Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Latest NewsGender reassignment discriminationLGBTSexual orientation discriminationBusiness travel

How to keep LGBT employees safe abroad

by Stuart Affleck 8 Feb 2021
by Stuart Affleck 8 Feb 2021 Photo: Shutterstock
Photo: Shutterstock

It may not seem a burning issue amid travel restrictions brought about by the pandemic, but for international professional services firms, there are a plethora of reasons to meet the needs of LGBT+ employees who need to travel or be resident abroad.

A report by Stonewall in 2018 found about 35% of LGBT employees concealed they were LGBT in the workplace because they were afraid of discrimination. However, McKinsey found there was a strong relationship between higher levels of diversity and financial outperformance. Additional research also found that companies that were more LGBT+ inclusive had more productive employees and better business performance. Although much progress has been made to tackle discrimination and improve opportunities for LGBT+ staff in the past decade, there is still a long journey ahead.

One way of improving access to opportunities for LGBT+ employees is by offering fair opportunities to work on international assignments. Although the current climate makes it difficult for employees to take on these secondments, there are UK employees still working around the world and remote opportunities to work with businesses abroad have become easier. But issues can arise on the ground and from a remote basis if the jurisdiction they are working in has anti-LGBT+ laws or culture.

LGBT and transgender support

LGBT stories at Personnel Today

Transgender people more likely to be out of work and on lower pay

Diversity & Inclusion: Sign up to our free e-newsletter now

Public bodies ‘paying thousands’ for LGBT diversity champion status

Transgender equality action plan 

Gender reassignment discrimination 

Difficulties can also arise for employees if clients hold prejudice against the LGBT+ community. A recent study by Open for Business found that employers were not doing enough to inform their LGBT+ employees about the country’s laws and culture before embarking on these assignments. Employers have a duty of care and putting LGBT+ employees and their families in a dangerous scenario could result in an employment dispute at the very least.

So what information and procedures should HR implement before sending their LGBT+ employees and, perhaps, their families on international assignments? This process will be just as useful for employers to judge whether certain international secondment opportunities are safe for LGBT+ employees.

Employers need to:

  • Create and maintain up-to-date policies and resources about the countries the company operates in, or is likely to send employees to for assignments. Regular reviews of these will be needed, especially if these countries are politically unstable. UK government travel advice and Stonewall’s guide to keeping LGBT+ staff and their families safe on international assignments are helpful resources.
  • Source information on the laws and cultures and how they could impact LGBT+ colleagues or their families. Maintaining strong communication with local leaders about the situation on the ground will be valuable, particularly to find out if clients have been disrespectful to LGBT+ colleagues.
  • Consider intersectionality, and information will need to be sought on the various challenges an employee could face, for example, a black cis-gendered gay woman and a white bi-sexual woman may come up against similar but also different difficulties in a country. Nuances in cultural attitudes across a country will also need to be recognised and highlighted in the resource. An employee may be in a heterosexual relationship, but they may have LGBT+ children, and the policy will need to be mindful of the experiences they may face too.

    Research found that companies that were more LGBT+ inclusive had more productive employees and better business performance”

  • Communicate this information when available to employees on a regular basis, and not just before they are considering an international assignment. HR needs to position as the first port of call for information, so employees do not base decisions on hearsay and search engines, which could lead them basing a decision to move through inaccurate information.
  • Even if some international assignments are carried out on a remote basis, ie, from the UK, policies will still need to consider the potential experiences and impact this could have on LGBT+ individuals.
  • Offer emergency assistance, ie travel home for LGBT+ employees if the country’s political and cultural situation renders their position unsafe.
  • If the employer/employee deems it high-risk to take their family who are LGBT+ dependent, but wishes to take on the international assignment, employers should consider offering more travel back home and annual leave.

Maintaining employees’ safety when working abroad is a key responsibility for employers. In order to offer equal amounts of opportunities to LGBT+ employees, HR teams will need to remain well resourced and informed regarding safety and make sure that is communicated to staff.

Diversity and inclusion opportunities on Personnel Today

Browse more Diversity and inclusion jobs

Avatar
Stuart Affleck

Stuart Affleck is director of diversity and inclusion consultancy Brook Graham from Pinsent Masons’ Vario.

previous post
HR and the pandemic: Peter Cheese talks to Oven-Ready HR
next post
No-one can escape gender bias

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Accreditation scheme will ‘encourage LGBT+ people to be...

17 May 2022

Maya Forstater: What is a woman?

10 May 2022

Robin Moira White: What is a woman?

10 May 2022

School discriminated against Christian caretaker who tweeted against...

3 May 2022

Philosophical belief: barrister’s tribunal claim against Stonewall begins

26 Apr 2022

EHRC single-sex spaces guidance ‘could lead employers into...

5 Apr 2022

EAT hears David Mackereth’s appeal against trans pronouns...

29 Mar 2022

Hargreaves Lansdown launches trans and non-binary equality policy

28 Mar 2022

EAT hears appeal of Christian sacked for LGBT...

28 Feb 2022

How to encourage LGBT+ allyship all year round

28 Feb 2022
  • Strathclyde Business School expands its Degree Apprenticeship offer in England PROMOTED | The University of Strathclyde is expanding its programmes...Read more
  • The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls PROMOTED | The Great Resignation continues unabated...Read more
  • Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022, and beyond PROMOTED | Cornerstone OnDemand conducted a global study...Read more
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more
  • What it really means to be mentally fit PROMOTED | What is mental fitness...Read more
  • How music can help to ease anxiety at work PROMOTED | A lot has happened since March 2020, hasn’t it?...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • Maternity & Paternity
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+