08/01/2025

The Theory of Work Adjustment Applied to Racism in the Workplace

By Frank Gorritz FitzSimons

The Theory of Work Adjustment is a helpful framework that allows both counselors and clients to actively explore motivations and adjustments when experiencing various stressors in the workplace. Through identifying reinforcers, clients can build resilience during the career counseling process. However, little research explores how the Theory of Work Adjustment can be applied when navigating minority stress in the workplace, particularly as communities of color navigate multiple racial and intersectional stressors at work. This theoretical article explores the application of the Theory of Work Adjustment when exploring minority stress in the workplace. This article expands upon the concepts and best practices covered in “Demystifying Quiet Quitting and Quiet Firing Through a Racialized Lens for Career Practitioners” (Gorritz FitzSimmons, 2024)  

Introduction to Theory of Work Adjustment

Created in 1964 by Dawis et al., the Theory of Work Adjustment illustrates the phenomenon that takes place between a person (e.g., the employee) and their work environment (Dawis, 2000, 2005), particularly regarding their sense of belonging and compatibility. This theory assesses the needs that must be met for employees, as well as their behaviors and capabilities that contribute to whether their needs are met (Dawis, 2005). The workplace will also have needs that must be met, creating a parallel relationship of need between employees and their workplaces (Dawis, 2005). Based on how an employee feels about their work environment, the employee will reach emotional states that either influence them to maintain their productivity at work (e.g., the maintenance stage) or challenge them to adjust to workplace expectations. This model also focuses on the reinforcers (e.g., motivators to continue work) that work environments provide for employees, such as pay, prestige, and working conditions. Therefore, the theory of work adjustment determines employees’ satisfaction with their work based on whether reinforcers can be continuously provided to employees and whether employees’ skill sets correspond with skill requirements.

Impaired Reinforcers, Quiet Quitting, and Quiet Firing

Reinforcers align with how much effort employees put into their work environment. Yet, these reinforcers can be questioned when employees experience obstacles to their motivators, such as when employees are not respected, i.e., are treated in condescending ways or are talked down to. While employers may think that work bonuses and incentives serve as strong motivators for work production, the Quiet Quitting phenomenon demonstrates that workers’ personal boundaries are a significant area of importance in today’s job environments, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (Dimaggio, 2022; Gartner, 2021). Quiet quitting is described as occurring when employees begin to covertly steer away from their dedication to their work environment, as part of refocusing their personal priorities as a result of feeling subjugated to a workplace’s priorities (Gorritz FitzSimons, 2024; Pearce, 2022).

Quiet firing is another ongoing phenomenon, such as when employers may intentionally cut off potential reinforcers for employees of color to force them to quit working. According to survey data in 2022, 46% of women of color reported wanting to leave their jobs due to lack of resources and benefits that will support their needs, such as family care (Ellsworth et al., 2022). With the perceived threat of racial salience among oppressive employers, women of color, as well as minoritized communities of color, are at risk for discrimination through being deprived of necessary resources, leaving them feeling forced to leave their job (Carbado & Gulati, 2013; Ellsworth et al., 2022; Thornhill, 2015).  Therefore, institutional solutions to prevent quiet firing and quiet quitting maintain a top priority in disrupting racial oppression in the workplace. For example, institutions can start to evaluate and measure their own workplace cultures to intercept and prevent racist workplace dynamics that can cause minority stress and contribute to quiet firing and quiet quitting, ensuring that employees of color are protected from such phenomena (Ellsworth et al., 2022). Furthermore, institutional work violence must also be recognized and addressed when exploring protections for communities of color throughout the workforce in the United States.

Racism, Quiet Quitting, and Quiet Firing

The impact of racism across workplace environments can contribute to how employees of color engage in either quiet quitting, experience quiet firing, or navigate both simultaneously. For example, communities of color are known to experience the following phenomena when navigating institutional racism, such as inequitable expectations and forced code switching.

