Pride Month is an important event for LGBT+ people and their allies across the UK.
As an employer, Pride Month is the perfect time to reflect on what your organisation is doing to protect your LGBT+ staff from discrimination and harassment, and what you could be doing better to make your organisation truly inclusive.
Here’s how you can create a safe, inclusive workplace culture for LGBT+ staff during Pride Month and beyond.
LGBT+ employees’ rights
An employee’s right to keep their sexual orientation private is protected under UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Disclosing someone’s sexual orientation at work without their consent would amount to a breach of their data and could even be regarded as discrimination.
Sexual orientation and gender reassignment are protected characteristics under the Equality Act, meaning that it is against the law to discriminate against your employees simply because they are LGBT+.
Hopefully, you already take care not to directly discriminate against your LGBT+ employees.
However, you could be unwittingly engaging in indirect discrimination.
This is where your workplace has rules or arrangements in place that apply to everyone, yet put your LGBT+ employees at an unfair disadvantage.
To reduce the risk of this happening, make sure you have clear Anti-Discrimination, Anti-Bullying, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) policies in place.
These should make it clear that your organisation takes a zero-tolerance approach to homophobia and transphobia, with details of disciplinary consequences and mechanisms for how staff can report bullying and harassment.
Make it mandatory for all staff to confirm that they have read and understood these policies.
You should also implement compulsory anti-discrimination and EDI training sessions for all staff (including yourself) and input refresher training at regular intervals.
You can also encourage employees to raise concerns through a confidential feedback forum or through a designated LGBT+ lead or staff network.
This will allow your employees to point out problems you may not have noticed – thus enabling you to resolve them swiftly.
Prioritise employees over clients
While you may strive to make sure your organisation is open and accepting of everyone, not all your clients may meet the same standards.
Many employees hide their identity or sexual orientation at work for fear of harassment from clients and even the loss of clients altogether.
That’s why you should make it clear to your employees that you will prioritise them over your clients.
Reflecting on his experiences as an openly LGBT+ leader of an accountancy practice, Warren Mead stated in Business & Accountancy Daily: “My promise to my colleagues is this: I would rather lose business than accommodate, overlook, or ignore homophobia, transphobia, or any other form of prejudice.”
Taking a clear stance against homophobic and transphobic prejudice will help boost your appeal to new clients and employees alike.
Health and wellbeing support
As an employer, you have a duty of care towards your employees – and your LGBT+ staff may be at higher risk of health and wellbeing issues.
For example, estrangement from family members or frequent harassment can lead to mental health issues, which can affect focus and productivity at work.
Providing wellbeing support through an in-house counsellor or third-party service can make all the difference to an employee’s health and ability to do their job.
It is also important to make sure you accommodate employees’ sick leave requests for LGBT+ related health reasons.
For example, a transgender employee may need time off to recover from surgery.
Make sure you support employees with their return to work by putting reasonable adjustments in place if necessary, such as a provision for home working or a temporarily altering job responsibilities to provide less physically demanding work.
Set an example
The best way to encourage your employees to contribute to an inclusive workplace culture? Lead by example.
This means being proactive about making sure you are taking steps to promote LGBT+ equality and inclusion – steps that your employees can follow.
This can include:
By taking proactive EDI steps that go beyond your legal obligations, you’ll be able to make your workplace a safe, inclusive environment for your LGBT+ employees.
Not only will this have a positive effect on employee wellbeing, it will also be beneficial for your business, thanks to higher productivity and increased staff loyalty.
At Hethertons Solicitors, our specialist employment law team can advise you on your legal responsibilities as an employer and how you can best support your LGBT+ employees in the workplace.
Contact us today for tailored advice and guidance on supporting your LGBT+ employees at work.
