Our candidate consultant Rhian Smith-Price writes about LGBT diversity and inclusion in the workplace for the February 2022 edition of our newsletter ‘the leader’.
February is LGBTQ+ history month, thus inspiring this months consultants corner on Diversity and Inclusion with a specific focus on, LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace.
Statistically LGBTQ+ employees are 40% more likely to receive conflict at work. In addition, 19% of LGBTQ+ employees do not feel comfortable sharing their sexuality in the workplace. I find these statistics disappointing as we all know we need to be our whole self in order to be our best self. Hiding part of your identity or receiving conflict for your identity can only be damaging and thus lead people to not perform to the best of their ability at work. For companies to get the best out of their employees they need to really understand the needs of all employees, including their LGBTQ+ employees.
How can we support LGBTQ+ employees?
There are many ways in which we can support LGBTQ+ employees, this can be done through policy and implementing diversity programmes. For instance, policy wise; implementing policies around parental leave where there is already maternity and paternity leave, ensuring to be inclusive and having policies on adoption leave, surrogacy leave and allowance for appointments for IVF and other treatments around this.
Diversity programmes that would be beneficial could be electing an LGBTQ+ champion, who shines light in the best most inclusive practices and call out poor performances, overall to make the company more inclusive for all employees.
Why is it important for businesses?
Inclusion of LGBTQ+ employees in the workplace is important as doing so demonstrates the values people are buying into, this is not just limited to LGBTQ+ communities but all disadvantaged community support. Additionally, there is power in diverse and inclusive workplaces, therefore inclusivity makes business sense. When individuals are able to thrive as themselves business’ benefit. If I was not able to come into work and be authentically me, I would not thrive in the way that I do in Morgan Latif. If you think of something that makes you authentically you, it could be wearing your favourite watch, being able to listen to music in the office or talking openly about your favourite topic. If you were unable to do so you would feel restricted and wouldn’t be able to bring your whole self to work, which then includes your strengths!
How do we try approach inclusion?
The way to approach inclusion is through an intersectional approach. Intersectionality is when we consider all different aspects of someone’s identity, such as their gender, ethnicity, age, or disability. For example, a gay person who is an ethnic minority could be excluded due to two aspects of their identity. Whereas a gay white man could only be excluded because of one. It is essentially like starting a race, not everyone is in the same starting place, but instead one step behind for each aspect of their identity that is oppressed.
How to make individuals feel more included?
There are loads of different ways we can make people feel more included in work, such as network groups, leadership examples, electing a diversity champion and reverse mentoring. Network groups could be set up within the workplace, these are not limited to just LGBTQ+ individuals or minorities, there could also be a “mens mental health network group.” Leading by example will make people feel more included through leaders engaging with these topics and leaders embracing these parts of their identity.
Becoming a diversity champion as mentioned above, which is something companies can do through Stonewall. Reverse mentoring is where no matter the seniority, colleagues can mentor each other on inclusion topics some may know more about than others. Why should we be more inclusive? Inclusivity is such an important topic, a lot of members of the LGBTQ+ community still feel anxious about simply existing in public spaces, even holding a partners hand in public can feel like the scariest thing in the world.
This is why it is important to make sure that groups who are continuously excluded in so many places to feel included in the workplace.