Code Switching

As racially minoritized workers navigate their work environments, particularly work environments dominated by white culture, employees of color have been pressured to engage in code switching as part of maintaining persistence. Code switching is defined as a series of behaviors in which minoritized communities experience pressure to engage in, as part of fitting in with the dominant workplace culture (Whiting, 2020). Examples include feeling as if one must change speech, behaviors, and appearance to psychologically survive in culturally oppressive work environments (Whiting, 2020). Specifically, these code-switching behaviors are seen as necessary to avoid cultural consequences that are rooted in quiet firing behaviors, such as ostracism, being denied for promotion/hiring, experiencing harassment, and receiving less opportunities to perform at work (Baker & Lucas, 2017).

Inequitable Expectations

When navigating the workplace, employees of color may find themselves experiencing workplace inequities regarding the expectations given to them. Specifically, community members report growing up with the expectation that they must work twice as hard as white people to advance and be recognized for their hard work (Han, 2022). In 2015, research based on a recent economic model demonstrated that Black employees were more likely to be scrutinized for small mistakes compared to white coworkers (White, 2015). This targeted scrutiny further leads to unfavorable job reviews, wage loss, and job loss, further contributing to unemployment and slander when attempting to seek new employment (White, 2015). As part of trying to maintain resilience in the workplace, employees of color can face the pressure of having to work more extensively than white colleagues, contributing to overall burnout, feeling unseen in the workplace, and quiet quitting (Deloitte, 2023; Han, 2022; Ward, 2022).

Putting the Theory of Work Adjustment into Practice with Employees of Color

Career counselors can utilize the Theory of Work Adjustment when providing counseling for employees of color as they navigate workplace stressors. Specifically, the Theory of Work Adjustment can be applied in multiple ways when working with clients, particularly through exploring values, processing obstacles, and resilience building:

• First, career counselors can actively work with clients to identify the values that reinforce their work, as part of exploring how these values are respected and nurtured in one’s work environment and the impact this can have on employees of color. For example, Dawis and Lofquist (1984) illuminate values that can be important to workers, such as achievement, comfort, status, altruism, safety, and autonomy.
• Career counselors also actively explore these values as part of helping their clients discover fulfilled and unfulfilled needs when facing racial microaggressions, thus helping to inform employees’ choices on how they want to navigate such experienced stressors (Haraburda, 2022). Counselors can process such obstacles and experiences alongside employees of color through counseling methods that respect minoritized experiences.
• Lastly, career counselors can engage in resilience building (e.g., reflecting on strengths, community support, and opportunities for advocacy) alongside employees of color as they navigate persistence in the workplace despite minority stressors.

Through storytelling, co-advocacy, and trauma healing, career counselors integrate these aspects of counseling into their work with clients as they experience racialized stressors in the workplace (Martín-Baró, 1994). Counselors can support clients through navigating and fostering persistence alongside minoritized clients as the focus of counseling as they choose to navigate racial stressors on their terms.

The Importance of Integrating the Theory of Work Adjustment and Navigating Racial Stressors

While demanded expectations and code-switching are some examples of how people of color experience racism, as well as quiet quitting and quiet firing in the workplace, clients of color can explore their reinforcers and obstacles in such workspaces with the assistance of career counselors. Career counselors are strongly encouraged to utilize the Theory of Work Adjustment as part of helping people of color navigate a variety of racialized stressors in oppressive workplaces. Without understanding these dynamics, people of color can feel lost in the workplace when navigating racial stressors, thus illustrating the importance of understanding both work adjustment and racial stressors in career counseling.

References

Baker, S. J. & Lucas, K. (2017). Is it safe to bring myself to work? Understanding LGBTQ experiences of workplace dignity. Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 34(2), 133-148.

Carbado, D. W. & Gulati, M. (2013). Acting white? Rethinking race in post racial America. Oxford University Press.

