Pride+: Patterns of Inclusivity for LGBTQ+ Employees

By Jill Dannis, Linnet Leon, Chandler Rock, Rachel Sze, Summer Thompson

Introduction

Either/Org is a collective of leaders, designers and researchers committed to disrupting the dominance of traditional western business culture in organizational design. Led by a team of MBA students from the University of Michigan, this project sought to answer the question: how might we understand patterns of inclusivity and/or exclusivity to LGBTQ+ people in organizational design? This article will include recommendations or considerations, building on existing resources and incorporating “next practices” found in our primary research, for organizations as they work to become more inclusive to queer employees.

The research team interviewed 11 queer individuals to investigate experiences worth emulating to make workplaces more inclusive of LGBTQ+ people and to discover workplace expectations. Those interviewed reflect the diversity of the queer community as it pertains to sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, race, and ethnicity. The group includes professionals from the LGBTQ+ nonprofit sector, corporate businesses, small business owners, consultants, graduate students, and more. Anonymized data from these interviews was synthesized and analyzed to identify problems and brainstorm possible solutions. Some of the solutions included in this article are direct contributions from interviewees. We have so much gratitude and thanks to them for their willingness to share their experiences with us.

Existing Resources

Throughout this article, you will see different terms related to LGBTQ+ identity. If any of these terms are unfamiliar to you, we encourage you to access this glossary from the UC Davis LGBTQIA Resource Center to understand more.

The research team referenced current best practices guides related to LGBTQ+ inclusion. These resources included:

● Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index

● Out & Equal Global Toolkit for Change: Assessing LGBTQI+ Inclusion in your Workplace

● The Williams Institute (UCLA School of Law) Data Collection Reports

● Human Rights Campaign LGBTQ+ Self-Identification in the Workplace Fact Sheet

Themes

Considerations and recommendations for promoting LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace are organized into the following six themes, which are strongly interconnected.

Representation Matters

When LGBTQ+ employees do not see themselves valued at a high level at the company this can impede their ability to to visualize their own growth and success at the company. In this case, representation means companies have queer leaders in high-level positions who are visible and supported as their authentic queer selves in the workplace.

● Designate specific funding for recruiting efforts and ensure that the recruiting process is inclusive by incorporating interview identity guidelines around topics like pronouns and name preferences.

● Provide access to educational funding support for programs such as student loan repayment options, higher education pursuits and LGBTQ+-specific leadership development certificates or programs. In addition, companies can consider providing employees opportunities to participate, moderate or take part in panel discussions. These commitments can benefit an organization while signaling to employees that a company is committed and intentional about ensuring queer employees have opportunities for growth.

● Organizations should create, deploy and promote pathways for promotion. This includes bringing together the LGBTQ+ employee community to provide career development programming which includes career coaching, skills building and opportunities to network with high-level executives. It is recommended that these programs have a continuation aspect, such as long-term coaching, to ensure employees professional growth is supported beyond the programming.

Data Collection

Due to a lack of data on LGBTQ+ identities in the workplace, historically, policies and practices are sometimes being shaped by intuition rather than fact. Companies might be hesitant to ask about LGBTQ+ identity due to complex legal landscapes for LGBTQ+ rights across the globe, which can result in guessing about identity and experiences versus knowing.

● Companies may not have the subject matter or legal experts available internally to assess best practices for collecting LGBTQ+ identity information. They may want to consider reaching out to external resources which exist to research and establish best practices for LGBTQ+ demographic data collection or workplace rights and protections. In addition to the organizations linked at the beginning of this article, the Human Rights Campaign LGBTQ+ Self-Identification in the Workplace Fact Sheet may also be a good resource for companies exploring data collection possibilities.

● Companies need to consider the risks of collecting data on LGBTQ+ identities, due to the lack of standards for protections of queer folks, while balancing the importance of enabling people to self-identify and understanding the current landscape of experiences of queer folks at the company. Companies may want to consider expanding demographic collection beyond the U.S. census questions and answers as well as exploring whether this information is collected in formal ways (ex: through job applications, human resources etc.) or more informal ways (ex: through employee resource groups.)

○ Is it recommended that companies hire an equity analyst so that data collected can be assessed to understand employee experiences and disparities in order to design interventions that work toward equity.

● If a company does decide to enable employees to self-identify as LBGTQ+, they need to consider where that data will be stored in order to protect it. They also would need to lay out a clear rationale and use case for the data to employees, as well as advice and communication to staff about who has access to this information, how it is used and why.

Normalize Inclusive Practices

LGBTQ+ employees are sometimes burdened with introducing practices that are inclusive of queer identity and experiences (at any point from hiring to exiting a company.) This can create feelings of exclusion as they may have to “other” themselves by introducing a practice that is validating their identity when these practices are not valued or implemented by coworkers, interviewers etc.

