Transgender Awareness Month: supporting trans employees every day
Culture Shift
Our mission - A world of work and study that is safe, happy and supportive for everyone, everywhere.
63% of trans and non-binary people have reported transphobia whilst seeking employment according to a survey by TransActual . When in employment, one-third have experienced discrimination; of those who felt able to speak up about it.
Times have been extremely tough on the trans community recently, with rhetoric in politics and the media often seeping through into workplaces. It’s vital that employers do not ignore the existence of transphobia, or the very real possibility that it could be happening in their workplace. Ultimately it’s every employer’s responsibility to make sure that trans employees are protected from harm at work.
For this edition of The Change Maker's Newsletter we had expert input from Z Monteiro (they/them), and resources provided by Dr. Christopher Owen (he/they) as well as a link to a post co-written by our very own Vicki Baars (she/they). They have helped put together advice and resources on how organisations can support trans employees all year round, leveraging on Transgender Awareness Month in November, Transgender Awareness Week (13-19th November), Transgender Day of Remembrance (20th November) and other dates commemorating and celebrating the trans community to continue highlighting the work that still needs to be done.
Here are 5 questions to consider when it comes to trans inclusion in your workplace:
1. Are you fulfilling your duty of care to trans employees?
Trans employees are protected under the Equality Act 2010, so preventing and tackling discrimination and harassment against them should be embedded within your ED&I and People strategies. If you have trans employees, how are they being supported, protected and included? If you don’t, are you intentionally increasing roads to entry for trans applicants? Some of the below points delve into ways you can.
Establishing and improving allyship from the rest of your organisation is key to making trans employees feel safe. This should stem from company-wide conversations on how everyone can contribute to a more inclusive workplace, from education to meaningful gestures such as encouraging pronoun usage. Keep reading for more on these…?
2. Do you have trans inclusive or even separate policies?
Policies around dress codes, anti-bullying, discrimination and harassment policies, as well as data protection and confidentiality should either be trans-inclusive or even separate, as Z explains in the video below.
A transitioning policy that grants medical leave and might even include a care plan is also a good idea. Examples of companies with such policies or benefits for trans colleagues include Allianz , 亚马逊 , 汇丰 , 星巴克 , and ourselves. Language used in policies should also be gender neutral. If your organisation is looking at how they can improve or implement things, it can be good practice to seek out external support from industry experts. This talk from Christopher Owen of the LGBT Foundation is a great start in understanding why supporting trans and non-binary people is important to foster a workplace culture that celebrates and uplifts all employees.
Christopher also talks about ways to better include and support LGBTQ+ employees in our latest episode of The Culture Shift podcast, which you can watch or listen to in full here.
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“So we recently found out that hate crimes against trans individuals spiked by 11% this year... so when we're thinking about trans inclusion, we know that hate crime is a serious issue for trans people. So now our idea initiatives aren't just going to be about getting pizza for our trans employees, it's going to be: How do we provide resources for our trans employees about where they can get support, where they can feel safe? What are the trans inclusive hate crime reporting centres that are local? What can we do to tackle hate in our campaigning work?” - Dr. Christopher Owen, The Culture Shift, Ep.8
3. Are your employee attraction processes trans inclusive?
From having diverse prefix availability for titles and gender options in applications, surveys, documents and data collection, to knowing how to respond to anyone who may be courageous enough to announce their gender identity or intention to transition. These are some of the things that can help to make your hiring processes more trans inclusive.
Talking about and demonstrating the steps you take to create a positive workplace culture that cares about ED&I - even if you don't already have trans employees - and using recruitment agencies that also actively seek a diverse talent pool are other examples. Your approach to inclusion should be a talking point in all application processes, not just to employees that have shared relevant data with you.
You should also look at how you can support and include trans people of colour, who we know face further barriers as well as those with other intersectional identities that are marginalised. A report by TransActual dives into this more and can be found at the bottom of this article.
4. How do you encourage the use of pronouns?
Top tips for this are as simple as non-trans colleagues displaying their pronouns to help normalise the conversation and can be seen as a “green flag” for others that they are around someone who is safe and respectful of their identity ( Max Siegel ). Having a glossary to help people understand the differences in pronouns and defining what trans and other terms mean under the umbrella is also beneficial.
For more information around introducing and talking about pronouns in the workplace, you can read this blog post co-written and edited by our Head of Culture Transformation, Vicki Baars.
5. What reporting routes do you have in place?
According to our research, 44% of people who identify as transgender, non-binary or another gender say an incident of problematic behaviour at work has led them to not trusting their employer, which can be understandable given the fear they may have of being outed or further discriminated against. Meanwhile, only 30% of trans employees have reported bullying and harassment before, but 44% would be more likely to report it if they could do so anonymously. This shows an anonymous route could really help create a speak-up culture where trans - or any employees - can feel safe to do so.
Our research and work with over 100 organisations has shown that? there are many barriers to reporting, particularly for LGB and trans employees. Many trans employees are not comfortable publicly identifying as trans let alone going to HR to raise a concern or formal complaint. An anonymous reporting route reduces or eliminates those barriers, providing safety and confidentiality that is in the power of the person making the disclosure.
For more reading, resources, programmes or training that is available, you can check out:
Super administrator
1 年The sentiment of encouraging all colleagues, including trans, while in the workplace is absolutely sound. But this post isn’t advice, it is indoctrination IMHO. I see tactics here to coerce people to subscribe to gender identity ideology; a contested ideology the government rejects. I encourage anyone thinking of adopting measures suggested here take independent legal advice to rightly support colleagues with GD in the workplace, and doing it in a way that doesn’t trample on the rights of others
Super administrator
1 年Gender reassignment’ is the protected characteristic in the 2010 Equality Act, so anyone who has undergone, is undergoing or intending to undergo gender reassignment. It’s important not to mischaracterise the law with linguistic sleights of hand. Encouraging pronoun usage is compelled speech, & a ritual of gender identity ideology. Many people find this coercive & offensive. Of course, if people wish to do it – fine – but such fervent ‘encouragement’, or harassment to do so, could conflict with someone’s belief in biological reality. Declaring pronouns as a ‘green flag’ you’re around someone who is safe & respectful of gender identity is a questionable statement; the inference here is if you don’t, you’re a ‘red flag’ to be around. This doesn’t feel very inclusive; in fact, it feels manipulative . You post material by Mermaids which lost its legal case against LGB Alliance recently & had a paedophile apologist on its Board until they resigned. It’s your prerogative to publish this, of course, but readers should understand the controversy around Mermaids, as well as your motives for promoting them . .
Rewired
1 年So I can understand the statistics can you explain how you are using the word "trans'" and what you mean by "non-binary"? Thanks. Also - do you think there are any aspects and expressions of identity that are best left at home and not taken to work?