In a day-to-day culture designed to overwhelm us, we have to remind ourselves and each other that tackling things one step at a time...leads to great progress over time. 

And in the era of sound bites, it feels especially necessary to question the words and phrases of the status quo.

Some will argue that this is 'woke culture'. They will say that paying attention to language means we are overly sensitive. On the other end of the spectrum, they'll say that there are so many awful / traumatizing / horrific things happening, these details are trivial or meaningless in comparison. 

Oppression also exists on a spectrum. And in order to reduce the power of oppressive individuals and systems, we have to understand the subtle ways it creeps into our everyday life. Brené Brown conveys this far more succinctly, and with far better research, than we can in her article, Dehumanizing Always Starts with Language.  

What is interesting to us, as we've looked more closely at the language of job posts over the past several months, is that the threshold for what each of us considers dehumanizing may be different, because it's rooted in different experiences. What one person may consider 'no big deal' might be triggering for another, and for good reason. Awareness is a prerequisite for action.

Our antenna goes when we see language that creates an Us vs. Them framework, setting the stage for employees and / or employers to be on the defensive, at odds, or exploited, rather than working together, sharing resources, and empowering each other toward common goals. 

Since last Fall, we've done a deep dive into commonly used words and phrases in job posts, including why they can be problematic, and how we can make changes that translate from the language of an individual job post into the culture of an organization. Most recently we worked with Gina Lorubbio at Heirloom Food Project to create a visual guide to How to Write a More Equitable Job Post, and we are working on a PDF version that you can more easily reference and / or share. Stay tuned. 

As we continue to reflect and remain open, we wanted to share another ubiquitous statement in job posts continues to pop up like a stowaway. You may have seen some version of this sentence:
 

Other duties as assigned.

This phrase is used so often, we're inclined to think it's added by default, a sentence whose impact has completely wandered away from its intent. This article breaks down what is problematic about this catchall phrase that is often abused and misinterpreted.

We believe there's an opportunity to do it differently by honoring the true intention of your workplace culture. Here's an example of what you can write instead:

We know it's impossible to convey every single task for a particular job in one job post. Our hope is that as we work together, and your role evolves over time, we can adjust your job description accordingly.

The small details matter. Shifting the dynamics of your organization from 'power over' to 'power with' changes the culture, giving individual words a reverberating impact.

If you can make powerful change just by adjusting your words, isn't that worth it?
 

Yours in food, justice, and food justice,

Dor + Tay

photo by Christine Han