The whole self

Why do lesbian, gay and bisexual people ‘feel the need’ to come out at work? It’s a question Stonewall has answered many times in recent years. Stonewall believes the answer is simple, and rests in terms that any good manager will understand.

People perform better when they can be themselves. If you want your organisation to be its most effective, to have staff bring their whole selves to work, then your business needs to support and welcome every member of staff, regardless of their sexual orientation, age or any of the other characteristics that are rightly now protected by law. It just makes good business sense.

Hundreds of major employers across Britain share Stonewall’s belief. We work with 700 employers through our Diversity Champions programme, helping them to create workplaces where their lesbian, gay and bisexual staff will flourish. Collectively they employ a fifth of the UK workforce and it’s the largest non-governmental intervention of its kind in the world.

Employers including EY, Accenture, Home Office and even MI5 are all members of the programme. They know that the impact of failing to have an inclusive environment is well documented.

‘The pronoun game’

For example, EY has conducted global research of its offices that shows staff working in fully inclusive environments bring in $125,000 per year per head more to the organisation than employees working in parts of the business where they feel they can’t be themselves at work.

So, if a staff member isn’t able to be themselves at work, their performance suffers. They won’t build relationships with their colleagues, evading questions that may out them. Some will play the pronoun game, switching the gender of their partner to something that they think will be more acceptable to their colleagues. So, while your sexual orientation doesn’t define you it is relevant at work.

Some LGB people do choose not to come out at work. Barely ten years have passed since the law changed to protect gay staff from discrimination on the grounds of their sexual orientation. Anyone whose career started before 2003 will remember seeing people lose their jobs because of their sexual orientation. Lesbian, gay and bisexual people could be denied promotion for the same reason.

Unchecked bullying

Unless your employer actively took a stand, homophobic language and bullying went unchecked with no solution or help for the victim – unless they chose to find another job. We’ve come a long way in a relatively short time, so it’s understandable that some don’t yet feel comfortable about coming out. In these cases there’s still the need to devote time and effort to avoid being identified as LGB – time and effort that would be better expended focussing on the job.

While much has been done, there’s still much to do. Polling conducted by YouGov estimates that in just the past five years 2.4 million people of working age have witnessed verbal homophobic bullying at work and 800,000 have witnessed physical homophobic bullying. That’s a huge number of people who go to work fearing harassment and abuse and consequently remain private about being gay.

That’s why interventions like the Diversity Champions programme are so important. They don’t just tackle the physical and verbal bullying, they can help employers create a workplace where all staff can achieve every ounce of their potential.

Top tips for HR practitioners

Are we a gay-friendly employer?

Any lesbian, gay or bisexual staff member can tell you whether their employer values their LGB staff – it’s obvious to them. But there are some key questions LGB employees and potential staff will think about:

• Is the employer’s approach to workplace equality explicitly addressed at induction? Is information given on available support such as network groups?
• How is homophobic bullying or banter at work dealt with?
• Will staff in same-sex relationships feel their partners are welcome at work social functions alongside other husbands and wives?
• Is there a senior management team member visibly and vocally championing LGB issues in the workplace?
• Are HR policies and processes up to date? Do they reflect good practice and the latest legislation and terminology; do they use the language of ‘sexual orientation’ which reflects current legislation rather than the 1970s styling of ‘sexual preference’.
• Do they understand that lesbians, gay men and bisexual people have different and distinct experiences at work, not just to their straight colleagues, but also to each other?

About the author

Simon Feeke