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Being yourself at work
When Danielle Vinales, a 24-year-old university employee working in the US state of Virginia, transitioned to remote work in March, she noticed something striking about herself: she talked with her hands. Seeing herself on video-conferencing calls, the Miami native became aware of how her speech and actions made her stand out as distinctly Latina in contrast to her colleagues. She was suddenly self-conscious of her mannerisms and accent in a way she hadn’t been before. Whenever she would see her hands go up in her tiny Zoom window, it would be a visual reminder to tone it down. Vinales consciously decided to restrict her hand gesture.
What Vinales did is an example of ‘code-switching’. The term, coined in the 1950s, was originally intended to describe the way bilingual individuals switched between languages and corresponding identities. It has since evolved to refer to the way people adjust and adapt their behaviour, appearance and language to avoid highlighting negative stereotypes in school and work environments. Conforming may mean putting on a persona that’s more ‘compatible’ with the environment more likable or relatable, thus more likely to succeed.
Covid-19 has changed the way nearly everyone works, which means that code-switching is also evolving. The use of video conferencing has blurred the border between ‘private’ or ‘office’ spaces. “There are new ways of code-switching in remote work environments, like using virtual backgrounds or turning your camera off,” says professor Courtney McCluney, from Cornell University. Before the pandemic, McCluney continues, offices that were entirely virtual were more likely to emphasise employees embracing their true selves. Without physically walking into an office every day, these remote workers didn’t have to be as ‘on’ and “were code-switching less,” she says.
For Vinales, the switch to remote allowed her to be more candid; seeing her boss on camera — in her home, with her kids in the background — made Vinales more confident about disclosing her insecurities. She felt her boss was letting her colleagues in, and it empowered her to do the same. She feels that her need to code-switch has drastically decreased and now, while working from home, she’s making more of an effort to connect with her colleagues on a personal level. And more importantly, it’s allowed her to feel more herself.
(Chika Ekemezie. www.bbc.com, 21.01.2021. Adaptado.)
At the end of the third paragraph, the expression “these remote workers” refers specifically to workers who
