Does the Workplace Feel Safe?
A multi-national corporation has recently commissioned a study on creating a safe and productive corporate culture for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Aware that policies do not create a welcoming work environment, the company seeks to have an instrument to measure the comfort of the environment and a strategy for improving working conditions. It’s a noble endeavor but, in my opinion, not a great use of it resources.
I’m not a social scientist, but it seems to me that there is no reliable means of measuring whether a workplace environment feels safe and welcoming to its gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees except through anecdotal reporting. With other issues of diversity, it is easier to look at the Executive Committee of a company to see if women and racial minorities have found a place at the table. Gay people are already at the table and have been for years, but they’re invisible and, at that level, will probably remain so for many years to come.
If you poll the members of a company’s gay and transgender Employee Resource Group (ERG) to inquire about the environment, you’re only going to get the opinions of those who feel comfortable enough to join the ERG. How do we ask those who are too frightened to come out whether they feel safe at work? Promising anonymity in a company-wide employee survey won’t help much either, as every anonymous survey always undercounts the numbers of gay and transgender people, as most people don’t fully trust that any survey is truly anonymous. Furthermore, the manner in which questions are asked always eliminates accurate answers from people from one culture or another.
So does that mean that there is no data to offer to build our case for the need to work on improving the corporate climate for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people? No, heterosexual employees can tell you that the culture isn’t safe for gay and transgender people. I always ask my audiences to evaluate the environment and they consistently tell me that the workplace is only “somewhat welcoming.” They notice that gay people aren’t out and that the subject is never talked about. And they agree that the only reliable means to change the corporate culture so that gay people can come out and so that heterosexuals feel comfortable talking about sexual orientation and gender identity is to provide diversity training on the issues, starting at the top with the Executive Committee and working all through the company at every level or responsibility.
Such training, to be successful, needs to be hosted by the person with the most seniority and influence in the company, in the location, or in the department. Every employee needs to hear from him or her why this issue is an important business concern, what the company’s policy is on the matter, and what is expected of them as employees. He or she should then sit with the employees through the training, and, at the end, stand to affirm the content of the training and state what two or three important new things were learned. Within the week, every person attending the training should also receive a follow-up e-mail evaluation and reminder of the available resources in the company.
Secondly, to be successful in their efforts to have their training on gay and transgender issues improve the corporate culture, each company should monitor the progress of the endeavor through their Executive Committee, on which would sit not only the director of Human Resources and Diversity, but also an executive “angel” of the gay and transgender ERG.
There are abundant resources available to corporations globally that will help in their efforts to create a safe and productive work environment. Beyond the corps of gifted diversity trainers that are at hand, many of whom are listed at www.hrc.org, there are at least two national organizations in the U.S. that focus on gay and transgender workplace issues and which provide training and resources, the Human Rights Campaign (www.hrc.org) and Out and Equal, www.outandequal.org. The latter hosts a national conference that attracts over 2,000 gay and straight employees from across the globe. In the U.K., the organization is Stonewall at www.stonewall.org.uk. Any of these organizations can answer questions about what resources are available in other countries. You can also contact me at brian@brian-mcnaught.com.
Sometime in early 2008, I’m going to be adding an exciting new resource to those already available on these issues. “So, What If…?” Answers for Managers on Gay and Transgender Workplace Issues is an e-book program for corporate internal use that will provide user-friendly guidance to questions such as “What if an employee has religious objections to our efforts?” “What does harassment of gay and transgender people look like?” “What should I say if someone comes out to me?” “What if I’m working in a country that prohibits homosexuality?” “What if my boss is uncomfortable with the issue?” “What’s the proper terminology?” Currently, a small army of directors of diversity, members of corporate ERGs, and other trainers across the globe are reading the contents of the program and preparing their feedback.
I’m proud of the multi-national corporation that has expended resources in search of a tool that measures the workplace environment for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and has asked for guidance on how to bridge the gap between corporate policies and corporate culture. They are not satisfied with simply passing policies with the hope that the everyday lives of their gay and transgender employees will improve. But I wonder if we really need another study. I think we all know how to make sure that the employee in the branch office feels as safe and valued as the employee in corporate headquarters. It just takes a major commitment to training to make it happen.
During the month of January, I’ll be working in the Pacific Rim conducting training on gay and transgender issues for the employees of a multi-national corporation headquartered in New York. In some places I’ll be working, homosexuality is illegal, so the diversity training has special significance. I’ll be posting periodic reports on my experiences working in these diverse cultures.