Dawis, R. V. (2000). The person-environment tradition in counseling psychology. In W. E. Martin Jr. & J. L. Swartz-Kulstad (Eds.), Person-environment psychology and mental health (pp. 91-111). Erlbaum.

Dawis, R. V. (2005). The Minnesota theory of work adjustment. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.). Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Dawis, R. V. & Lofquist, L. H. (1984). A psychological theory of work adjustment. University of Minnesota Press.

Deloitte (2023). Women of work 2023: A global outlook. https://www.deloitte.com/global/en/issues/work/content/women-at-work-global-outlook.html 

Dimaggio, A. (2022, September 14). “Quiet quitting” is understandable - but it won’t save us from predatory capitalism. Salon. https://www.salon.com/2022/09/14/quiet-quitting-is-understandable--but-it-wont-save-us-from-predatory-capitalism/ 

Ellsworth, D., Imose, R., Price, H., & Rainone, N. (2022, January 24). Why women of color are leaving, and how to rethink your DEI strategy. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-organization-blog/why-women-of-color-are-leaving-and-how-to-rethink-your-dei-strategy 

Gartner. (2021). Gartner HR research finds 68% of employees would consider leaving their employer for an organization that takes a stronger stance on societal and cultural issues. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2021-03-04-gartner-hr-research-finds-sixty-eight-percent-of-employees-would-consider-leaving-their-employer-for-an-organization-that-takes-a-stronger-stance-on-societal-and-cultural-issues 

Gorritz FitzSimons, F. (2024, December 1). Demystifying quiet quitting and quiet firing through a racialized lens for career practitioners. Career Convergence. https://www.ncda.org/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/578608/_PARENT/CC_layout_details/false 

Han, Y. (2022, September 17). ‘Quiet quitting is not for us’: Black employees share why quiet quitting is not for people of color - and why they’re outright quitting instead. Business Insider. insider.com/quiet-quitting-black-workers-employees-of-color-2022-9 

Haraburda, M. (2022, April 1). Tips to address workplace microaggressions. Career Convergence. https://www.ncda.org/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/430899/_self/CC_layout_details/false 

Martín-Baró, I. (1994). Writings for a liberation psychology. Harvard University Press.

Pearce, K. (2022, September 12). What is ‘quiet quitting’? John Hopkins University. https://hub.jhu.edu/2022/09/12/what-is-quiet-quitting/ 

Thornhill, T. (2015). Racial salience and the consequences of making white people uncomfortable: Intra-racial discrimination, racial screening, and the maintenance of white supremacy. Sociology Compass, 9(8), 694-703. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12287 

Ward, M. (2022, September 18). Quiet quitting isn’t a new phenomenon, especially for those from marginalized backgrounds. 3 women share why they had to quiet-quit to reclaim their identities. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/quiet-quitting-marginalized-backgrounds-minorities-diversity-2022-9 

White, G. B. (2015, October 7). Black workers really do need to be twice as good. The Atlantic. theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/why-black-workers-really-do-need-to-be-twice-as-good/409276/ 

Whiting, K. (2020, November 10). Code-switching: 4 forum voices on what it is - and why we need to talk about it. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/code-switching-systemic-racism-work/ 

Dr. Frank Gorritz FitzSimons, Ph.D., LPC, LMHC, NCC, ACS is a nationally recognized scholar and counselor educator on topics including providing affirmative counseling care to queer and transgender communities of color, providing multicultural supervision, utilizing diverse approaches to counseling work, as well as addressing and disrupting white supremacy in counselor education. His ongoing research interests include enhancing an understanding of minority stress, improving social justice counseling competencies, and promoting affirming approaches to substance use counseling practice. Dr. Gorritz FitzSimons has also received the Counselors for Social Justice 'Ohana Award in 2022, as well as SAIGE's Making It Happen Award in 2024, for his dedication to social justice across communities in both counseling and advocacy work. Frank Gorritz FitzSimons can be reached at frankgorritzlpc@gmail.com