As someone who has spent her entire life explaining, “It’s like Elizabeth without an ‘E.’ Or a ‘z.’ Or an ‘a.’,” I was immediately drawn to Cara Hutto’s recent article on name pronunciation in the workplace, in which she discusses failing to address someone properly by name is a “major issue to address” in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace (and in society at large).

As someone who is non-BIPOC, the misspelling or incorrect pronunciation of my name – and constant correction – is simply a mild annoyance. But for those with non-Western European names, it can be more than a simple irritation; it can be an emotionally exhaustive microaggression as well as professionally debilitating.

In 2019, Princeton computer science professor Arvind Narayanan took to Twitter to explain the more serious side of misspelled name tags and mangled pronunciation. He listed serious negative impacts, like lost invitations to speaking events, erroneous citations in academic research papers, and even missed job recruitment opportunities. Essentially, his academic work became somewhat invisible – all because of the compounded times other people failed to learn his name.

According to Candour founder Ruchika Tulshyan, paying attention to learning, remembering, and correctly pronouncing a colleague’s name is “one of those very subtle but extremely important ways to get engaged and really stand up…for communities that are nonwhite and have largely faced marginalization.”

Hutto puts it more bluntly, stating that correct name pronunciation “is the bare minimum when building an inclusive work environment.”

So how can we all do better? Technology helps to an extent. LinkedIn now offers a feature allowing users to upload an audio recording of their name pronunciation, thus educating co-workers and other professional contacts. The AI name-reading tool NameCheck is being used by hundreds of universities at graduation ceremonies.

This particular name pronunciation tool allows students, their families, and their cultural identities to be properly acknowledged on stage during one of life’s most significant moments. (I recently witnessed this tool first-hand at my youngest sister’s graduation from Northwestern University and it was very cool.)

But technology cannot replace the human empathy or grace needed to improve this aspect of workplace DE&I. It’s up to the person whose name is being used incorrectly to speak up and set the record straight, while at the same time it’s up to all of us to spend a few extra seconds to get a name right.

Even if it takes a bit of trial and error, the effort is still better than the awkward (and insensitive), “I’m probably gonna butcher this…heh, heh, heh…” line we often hear as colleagues or speakers with “complicated” names are introduced on stage or in a conference room.

Read Hutto’s full article for practical tips on how to ask someone to pronounce their name in six specific workplace situations and guidance on how to research a co-workers name to correctly address him/her/them.

Bonus: Hutto provides examples of how you can confidently correct a superior or colleague who continually mispronounces your name – or, even worse, gives you a nickname simply to make their lives easier.