What's Facing Gay and Transgender ERGs
The formidable task facing corporations globally is bridging the enormous gap between their policies and their business cultures. The formidable tasks facing gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are decerning what value they bring to the table, and creating safe space for their colleagues working in unwelcoming areas of the world.
When corporations say that they value diversity, they mean that they believe the person who is male or female, white, black, red, yellow or brown, straight, bisexual, or gay, transgender or not, brings unique gifts to the table because of his or her life experiences which have been impacted by their gender, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious beliefs, disability, etc. So, what unique gifts do gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people bring to the table? Beyond saying that they can help the company reach the gay and transgender buying public, or can act as educators on these issues in the workplace, what is special about the lessons learned from the life experiences of growing up gay or transgender?
When I ask an audience of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees what they can't do at work because they're gay or transgender, they have no difficulty listing the dozens of ways that heterosexual privilege negatively impacts them. "If we're not out, we can't put a picture of the person we care about on our desk, we can't comfortably make personal phone calls, we can't freely talk about gay news items, etc. If we are out, we get marginalized. People don't ask us about our weekend plans. They're afraid to engage us so they avoid us."
"Good. So, now come up with a list of the special gifts you bring to the table because you're gay or transgender," I say." Why should the company value you rather than accommodate you?"
The silence is deafening. We're very good at telling how we're victimized by heterosexism and homophobia, but not so good yet on articulating our strengths. That is a challenge that has to be addressed with the same focus and determination as was given to the struggle for legal protection and domestic partner benefits. In a world that is fueled by competition and survival of the fittest, everyone needs to focus on what unique skills they have that are essential to the success of the larger group and that are irreplaceable.
Secondly, the gay and transgender ERGs need to focus on the corporate culture outside the safety of company headquarters and large, liberal urban areas. In the minds of many human resource professionals, gay and transgender people have articulated a list of needs which the company has successfully met. They have a 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign in the U.S. or from Stonewall in the U.K. because they have non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation and gender identity, they provide domestic partner benefits, they support their gay and transgender ERGs, and they have shown public support on gay and transgender issues. In their minds, there are other issues of diversity now which demand their attention.
The leadership of the gay and transgender workplace movement has been willfully negligent about articulating the need for corporate-wide diversity training on gay and transgender issues, and making such training necessary for perfect scores of approval. Diversity training has always been an ugly stepsister to many national gay groups and to many gay and transgender ERGs, mentioned in passing but not with focus. We're paying the price today for this negligence. Heterosexual colleagues have not been given the tools to walk the corporate talk. In some settings, such as in corporate headquarters, people know to walk the line because they're being watched, but in other sites and in offices in other cultures, the policies are often disregarded by people who don't understand or agree with them. This creates an unwelcoming climate for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people working in those environments.
Twenty years ago, when I first changed the focus of my training from university to corporate settings, I always knew that it would be a lot easier to conduct training in New York City than it would in company branches in Dallas, Oklahoma City, Orlando, or Detroit. When diversity training on gay and transgender issues were offered in those sites, enormous change took place in the workplace environment. Once educated to the business-connection of diversity policies, and told what is expected of them, heterosexual colleagues can become heterosexual allies. But while progress has been made, it is spotty.
Chubb's gay and transgender ERG, called GLEN, was featured in a recent edition of the Wall Street Journal because of the diversity training they were providing at every company site in the country. They offer us a model of what other ERGs need to take on as their next agenda. They have secured the support of their director of diversity in taking time out from their regular assignments and heading out two by two, gay and straight, male and female, to put a face on the issue for their colleagues throughout the country, thereby making each place more welcoming for the gay and transgender people who work there.
Ray and I are about to head to the Pacific Rim where I, at the invitation of Merrill Lynch, will do diversity training for the senior management of the firm's offices in the region. The company's gay and transgender ERG has been an active partner in securing this training. If you think it's challenging for a gay man, lesbian woman, bisexual person or transsexual to work in rural Georgia, think about working in a country where homosexual behavior is punishable by law.