● Create firm-wide policies that standardize meeting starts, email signatures, etc. that highly encourage and normalize pronoun sharing. Provide support training to explain why mandating pronoun sharing can force LGBTQ+ employees to reveal details about themselves they may feel uncomfortable doing so in the moment. Everyone uses pronouns, so it is important that employees who always have their pronouns assumed correctly by others are also familiar with introducing themselves with their pronouns.

○ Companies should create training for all employees on how they can normalize pronouns by utilizing them regularly in their introductions and creating space for LGBTQ+ employees to comfortably share as well.

○ Provide standard company email signature formats by default including an area for pronouns. The pronouns in the signature could then link to a source, such as mypronouns.org or a page on the company website, that explains to the curious/confused employee or external recipient why they were included in the email signature.

● Normalize gender neutral language when appropriate but stress specificity when asked.

○ Empower the use of the neutral “they” by auditing company materials (ex. Remove “he/she” and replace it with “they” in memos, company policies, and websites.)

○ Ensure that employees understand that while gender neutral language can be empowering that its use across the board when a specific pronoun is requested can convey a lack of respect (ex. using “they” instead of “he” when someone explicitly states that they use he/him pronouns.)

Create Comfort by Setting Expectations

Workplaces have historically not been designed with LGBTQ+ people in mind. This creates uncertainty about policies / practices / values, which can make queer folks feel unsafe at work. Setting expectations for experience and behavior as well as physical space can help to prepare employees for how they may experience a specific culture and physical environment at a given company.

● Physical space:

○ Design the physical space of a work environment while considering and/or working alongside queer folks to co-create it. This means employing LGBTQ+ and/or BIPOC owned/led architects, interior designers, transportation leads and more to increase accessibility in the office space.

“At the end of the day, we are going to be a stronger organization if more people with different backgrounds, voices, identities are given a platform to make decisions. I would like that!” — anonymous interview

○ Create a “how-to” guide for new employees so they are empowered with all the information they may need before even stepping foot in an office. This guide could include things like where the all-gender restrooms are located, that the company embraces all hairstyles, or discussion of appropriate attire regardless of gender.

● Behavior:

○ Implement a zero-tolerance policy for harassment and a no-retaliation policy for speaking up. Creating and carrying out clear consequences for misgendering, deadnaming, or generally harassing someone repeatedly can be codified as well as communicated clearly to employees so that they are aware of their options for reporting instances of harassment.

○ Develop empathy-focused, skill-building bystander training sessions to encourage inclusive behaviors and foster an inclusive culture in which employees feel prepared to respond to any instance of harassment, including interrupting microaggressions or bullying behavior.

○ Incorporate ally-specific spaces and training to create environments where allies can ask questions without putting the onus on marginalized employees to educate on their experiences without their consent beforehand.

Policies = Values

Employees may question the earnestness of employee-facing LGBTQ+ positive policies and/or statements if companies simultaneously engage in behavior, such as political lobbying, that directly counteracts these policies and/or statements. Companies increasingly find themselves called into public discourse about civil rights and social justice issues.

● Companies may want to establish clear boundaries for what their response will be to different types of public or political discourse. This could include conversation about whether the company as an entity or individual leaders (especially given recent business trends regarding CEO activists) will speak out for or against specific actions.

○ For example, will the company speak out against legislation related to LGBTQ+ rights if there is a certain level of academic research that proves a certain impact as a result of that legislation? Consider if there is a certain threshold required to respond to harm toward the LGBTQ+ community, especially given the current context of an influx of anti-LGBTQ+ bills being proposed and passed in the United States.

Pride+, Not Just Pride Month

Celebrating Pride in June can be an excellent way to raise visibility of the queer community, but it’s critical that companies do more to honor queer identities beyond June and create a true culture of celebration.. A culture of celebration includes more than promotional posts, rainbow flags, and one-time statements of solidarity. It is cultivated daily through strong leadership and employee actions.

● Focus on supporting LGBTQ+ organizations. For example, establish donation campaigns or volunteer opportunities for LGBTQ+ organizations throughout the year.

● Create intentional queer-only space for queer folks to gather and create community. While allyship is important, it is critical that companies create intentional queer-only spaces at work to enable connection, community, and safety. One interviewee mentioned how their work at queer-focused organizations had shown them the positive impact of queer-only spaces on employee performance and success. Others mentioned how their experiences within all-queer communities emboldened them to show up more authentically with others at work. Examples of spaces can include a slack channel or monthly lunch-and-learns for queer folks, separate from other channels or events that are inclusive to allies

Conclusion

These are suggestions that can be tailored to design built-to-fit practices for specific companies and organizations based on cultural norms and values. We recommend that companies engage directly with LGBTQ+ employee leaders, including Employee Resource Group (ERG) leads as well as other queer employees who may want to engage in driving inclusion for their community within the workplace. There must also be leaders accountable for auditing LGBTQ+ policies and data collection on a consistent basis in order to update to reflect the evolving identity of the queer community. As a research team, we hope that this article can be used to spark conversation, questions, and debate toward more inclusive workplace practices for LGBTQ+ folks.