Are there “Latino values” or is that just a broad mish-mash of ideas based on both the diversity that is found within the Latino community and on stereotypes? How does this idea of “Latino values” follow us into the workplace? A recent survey by the National Society for Hispanic Professionals (NSHP) asked just this question.

When I worked in investment banking as an analyst, one day I was called into the office of my managing director. I thought one of two things was going down. I was being fired for my big mouth or I was getting a promotion for my work, especially since I was the only Spanish speaker in an area that was closing deals with banks and companies in Latin America. I hadn’t anticipated the third option, the option that meant that no matter how well I worked I still would be viewed as “other”. My managing director called me into his office so I could tell his Latina maid what she had to do that day.

I was not alone, according the the NSHP survey 38% of respondents felt that the Latino/a stereotype has a strong and mostly negative presence in the workplace.

Angélica González, a second-generation immigrant, has been working as a paralegal for a well-known law firm in Los Angeles.Only a few weeks into her tenure, however, she found herself facing negative Hispanic stereotypes in her workplace. “I began to notice how people kept speaking to me slowly just because of my Spanish accent.”

There is much hype in the media about how Latinos, with our growing numbers and growing skill set to match, are being marketed to by big business, not just as consumers but as employees. But how does this need for a workforce that reflects the changing reality of the country balance with the racism that is thrown at us when we enter the workforce?

According to the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement, Hispanic professionals are highly educated, fully bilingual, in almost all cases legally authorized to work, and with a family structure similar to the non-Hispanic White population. In addition, Hispanic professionals have a more optimistic outlook on the economy than the overall population.

And yet even here, when I write about immigration, I am stereotyped and am bombarded with comments and emails to go back where I came from when I came from right here.

This survey only reflects a small portion of Latino professionals but offers insight as to what stereotypically Latino values are thought of and how Latino professionals, across regions take these stereotypes. Print out the survey results and show it to your managing director or HR person.

Via / NSHP.org