While the human resource development (HRD) literature has made strides to incorporate critical race theory, critical Whiteness studies has not been substantively addressed. White experiences need to be incorporated into organizational learning literature in racialized ways. Unpacking the racialized experiences of Whites in organizational settings is important because it challenges the often-unstated assumption that White experiences are normal and neutral. The uncritical centering of Whiteness is part of what makes the marginalization of racialized others possible, and critical Whiteness studies research seeks to contribute to the decentering process. This article integrates literature exploring racialized White experiences from disciplines, including history, sociology, theology, and legal studies within an existing framework for HRD. This research will place special emphasis on aspects of critical Whiteness that relate to the workplace. The purpose of this article is to advance a theoretical framework that will enhance HRD’s capacity for research and action pertaining to workplace racism.

Research portraying the lives of working‐class (White) men has generally paid much more attention to class and gender than to race. By failing to problematize Whiteness, this literature obscures the racial privileges that working‐class Whites can access even as they are marginalized along the lines of class. This study applies critical race theory to analyse the dynamic intersection between the racial and gender privilege available to working‐class White men from their position of social and economic marginality. It empirically builds on the ethnographic study of a small North American company in the construction industry. This study makes three main contributions. First, it argues that even as the position of working‐class White men in the current class order limits their life chances, they nevertheless access small but significant benefits based on race. Second, it contributes to current conversations on White privilege by showing how such privilege manifests itself differently depending on social class position. Third, it underscores the importance of intersectional analysis in understanding how different social identities interact to reproduce racism and capitalism.

Amidst ongoing racist violence in the United States, this article will recognize workplace‐based efforts to act against racially motivated discrimination targeted at the Black community. More specifically, this article will examine anti‐racist initiatives in the workplace by connecting these efforts to broader discussions of human rights, organizational social justice, and the Black Lives Matter movement. Culturally responsive leadership approaches, ally development efforts, employee resource groups, and mentorship/sponsorship programs are among the leading strategies currently used by employers to resist workplace racism; and thereby, each of these initiatives will be reviewed to illustrate how they drive organizational efforts, foster anti‐racist workplace cultures, and work against antiblackness. To consider how this work can be improved, the article concludes with suggestions for how academic HRD programs can reform curriculum to prepare graduates to be drivers of organizational social justice.