Many organisations will have celebrated LGBT+ History Month in February, but it’s crucial to support LGBT+ employees throughout the year, whether through inclusive processes or safe spaces for dialogue, says Mona Akiki.
As we approach the close of LGBT+ History Month, it’s been a time for reflection. We’ve placed a spotlight on the impact LGBT+ people have made to society as a whole, the long distance we’ve travelled on the road to equality, and the journey still to be done.
However, it’s essential that a culture of inclusivity and visibility for minority communities is woven into the fabric of organisations all year round if it is to be authentic and have meaningful impact.
Here are just a few ways that HR leaders can help their businesses be the best ally possible to its LGBT+ people.
Create truly safe working environments
According to Stonewall, 35% of trans employees reported negative comments or conduct relating to their gender at work in 2020.
What’s more, there was a 15% drop in the numbers of gay and lesbian employees who felt comfortable coming out at work between 2019 and 2020. Clearly, there’s work to be done for many in creating safer working environments for their people.
Making your organisation’s position on discrimination clear is an important first step.
LGBT+ inclusion
While many have anti-discrimination policies in place, which are helpful, actions always speak louder. Ensuring that you take a stand and move to disciplinary action as necessary will be most impactful for your people.
Creating safe environments also comes from the top down. It requires laying clear expectations of your leadership team to not only behave appropriately themselves but to call out homophobic or transphobic behaviour within their workforce. Doing so will empower others to feel more at ease calling it out too.
Weave inclusivity into language
While it may seem small in isolation, incorporating inclusive language into your company culture can make a huge difference to LGBT+ members of the workforce.
That ranges from encouraging people to use the right pronouns and names for their colleagues to incorporating inclusive gender options and habits to core HR processes such as onboarding documents, messaging software, LinkedIn profiles, benefits software and the like.
Regardless of your identity, sharing your pronouns will encourage others to do the same. This in turn allows people to know that your organisation is one that welcomes everyone.
It also sends a powerful message and demonstrates consideration for all members of the workforce, helping to nurture an environment that accommodates everyone and helps all employees to feel respected and seen.
Be inclusive about benefits
Even when most of your practices have inclusivity at their core, there’s a good chance that your benefits haven’t yet caught up. Make sure to review these from the vantage point of the employee.
Everyone should be able to read a policy and know exactly how this impacts them.
As an example, an employee expecting a baby should be able to read a parental leave policy and easily understand the support that they will receive as a primary or secondary caregiver, no matter the type of family they are building.
This ensures that policies and practices remain true to company culture and continue to facilitate a better employee experience.
An inclusive benefits offering is also a key way to communicate your culture to a global workforce and maintain a consistent and welcoming environment, where everyone has equal access to benefits, no matter their location.
Invest in awareness and encourage dialogue
The first step to delivering an inclusive culture is to build awareness across the workforce. Empowering employees via a forum to share their experiences or inviting external individuals to do the same encourages open dialogue and broadens understanding.
You can also create ‘safe’ spaces for honest debate and discussion by regularly inviting external speakers to talk about themes relating to diversity and inclusion, ensuring Q&A time is factored in to each session.
Everyone should be able to read a policy and know exactly how this impacts them.
Transformative discussions occur when painful and triggering subject matter is broached, but it must occur within a safe and non-judgemental space.
The business case
More than ever, businesses who are not inclusive will struggle to be seen as an employer of choice to attract and retain the best talent.
Simply put, people want to work in an environment that is welcoming and conducive to creative work. A recent US Chamber of Commerce report, for example, found that 76% of companies that established inclusive practices saw increased employee engagement and a 53% improvement in employee retention.
Therefore, by being on the front foot and discussing initiatives and commitments proactively and as part of your general communications, leaders will attract and retain a more diverse talent pool representative of the communities in which they operate and their customers.
This diversity of thought will no doubt contribute to more creativity and innovation.
Making progress
Organisations will never be able to fully tick the box on inclusion. What was good enough 10 years ago, is nowhere near as acceptable today. Societies evolve organically and organisations simply need to make sure that their cultures evolve alongside them.
So in order to ensure that our employees feel comfortable about bringing their authentic selves to work, we must periodically review all our policies and processes as well as question our culture from time to time.
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