The Value of Belonging: How Tokenism Undermines Inclusion

Walking into a workplace or meeting where you are the only one who looks like you or shares your background can be an alienating experience. You may question whether you truly belong or were just brought in to check a diversity box. This feeling that you were hired or included just to increase superficial diversity numbers rather than for your talents, contributions, and perspective is known as tokenism.

While some view tokenism as better than complete exclusion, it comes at a high cost for those individuals and the larger organization. Tokenism in the workplace erodes belonging, trust, and innovation while reinforcing barriers and harm.

What is Tokenism?

Tokenism refers to a symbolic effort to appear inclusive through hiring or including a small number of people from underrepresented groups. The “token” employee often feels increased pressure and visibility as the representative for their entire identity group.

Meanwhile, the organization benefits from appearing more diverse without making deeper investments or changes to culture and systems. Leadership may even use the tokens incorrectly as proof that more diversity is unnecessary or as a shield from criticism (“But we have X on our team!”).

Ultimately, tokenism creates a lose-lose dynamic. The individuals feel isolated and boxed in by narrow expectations, while the organization misses opportunities to tap the full potential of underrepresented talent.

The Harm of Perpetual Outsider Status

Imagine working alongside colleagues day in and day out yet feeling like you don’t truly belong. Your jokes don’t quite land the same. You hesitate to bring your whole self or perspective to meetings. Conversations stop when you enter the break room.

This is the alienating reality of many workplace tokens. They must constantly expend energy navigating spaces where they feel labeled as “other,” and their belonging is contingent. Colleagues may avoid or tiptoe around engaging with them beyond surface-level small talk.

Without psychological safety and trust, tokens often ration their voice and vulnerability. They do extra work to prove their competence and right to be there. Subtle “you don’t belong” cues result in higher stress, lower confidence, and withdrawal from the culture.

People who feel like outsiders are also less likely to identify with the company's values and mission. Without belonging, why invest? This hurts motivation, satisfaction, and retention.

Missed Opportunities for Innovation

Diverse teams drive more innovation — but only when people truly feel welcome to bring their whole selves and thinking to solve problems. Tokenism severely limits this advantage.

If the workplace climate signals that some perspectives are more valued than others, tokens will rightly hesitate to speak up or challenge the status quo. The last thing already conspicuous tokens want is to make waves and risk further alienation through “rocking the boat.”

So gifts like connecting insights from the token’s community background to product opportunities or bringing fresh approaches from different disciplines and cultures go untapped by the broader team.

Tokens also burn out from years of carrying the taxing responsibility of educating oblivious colleagues about their experiences of exclusion or subtle biases and microaggressions. Uneven emotional labor gets put on tokens — from patiently answering clueless questions to consoling upset majorities after raw diversity and inclusion trainings.

Over time, many tokens justifiably conclude it’s not their job to fix systems that don’t fully embrace them in the first place. They may even adapt by downplaying essential parts of their identity or steering conversations to less charged topics where they’ll face less interrogation or conflict. In all these ways, critical growth opportunities are lost.

Reinforcing the Status Quo

Beyond stifling innovation and losing talent, perhaps the greatest danger of tokenism is how it provides a smokescreen that protects and enables existing broken systems and norms.

With token diversity hires, organizations can shield themselves from accountability. Leadership can point to tokens as proof that meritocratic processes work fine and barriers are gone (after all, “X succeeded here!”) when problems get raised. Comments like “I know X, and they were totally okay with this…” also improperly put the burden on tokens to absolve issues.

This false impression that inclusiveness goals have been met makes it easier for exclusionary and biased attitudes and decisions to multiply unchecked. Having the appearance of diversity without the hard work of inclusion means unfair policies, damaging workplace culture, and lousy manager behavior continue to flourish behind the scenes.

Meanwhile, existing groups stay overrepresented, and centering of their concerns happens by default. Vague decision criteria like “culture fit” continue to be applied in ways that favor people from privileged backgrounds. Promotions and plum assignments flow along familiar, unexamined paths without fair consideration of overlooked talent.

Such unchecked biases result in tokens hitting walls, getting burnt out from extra scrutiny, and having to outperform peers to receive comparable rewards, all exacerbating vicious turnover cycles.

Navigating Tokenism

So how should someone navigate finding themselves as a seldom-represented token in the workplace? And how can genuine leaders committed to inclusion minimize tokenism’s detrimental impacts on their teams?

Tokens must determine what their dealbreakers are (at what point is culture a hopeless mismatch?) and strategies to increase ownership where possible. Moving the needle from complete tokenism toward substantive belonging is a spectrum. Progress requires bonding around deeper shared goals and human qualities versus just surface social niceties.

Allies and leaders must listen, educate themselves, champion underrepresented groups in critical conversations, remove unfair systemic barriers, and open doors of opportunity proactively, not reactively. Get to know token hires as complete individuals — then connect them to mentors, sponsors, and networks to alleviate isolation threats.

Most importantly, numbers matter. Move beyond one-off token hires to develop diverse talent pipelines, hire in cohorts from underrepresented groups, and integrate diversity meaningfully into culture and leadership.

Final Thoughts

Workplaces hoping to attract and retain top underrepresented talent must ensure that no one walks the halls wondering uncomfortably if they were just included as a superficial symbol or photo op. Meet deeper belonging needs through caring connection, and you unlock every individual’s and team’s full potential. A workplace where people belong creates gains for all.