Big steps for LGBTQ Inclusion

Pride month is soon coming to an end, and that means its time for Trident’s 3rd blog- big things you can do to enhance LGBTQ inclusion in your organisation! These are items that might take significant structural change, cultural change, or monetary/other resource investment. And once again, as these changes require more investment, they will also provide a bigger payoff. These items will help your LGBTQ staff to know they are valued and empower them to bring their full selves to the workplace.

Before I dive into it, I want to also share this great article that summarises different ways multinational organisations can engage with LGBTQ issues. The whole article is worth a read and you can access it here. Essentially, organisations have three choices:

·      When in Rome – in this model, organisations adhere to the norms in the area they are operating in, which may mean creating exceptions to pro-LGBTQ policies in other jurisdictions. This model essentially has the company adhering to and upholding the norms of the country/location they are operating in.

·      Embassy – this model posits that organisations apply their standards pro-LGBTQ policies internally to their company, but do not advocate or agitate for any social change outside of that.

·      Advocate – in this model, organisations that advance pro-LGBTQ policies also strive to change the climate of the country they are in. This might mean lobbying government officials, sponsoring local Pride events, or supporting local activists.

It’s worth examining these three models and seeing where your organisation falls. The article and categorisations are specifically aimed at multinationals, but local organisations can also engage in these to a certain extent. It’s useful as a framework to take a pulse check of where you are as an organisation.

On to the big things you can to enhance LGBTQ inclusion!

·      Ensure insurance plans cover all sorts of families – Insurance is extremely important for folks and many policies do not cover LGBTQ families. For instance, many insurance companies will not cover a partner that isn’t legally married; however, many LGBTQ people might be legally barred from getting married and/or are choosing to not marry someone. Thinking critically about insurance policies will help LGBTQ partners, families and children feel included, while also giving them the protection they also need from illness, disease, and other insurance-related items.

This may be tricky depending on the organisational insurance provider. However, it can also benefit all staff; though this requires a mindset shift as well. It can be beneficial to all staff to have flexible insurance policies that allow anyone to be added to the policy, instead of restricting it to legal marriage and children. A flexible policy that allows any employee to add 2 people of their choosing (aging parent, unemployed sibling, etc) is a lot more inclusive than one that restricts beneficiaries.

·      Equal amounts of parental leave, regardless of biological/adopted children – The issue here is twofold. One issue is that parental leave benefits should be the same, regardless of whether the children are biological or adopted. All new families deserve to spend time together when they are forming and having inclusive family policies might even encourage folks to decide to move forward with their own family planning (if they so choose!). The other issue is that parental leave should be equitable, regardless of gender. Most organisations have several months of maternity leave and only a few weeks to one month of paternal leave. However, for families that have two fathers, this simply would not be enough.

LGBTQ staff sometimes start their own families and they should be able to do so with the support of their organisation, in the same way that a heterosexual family is able to.   

·      Shift overall culture to be more inclusive of LGBTQ staff and their families – I know that this sounds a bit more conceptual and less concrete than other items on these lists. And that’s exactly why it is in the “big” list. Changing organizational culture around any issue can be difficult and draining. Staff of any minoritized identity can feel when the org culture is supportive and when it isn’t; and you want to make sure people feel supported. Creating this cultural shift can include any of the items from these three blogs, as well as staff at all levels intervening when they observe or hear about homophobic/transphobic behavior. This can be things like validating that LGBTQ staff can bring their partners and children to company events that are open to families, putting on events for Pride month, or being a visible ally to the community.

Cultural change can take a lot of time and investment! Here are a few additional resources to get your strategic brain churning.  

·      Have all gender toilets/washrooms available for staff – All gender toilets allow for your trans, non-binary and other gender diverse staff to feel more welcomed. This issue has often been seen as contentious, but it’s relatively simple – folks should be able to use the toilet/washroom that corresponds with their declared gender identity. Forcing staff to use toilets that don’t line up with their gender identity can create a daily stressful situation that is easily eliminated. 

However, organisations can also create gender neutral/inclusive toilets/washrooms that can be used by any employee, regardless of gender identity. These can be single-stall or not. If there are already single stall toilets, adding signage indicating that the space is intended to be used by anyone of any gender identity can also be a good way to signal inclusiveness. Many organisations will not be able to change the physical infrastructure of their buildings/offices so thinking of creative ways to signal inclusion is a good second option.

·      Develop a protocol for responding to incidents of bias, train staff in its implementation and take reported LGBTQ-bias incidents seriously – Hopefully your organisation already has a protocol to report bias-related incidents (if not, please implement one!) Bias reporting should be easy and encouraged. The staff who receive and investigate bias reports should be well-trained, as their sensitive and sometimes ambiguous nature require thoughtfulness and intentionality. When bias incidents related to the LGBTQ community are reported, take them seriously and investigate them thoroughly.

 It’s important that all staff understand the reporting process. Many places will also implement a way to share reports anonymously and/or report things that didn’t happen to you, but you observe (for instance, something posted on someone’s office door). Bias incidents can severely impact an LGBTQ staff members’ feeling of safety and inclusion, even if the incident didn’t happen to them directly. When bias incidents are reported, it’s important to ensure that staff also are offered support and that it is reiterated that the behavior is not acceptable.

Alright, that’s it for the Pride Month blog series! I hope that it was of use to you as you start thinking about LGBTQ inclusion at your organisation! I would love to hear from you- please feel free to drop me a line at andrew@tridenttraining.co or on LinkedIn and let me know if these articles helped you think about inclusion differently and/or if you implemented any of the strategies. Thanks for reading!