June is Pride Month and a good opportunity for employers and HR practitioners to remind themselves of best practice when it comes to supporting your employees from the LGBTQ+ community.
Whilst Pride Month is a time for colourful celebrations and voices to be heard, it is still used as a platform to protest the many battles that people from the LGBTQ+ community face in everyday life, including in the workplace.
A recent study from Rethinkly found that many people from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community do not feel comfortable in the workplace. 46% of respondents stated that they had suffered debilitating mental health problems at work. 57% said that they don’t feel comfortable telling their superiors about their sexual orientation and 35% of people said that they feel unable to express their opinions at work.
Avoid ‘Rainbow Washing’
Whilst it is fantastic that many workplaces want to get involved in celebrating Pride Month, employers should make sure that they are not falling guilty of jumping on a trend or ‘rainbow washing’ by slapping a rainbow on their logo and thinking that they are showing support.
If employers truly want to make an authentic difference, then they should be supporting their LGBTQ+ employees all year round.
Whilst Pride Month and other key dates can be used as a springboard for marketing campaigns or to remind their staff about their inclusive culture, it is important to give thought into your messaging to avoid your efforts having a negative impact on your business.
A Reminder on the Equality Act 2010
It is against the law to discriminate against a job candidate or employee based on their sexual orientation or gender reassignment. Other protected characteristics include: age, sex, disability, marriage or civil partnership, race, religion or belief.
This means that people belonging to these protected groups could have a strong case for discrimination against their employer if they are treated unfavourably due to their characteristics.
There are different types of discrimination.
Direct Discrimination – When someone with a protected characteristic is clearly treated less favourably than someone without a protected characteristic.
Indirect Discrimination – Where are businesses practices or policies apply to everyone but discriminates against certain groups.
Harassment – When unwanted conduct is deliberately used to intimidate, humiliate or create a hostile environment for someone with protected characteristics.
Victimisation – When someone is treated unfavourably because they have raised a complaint or are associated with someone else who has raised issues around discrimination.
Being taken to an Employment Tribunal for discrimination is a situation that no workplace wants to see happen. There is the cost of legal advice and representation, adverse publicity, reputational damage and the impact that the issue has on the rest of your employees. It is imperative that workplaces do all they can to avoid any and all types of discrimination in the workplace.
Your Legal Responsibilities
Employers have a duty to protect the health and wellbeing of all members of staff, which include mental health issues. Employers can be vicariously liable for any issues, even if they were not aware of them.
All employees should be treated fairly and equally when it comes to the working environment, opportunities, recruitment, training, promotions, pay, disciplinary and grievance processes. It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that the workplace is a place where people are protected from discrimination, harassment or bullying.
Practical Ways to Support a LGBTQ+ Friendly Workplace
- Hold a Training Session
One way to ensure that everyone throughout your organisation has a level of understanding about issues affecting LGBTQ+ people in the workplace would be to bring in an external speaker for a workshop, talk or online session. Diversity training can help educate people and create a kind, respectful and inclusive culture. Ideally employers should regularly hold diversity training to act as a reminder and capture new employees as they join the company. It also demonstrates to your employees that you are an employer who cares about their diverse team.
- Appoint a Champion
Much of Pride Month is about making sure that LGBTQ+ voices are heard. So why not make sure they are heard in your workplace? You could appoint a ‘Diversity Champion’ who can work alongside you to make suggestions, conduct research and be the voice for others.
- Zero Tolerance to Harassment
Businesses should not tolerate or turn a blind eye to any inappropriate behaviour in the workplace. Make it clear from your policies, training and inductions that anyone partaking in negative comments, ‘banter’, jokes or hostility will be disciplined and/or removed from the business. It is important to understand that what might be viewed as ‘friendly banter’ to one person, could be seen as harmful bullying to another.
- Supportive Culture
Managers should have an open-door policy where employees feel comfortable to discuss issues or raise concerns. If matters are raised and dealt with promptly, this can help avoid issues from escalating to formal grievances, resignations, litigation or even an employment tribunal.
- Wellbeing Support
Ensure that your workplace wellbeing support covers everyone. You could research local counsellors or support services that people from the LGBTQ+ community could benefit from, so that people can be signposted to helpful resources for further support.
