVID-19 pandemic illustrate the expendable nature of jobs held by minority workers and show that even in the midst of a global crisis, URM workers must fear for, in addition to their health, keeping their jobs (Gemelas et al., Reference Gemelas, Davison, Keltner and Ing2022).
Overt and subtle discrimination toward minoritized individuals
Spending more time at work places URM workers at greater risk for experiencing discrimination, which negatively impacts their health and well-being. Minoritized individuals often face two different forms of workplace discrimination, overt and subtle (Hebl et al., Reference Hebl, Foster, Mannix and Dovidio2002). Overt discrimination in the workplace refers to the unlawful distribution of hiring opportunities, promotions, and access to resources in an organization. This form of discrimination often involves blatant displays of prejudice, negativity, and opposition against individuals based on their race, ethnicity, or nationality, who are supposed to be protected by law. The rates of overt discrimination in the workplace have waxed and waned in recent decades; enforced legal protection and societal norms have been successful in reducing such discrimination. However, overt racism still occurs. For instance, URM individuals and women still hold under 15% of C-suite positions (see Sadovi, Reference Sadovi2023). Additionally, the substantial pay gap between URM and their White counterparts remains (e.g., Rogers III, Reference Rodgers2024).
Subtle or interpersonal forms of discrimination involve less obvious, nonverbal or verbal biases in behaviors that occur during social interactions; scholarly research refers to subtle discrimination toward racial minorities as racial microaggressions. Such microaggressions are characterized by chronic daily injustices and encompass elements of aggression, bullying, incivility, stigmatization, and ostracism. Recent trends have established a dramatic shift from overt forms of racism in the workplace to subtle discrimination (Parikh & Leschied, Reference Parikh and Leschied2022). Racial microaggressions are often solely noticed by the receiver and require URM to cognitively work overtime to mitigate these negative micro-events and prevent them from occurring in the future (King et al., Reference King, Fattoracci, Hollingsworth, Stahr and Nelson2023). It is no surprise that this increased effort creates an isolating experience for URM employees and one that may lead them to dread coming to work and make them vigilant when they do.
Context matters: A series of pandemics and other megathreats
In addition to prevalent discrimination in the workplace, URM workers often experience megathreats, or “highly salient negative events that disproportionately affect members of a certain identity group” (Corrington, Reference Corrington, Fa-Kaji, Hebl, King, Stewart and Alao2022, p. 700). These large-scale, external threats often remind URM groups of their minority status and the accompanying perils. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic marked the escalation of an alarming rate of hate crimes displayed toward Asian American people. The organization Stop Asian American and Pacific Islander Hate reported receiving over 11,000 incidents of anti-Asian harassment between 2020 and 2023 (see Tian, Reference Tian, Im and Ziyao2023). Additionally, ignorant rebranding of the COVID-19 virus as the “Asian virus” or the “Chinese virus” led to anti-Asian sentiment saturating even online platforms. The upshot of these events is that they create increased fear, self-doubt, worry, and blame, all negative emotions that URM individuals take into the workplace and beyond (Huynh et al., Reference Huynh, Raval and Freeman2022).
Concurrently, African American individuals witnessed the promising resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, only to see it get hijacked. Rather than standing in solidarity with URM individuals, some responses from influential organizations adopted “All Lives Matter” colorblind campaigns, undermining the lives and experiences of Black individuals. African American individuals also experience megathreats every time Black people get murdered, most notably Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, by police officers. This creates feelings of exhaustion, extreme stress, anxiety, and fear (Boykin et al., Reference Boykin, Brown, Carter, Dukes, Green, Harrison and Williams2020), and Black individuals do not leave this at the doorstep of their homes when they go to work (King et al., Reference King, Ali, McCluney and Bryant Shelby2021).
Election years also mark prominent discrimination toward immigrants, particularly those migrating from Latin countries. Polarizing ideals surrounding immigration laws promote untruths about what it means to be an immigrant. Former President Trump’s 2020 campaign promised to build a wall along the border of Mexico, claiming that Latin immigration to the US oversaturated the workforce and took away jobs from “real” Americans (e.g., see Bohannon, Reference Bohannon2024). In the 2024 election year debate, Trump, again, spewed false accusations that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, consume domestic animals, contradictory to the Springfield police department’s statement completely debunking this misinformed rumor (i.e., see Murray, Reference Murray2024). Such publicized instances of condemnation against immigrants from a well-known politician, coupled with false truths and misinformation, inevitably cast immigrants as the enemy and terrorists rather than refugees seeking opportunity.