My focus will not only be to help create a workplace that feels safer and more welcoming, but also focus attention on what unique, valuable, and irreplaceable gifts gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees bring to the workplace in those cultures.
When corporations say that they value diversity, they mean that they believe the person who is male or female, white, black, red, yellow or brown, straight, bisexual, or gay, transgender or not, brings unique gifts to the table because of his or her life experiences which have been impacted by their gender, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, religious beliefs, disability, etc. So, what unique gifts do gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people bring to the table? Beyond saying that they can help the company reach the gay and transgender buying public, or can act as educators on these issues in the workplace, what is special about the lessons learned from the life experiences of growing up gay or transgender?
When I ask an audience of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees what they can't do at work because they're gay or transgender, they have no difficulty listing the dozens of ways that heterosexual privilege negatively impacts them. "If we're not out, we can't put a picture of the person we care about on our desk, we can't comfortably make personal phone calls, we can't freely talk about gay news items, etc. If we are out, we get marginalized. People don't ask us about our weekend plans. They're afraid to engage us so they avoid us."
"Good. So, now come up with a list of the special gifts you bring to the table because you're gay or transgender," I say." Why should the company value you rather than accommodate you?"
The silence is deafening. We're very good at telling how we're victimized by heterosexism and homophobia, but not so good yet on articulating our strengths. That is a challenge that has to be addressed with the same focus and determination as was given to the struggle for legal protection and domestic partner benefits. In a world that is fueled by competition and survival of the fittest, everyone needs to focus on what unique skills they have that are essential to the success of the larger group and that are irreplaceable.
Secondly, the gay and transgender ERGs need to focus on the corporate culture outside the safety of company headquarters and large, liberal urban areas. In the minds of many human resource professionals, gay and transgender people have articulated a list of needs which the company has successfully met. They have a 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign in the U.S. or from Stonewall in the U.K. because they have non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation and gender identity, they provide domestic partner benefits, they support their gay and transgender ERGs, and they have shown public support on gay and transgender issues. In their minds, there are other issues of diversity now which demand their attention.
The leadership of the gay and transgender workplace movement has been willfully negligent about articulating the need for corporate-wide diversity training on gay and transgender issues, and making such training necessary for perfect scores of approval. Diversity training has always been an ugly stepsister to many national gay groups and to many gay and transgender ERGs, mentioned in passing but not with focus. We're paying the price today for this negligence. Heterosexual colleagues have not been given the tools to walk the corporate talk. In some settings, such as in corporate headquarters, people know to walk the line because they're being watched, but in other sites and in offices in other cultures, the policies are often disregarded by people who don't understand or agree with them. This creates an unwelcoming climate for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people working in those environments.
Twenty years ago, when I first changed the focus of my training from university to corporate settings, I always knew that it would be a lot easier to conduct training in New York City than it would in company branches in Dallas, Oklahoma City, Orlando, or Detroit. When diversity training on gay and transgender issues were offered in those sites, enormous change took place in the workplace environment. Once educated to the business-connection of diversity policies, and told what is expected of them, heterosexual colleagues can become heterosexual allies. But while progress has been made, it is spotty.
Chubb's gay and transgender ERG, called GLEN, was featured in a recent edition of the Wall Street Journal because of the diversity training they were providing at every company site in the country. They offer us a model of what other ERGs need to take on as their next agenda. They have secured the support of their director of diversity in taking time out from their regular assignments and heading out two by two, gay and straight, male and female, to put a face on the issue for their colleagues throughout the country, thereby making each place more welcoming for the gay and transgender people who work there.
Ray and I are about to head to the Pacific Rim where I, at the invitation of Merrill Lynch, will do diversity training for the senior management of the firm's offices in the region. The company's gay and transgender ERG has been an active partner in securing this training. If you think it's challenging for a gay man, lesbian woman, bisexual person or transsexual to work in rural Georgia, think about working in a country where homosexual behavior is punishable by law.
My focus will not only be to help create a workplace that feels safer and more welcoming, but also focus attention on what unique, valuable, and irreplaceable gifts gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees bring to the workplace in those cultures.
