Two Key Hurdles Continuing to Undermine LGBTQ+ Inclusion in the Workplace

This is #IncreaseDiversity, a weekly newsletter series + Increase Diversity Toolbox sharing best practices for employers who want to learn how to… well, increase diversity. To see previous editions, visit JenniferTardy.com . | IG: @IncreaseDiversity | Increase Diversity - YouTube

In today’s newsletter, we will continue with our recent focus on employment hurdles facing marginalized groups by highlighting two of the biggest barriers for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQ+) workers.

CALL TO ACTION:

Throughout this article series, we want to engage with you, our community, to learn more about organizations that are tackling these hurdles. Our goal is to amplify the good work they are doing to dismantle major employment obstacles and increase diversity and retention.

June is Pride Month, making this an ideal time to bring issues facing LGBTQ+ employees to the fore. We hope that doing so will inspire new conversations, both this month and beyond, to help us revitalize our diversity recruitment initiatives in ways that can better serve the LGBTQ+ community.

A recent report from The Human Rights Campaign tells us that 28% of Gen Z adults and 16% of millennials identify as LGBTQ+, compared with only 7% of Gen X and 4% of baby boomers. As these younger workers enter and become established in the workforce, they will expect employers to reflect their values.

Those that do not will miss out on talent. A study by UCLA’s Williams Institute discovered that 34% of LGBTQ+ employees have quit a job because of how their employer treated them based on sexualities or gender identities. Just a few months ago, EY’s 2024 US LGBTQ+ Workplace Barometer reported similar trends : 40% of Gen Z and 36% of millennial LGBTQ+ workers have left a job because their employer was not welcoming.

What specific employment hurdles do these research findings point to?

As we dug deeper at Team JTC, we identified two distinct but related obstacles that we want to bring to your attention today. We are convinced that addressing these hurdles will greatly improve recruitment and, especially, retention among LGBTQ+ employees in any workplace.

Hurdle 1: The Burden of Assimilation

To meet common expectations of “professionalism” at work, many LGBTQ+ employees engage in behaviors such as concealment, covering, and code-switching. This takes its toll, leaving around 15% of LGBTQ+ workers feeling exhausted from concealing their sexual orientation or gender identity in the workplace. Perhaps because of this, and the fact that discrimination and harassment are common, only 54% of LGBTQ+ employees are out at work.

How can we characterize the (usually) unspoken assumptions that create these pressures?

In the words of two Canadian academics , historically rooted concepts of “professionalism” in the workplace mean that, “Some ways of being and doing, some subjectivities, and some bodies are deemed acceptable and appropriate while others are disavowed.”

Or, more pointedly, “The concept of professional carries encoded within it demands that the occupant of that category be—or present as—heterosexual.”

In a previous newsletter , we referred to these assumptions as “entrenched attitudes about professionalism” that may reflect how a lot of workplaces once were, but not how they need to be now or in the future.

The term “heteroprofessionalism” was coined in the academic literature to capture the persistent “demand for a standardized professional identity,” yet ironically, some employers that commit to being inclusive continue to adhere to traditional ideas about “professionalism” and undermine their stated intentions.

This should certainly give us food for thought over potential unconscious biases and their impact on LGBTQ+ employees.

Hurdle 2: A Lack of Inclusion Training

The second hurdle relates to the obvious lack of LGBTQ+ inclusion indicated above, which we also shared some key facts on during Pride Month last year .

The good news is that having the right initiatives can significantly enhance workplace well-being for LGBTQ+ employees, as attested by a growing number of formal academic studies. However, the statistics above show how far too few employers are implementing these initiatives.

While a record number of employers took part in The Human Rights Campaign’s 2023 edition of the Corporate Equality Index, 35% fewer companies received a perfect score compared with the previous year. Similarly, in Deloitte’s Global 2023 LGBTQ+ Inclusion @ Work report , almost half of respondents had experienced non-inclusive behaviors in the workplace. One-third of those surveyed were actively looking to change employer “to one that is more LGBTQ+ inclusive.”

In other words, LGBTQ+ workers are intentionally looking for inclusive environments and know when they find one (and when they don’t). Recognizing this, employers are increasingly adopting two distinct types of programs to build inclusion: workplace diversity training on gender and sexuality diversity, and employee allyship networks.

The first study measuring the actual impact of these initiatives on the experience of LGBTQ+ workers was recently done in Australia. The number of active allies and the proportion of workers who had received allyship training were both linked to improved LGBTQ+ employee satisfaction.

Importantly, active allyship had a stronger impact than training alone, and other researchers have uncovered a similar effect in recruitment messaging. Signals showing how diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is actively embodied in organizations led LGBTQ+ job seekers to view those prospective employers more favorably than mere indications that DEI is valued.?

The authors called these “activating signals” and “pointing signals,” respectively. Activating signals fostered a positive attitude in both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ job seekers. To the researchers’ surprise, however, pointing signals made no impression on LGBTQ+ candidates and were no different to a complete absence of DEI signaling.

Read that again: Prospective LGBTQ+ employees need to see evidence that DEI is actively implemented in your organization for your messaging to be seen as authentic.

So, having the right training is essential, but it is not enough in itself. Putting that training into action, for example through active allyship, is what really makes the difference.

In sum, we have the evidence that well-designed initiatives can build inclusive workplaces; we now need employers to increasingly get on board. Given the need for more widespread and effective implementation of such programs, The Human Rights Campaign recently released The LGBTQ+ Corporate Citizen: A Framework for Emerging Best Practices in Allyship, a first-of-its-kind report aimed at employers looking to advance inclusion efforts.

While much remains to be done, the importance of building inclusive workplaces for LGBTQ+ employees is gaining momentum and we believe there is cause for optimism moving forward.

How Should We Respond?

As a community of diversity recruiters, we can continue to promote the kinds of programs mentioned above in our organizations, along with other recommendations to enhance LGBTQ+ inclusion.

Beyond that, numerous organizations are engaged in LGBTQ+ advocacy and allyship training initiatives, across the US and worldwide. We are keen to hear of any you have worked with that made a real impact where you work. As with previous newsletters in this series, our intention is to compile a list of relevant organizations to share with the community.

Also, use Pride Month as an opportunity to start conversations on LGBTQ+ inclusion at all levels of your organization. If folks don’t see the importance of any of this, emphasize the demographic changes in the workforce that we explained at the beginning of this newsletter and remember that among Gen Z, LGBTQ+ workers don’t think their employers are doing enough on inclusion.

Fortune recently characterized this as a “wake-up call,” and it’s one we would surely do well not to miss.

JOIN US IN THE COMMENTS: Have you already seen the benefits of active allyship and inclusion programs in your workplace, and if so, did you engage with an external organization to help with this? Similarly, we would like to learn of any LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations you are aware of or have worked with that are directly tackling the hurdles we have highlighted today.