Occurring closer to the workplace is the enactment of anti-DEI legislation in some states, particularly the removal of DEI offices. The repercussions of this legislation have modified diversity-related positions across America to emphasize less relevant criteria, such as “student success” at Universities in Wisconsin. Most importantly, the removal of DEI offices has resulted in the termination of diversity-related jobs and employees, leaving many professionals jobless and even more across America in fear for their future (AP News, 2024).
There is no doubt that these worldwide, prominent events plague the thoughts and emotions of minorities across all contexts. Outside megathreats coupled with frequent, microaggressions in the workplace disproportionately place extraneous burdens on URM employees both at work and during their leisure time. Considering how the current political climate blatantly disregards minority populations in the US, it can be especially exhausting for URM workers to dedicate at least 40 hours of their lives a week to making a living.
Professional and personal outcomes
Taken together, discrimination and large-scale societal megathreats lead to negative physical and professional outcomes for URM individuals. At work, these instances have been linked to subsequent coping strategies via resource replenishment. For example, minority employees engage in protection efforts such as racism-related vigilance in preparation for the next uncivil encounter (King et al., Reference King, Fattoracci, Hollingsworth, Stahr and Nelson2023). URM also protect themselves by ruminating or co-ruminating (i.e., venting), all of which takes cognitive effort and energy. These coping strategies at work are positively related to psychological stress; increased insomnia, burnout, and depression; and decreased job satisfaction (Demsky et al., Reference Demsky, Fritz, Hammer and Black2019; Nadal et al., Reference Nadal, Griffin, Wong, Hamit and Rasmus2014; Ogunyemi et al., Reference Ogunyemi, Clare, Astudillo, Marseille, Manu and Kim2020). Additionally, impression management by URM employees is associated with lower job performance and person–organization fit ratings (Wayne et al., Reference Wayne, Sun, Kluemper, Cheung and Ubaka2023).
In sum, the disproportionate professional and personal outcomes of URM employees highlight the importance of increased leisure and recovery time for these groups.
What can organizations do?
This commentary seeks to provide the necessary impetus for reimagining how the typical 40-hour-a-week work arrangement disproportionately affects certain groups of people. Flexible work arrangements, mandatory personal days, and frequent daily microbreaks offer transformative potential in reducing end-of-day fatigue and promoting overall health (Kim et al., Reference Kim, Cho and Park2022; Shifrin & Michel, Reference Shifrin and Michel2022). Although flexible work arrangements may not always lead to favorable outcomes (Perrigino et al., Reference Perrigino, Dunford and Wilson2018), URM workers are composed of unique populations whose experiences at work diverge from the majority. Thus, these groups may require increased time away from work. Leisure time for URM workers might include, for example, participation in activities that do not require strenuous cognitive effort and increased time with loved ones where they do not have to feel vigilant. Currently, most URM workers do not have the luxury of working less than 40 hours per week, which calls for the examination of how organizations can address the concerns and needs of URM workers.
URM workers may need particular consideration when implementing organizational policy. Companies should seek to acknowledge the racial and ethnic diversity of their workers. The presence of multicultural values demonstrates appreciation for the distinct cultural identities of URM employees (Kafka, Reference Kafka2023). This can look like signaling support for target URM groups in the wake of salient megathreats, such as anti-DEI policy, by issuing public statements of support and/or prioritizing the promotion and hiring of employees from underrepresented backgrounds to positions of leadership to increase demographic representation. Each of these is shown to improve ratings of perceived organizational support for diversity and inclusion and decrease instances of interpersonal mistreatment in URM workers (Corrington et al., Reference Corrington, Fa-Kaji, Hebl, King, Stewart and Alao2022). With the current removal of DEI offices, organizations must decide how to stand firmly with their URM workers.
In an evolving industrial nation, it is clear that the issue of work and leisure will continue to be of paramount importance. However, safety at work and leisure time outside of work is especially important—and essential to find—for URM employees who brave the abovementioned stressors. Through the recognition of adverse experiences faced by URM at work and the reimagining of what constitutes a “productive” work week, organizations possess the ability to reduce the costs of what it takes for URM individuals to make a living.
