Racism at RBC
By: Mohsen Chowdhury
Tags: Banking, Discrimination, Racism, Workplace

In the summer of 2019, I was transferred from Toronto to Calgary by my employer, RBC. It was a chance to work alongside a top-tier team, serving the energy and utility markets. I worked my butt off and sacrificed my life in Toronto to pursue this opportunity.

Within a few months of being in RBC’s Calgary office, the opportunity had turned into a nightmare. From September to November of 2019, senior members of RBC’s Investment Banking and Project Finance teams (two men of Caucasian backgrounds) made explicit, racist comments about the Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) group, right by my desk. The comments were particularly targeted at Canada’s Indigenous communities, and included derogatory descriptions of Indigenous heritage and culture as well as profanity in describing Indigenous people. Here I was, a person of colour and an avid supporter of Canada’s Indigenous communities, witness to my own demeaning and demoralization.

By November of 2019, I could take no more. I raised my observations to my Director in Toronto. My Director informed me that HR was going to conduct an investigation and advised me to hang tight. Weeks went by, no word, no update. Finally, my Director informed me that HR had concluded their investigation. Literally no other information was provided. Oddly, HR did not even reach out to me during this time.

I had also requested a transfer back to Toronto to get out of that racist, hostile workplace, which was rejected due to business needs. I guess at RBC, business needs are more important than employee health and wellbeing. For example, making an employee endure a racist, hostile and unsafe work environment just to save face between business units.

From then on, the real torture started. My VP in Toronto started assigning me more work, significantly more than the average of my peers. Then, they tried to exclude me from team meetings. Then they tried to prevent me from new learning opportunities.

Meanwhile, back in Calgary, the two individuals making racists remarks stopped making racist remarks. Good right? Not if those remarks are replaced my stalking me at my desk. On one occasion, coming up behind me, peering into my computer screen and inquiring what I was up to. Never mind the fact that my work has absolutely no overlap with Investment Banking or Project Finance, such behavior creates a hostile environment. In the context of their previous racist remarks, it felt very unsafe.

By May of 2020, I could take no more. I voiced my concerns again and requested a transfer back to Toronto again, this time to my entire reporting line all the way up to the CEO of RBC and the HR team. This time, I did hear back from HR, as an employee engagement specialist called me to take note, but did not provide any answers and no indication of the transfer.

In June of 2020, my Director indicated that there was no business need for me to be transferred back to Toronto. I described the severe damage to my health and wellbeing froma racist, hostile work environment. Only then was a transfer offered.

However, a transfer was not enough to reconcile this matter. I asked my Director and the employee engagement specialist for an apology from the two Caucasian men who were making racist remarks in RBC’s Calgary office. To this ask, there was no response.

In July of 2019, I sent another email, this time to the two Caucasian men making racist remarks, with many people I work with cc’d, letting them know directly the negative impact their actions had on me and asking them to apologize in order to reconcile the matter.

To this, RBC locked out my work email half way through the workday, preventing me from carrying out my work duties for several hours. Seeing this retaliation, I sent another email from my personal email account, describing the situation to a wider audience which included several BIPOC groups across Canada.

RBC’s next step was to hire an external lawyer to chase after me. Seeing that my message was going no where, that I was not getting an apology, and that the entire situation had a very negative impact on my health and wellbeing on top of a pandemic that we have all been suffering from, I resigned from RBC.

I did not seek any compensation for the severe damage to my health and wellbeing from racism at RBC’s Calgary office, I did not sign any NDA or take any deal.

All I seek is an apology, which still remains outstanding.

That’s the story. Here’s what I learned.

At RBC, and possibly other large organizations, leaders are riding the Diversity & Inclusion wave in order to relate to employees and customers. Leaders are sending out company wide emails portraying their support for diversity, their commitment to inclusion and their calling to tough conversations. And when an employee speaks out about racism in the workplace, the same leaders are putting out a gag order. And when an employee speaks out about mis-handling of a complaint of racism in the workplace, the same leaders turn a cold shoulder.

At RBC, and possibly other large organizations, managers talk up diversity and inclusion and encourage employees to speak out when issues arise. Phrases like “you see it, you own it” are the norm in employee training. And when an employee speaks out about racism in the workplace, the same managers start handing out more work. And when an employee speaks out about mis-handling of a complaint of racism in the workplace, the same managers start excluding the employee from meetings and blocking learning opportunities.

If my Director truly did reach out to HR in November of 2019, and if HR truly did conduct an investigation into racism in RBC’s Calgary office, why didn’t they reach out to me for comment? Isn’t that standard HR procedure? HR at RBC responded to my July/2020 email by telling all recipients to delete the message as it does not follow proper HR protocol. Did HR follow proper protocol in November of 2020 by failing to reach out to me? Did my Director even inform HR?

You see, when it comes to issues of racism, leaders, managers and HR teams encourage you to speak out. But when you finally do, the doors of deception and connivery swing open. Soon the organization you work very hard for begins to work very hard against you. Like clockwork, you notice the exclusion and feel the unwanted-ness.

Speaking up is hard, speaking out is harder, and doing both puts employees between a rock and a hard place. Instead of expecting employees to hang tight, instead of leaving them in the dark, instead of trying to push them out of the organization, leaders, managers and HR teams should realize how difficult it is to face a racist workplace. How humiliating, demeaning and demoralizing it is to go to a workplace that expects your best, but gives you the worst. And how employee health and wellbeing is a business need.

Admittedly, it has taken a few months to get myself together and rebuild my health from this situation, so that I may address the racism I endured. I had some good help from another former RBC employee who has also spoken out about racism in the workplace. I thank her for leading the way.

Now, more than three months since resigning, I still await an apology from the two Caucasian men at RBC’s Calgary office who made racist comments about people from the BIPOC group.

I am not seeking compensation, I am not signing NDA’s.

An apology, or nothing.

Sidenote for the tech/startup crowd:

Under the current ways of reporting racism in the workplace, an employee is doomed if they do, doomed if they don’t. This is a major problem that can be solved using technology. If you have the means, I encourage you to build a technology-enabled solution to report discrimination in the workplace and track progress of such reports. For example, building an app that an employee can tap on and it starts recording voice, video and location data. Then, it prompts a brief input from the employee. Then, the employee can send the observations as an email/message, with the voice, video and location evidence attached, directly to HR. Furthermore, the employee can track the progress of their report as HR conducts their investigation and reaches conclusions.