Hypervisibility at Work

Photo Credit: Russell J. Smith

Research on professional women of color often describes our “invisibility” in the workplace. But what about when the reverse is true?  What happens when we find ourselves overly visible—when everything we say or do seems to draw extra scrutiny from colleagues and supervisors?

It’s called hypervisibility.

Hypervisibility is a common experience for professional women of color, and it refers to the additional scrutiny that you receive because you appear different from others.  These differences may be manifested through your skin color, hair texture, physical ability, or, depending on the environment, your gender.

The end result of hypervisibility is that your behaviors are magnified in the sight of others because you are noticeably different from others.  I once read a story of a Black female architect who (I think) was the only Black woman at her firm. She was a very timely employee, while one of her co-workers, who happened to be a White male employee, was habitually late.  One day, for some reason, she  gave him a ride in to work and he was late (as usual), making them both late. She was called into the supervisor’s office and warned about being late, though she had never been late before. The supervisor didn’t even notice that her colleague was late—and they arrived together!

At a macro level, hypervisibility leads to the perception that diversity is no longer necessary in the workplace. Often people take more notice of those who are visibly different and so erroneously believe that there is more diversity in the workplace than is actually present.  This is a challenge for professional women of color, but also for diversity practitioners as they continue to educate others on the necessity for diversity programs and initiatives.

So, no, it’s not just you. People do notice more of what you do at work when you appear different than others. But there are ways to manage hypervisibility. I’ll share some tips on developing a tempered visibility strategy in my next post.