- Re-Think Your Language
Using inclusive language and communication goes a long way to support a respectful work environment. LGBTQ+ inclusive language refers to positive word choices and acknowledging how small differences can show respect to people from different communities. You could hold a separate training session or release a guide for the language which is and isn’t acceptable in the workplace. For example, ‘ladies and gentlemen’ becomes ‘colleagues, team, people’ or ‘maternity and paternity leave’ becomes ‘parental leave’.
- Respect Pronouns
Whether or not you choose to roll out the use of pronouns on your company website, email signatures and letterheads, is a matter for your business to decide. Many large and smaller firms have chosen to take this route already. If you have employees who like to use pronouns to express how they should be address in the workplace then it is vital that these are respected and management should be aware of any issues in this regard.
- Review Your Policies and Procedures
Using Pride Month as a catalyst, why not take a thorough review of all your HR documents, handbooks, policies and procedures this summer? Make sure that they are up to date, fit for purpose and also inclusive to every member of your team.
- Introduce a Transitioning Policy
Transitioning sex is an incredibly difficult, yet liberating experience. But transitioning can mean different things to different people. For some, it may mean going through major surgeries and hormone treatments, for others it may be asking others to use and respect different pronouns. Putting a policy in place can help employees to feel supported and can give employers a clear step-by-step process to follow, with what might be uncharted territory for them. Your business could go one step further and offer to loan employees funds for private medical treatment to assist with their transition.
- Communicate
Communication is key and it can help to engage your staff. Make sure that your team is aware of the steps you have already taken to be a supportive and inclusive employer. When feedback or suggestions are given, make sure that you are taking them on board and communicating the outcomes.
- Revisit Your Hiring Practices
When building an inclusive and diverse workplace it is important to make sure that you are sending the right signals with your recruitment from the beginning of the working relationship. Consider the language that you use in your job adverts, job titles and descriptions, the agencies that you use or the places that you advertise. To avoid any unintended discrimination, it is important to check that your standard interview questions are fair and inclusive too. The people responsible for conducting interviews and making recruitment decisions should be non-biased and have training in best practice for hiring.
- Review Your Benefits
On top of auditing your recruitment processes, it is worth looking at your current benefit package and the wording surrounding them. Review your list of employee perks and benefits to make sure that they are attractive to all different types of people and family structures.
- Train Your Managers
It can be difficult to keep an ear to the ground when running your business, so ensure that all your managers have received training in diversity but also management skills so that they are well-equipped to tackle any problems. Make sure that you have clearly set out manager’s responsibilities.
- Think About Your Facilities
It is worth reviewing your workplace and assessing whether you have suitable bathroom facilities for all of your staff. You might need to re-think your separate toilets, the labelling of your bathrooms or discuss whether you need to introduce a gender-neutral facility.
- Think About Your Corporate Image
If you are keen to demonstrate that you are a business in support of LGBTQ+ rights and want to show how you harbour an inclusive, diverse workplace, then think about how you do this externally to your business. It might be worth sending press releases to your local newspapers, industry magazines and HR publications, entering business awards for diversity and inclusion categories or to start supporting LGBTQ+ charities and organisations. This will also place you in a position to attract LGBTQ+ members of staff who will want to work for a business that aligns with their values.
- Engage Your Team
One of the best ways to ensure that you are offering enough, and the right type of support is to ask for feedback and suggestions from your team. This could be done anonymously or openly. If your team are part of the conversation, they can help build the processes or culture that will best support them.
- Lead by Example
Set the precedent by using inclusive language, being supportive, having open conversations and stamping down on any inappropriate behaviour on a day-to-day basis. This demonstrates the way in which all employees should be acting in the workplace.
HR and Employment Law Support
If you need some help reviewing and updating your HR policies or have any workplace issues that you could do with a discussion about, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with our friendly and forward-thinking Employment Law Team.
Call us on 01256 844888, email enquiries@lambbrooks.com or speak to our online chat assistant at any time of day.
The contents of this article are for the purposes of general awareness only. They do not purport to constitute legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this article was published. Readers should not act on the basis of the information included and should take appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances.