June is Pride month in the United States but with LGBTQI+ rights under assault in many US states, organizations need to do more to protect and support employees.
Here’s how to promote LGBTQI+ rights within your organization and beyond:
Underrepresented groups are well aware of organizations that pay lip service to the issues affecting them without contributing to real change. Organizations can and should do more to promote equal rights for all, including withholding financial contributions to politicians who support anti-LGBTQI+ legislation. Employees want to see their leaders taking a pro-active stance, especially now. In addition to publicly and financially supporting LGBTQI+ issues, organizations should ensure that they have diverse hiring practices, inclusive health care support for all employees, and an Employee Resource Group that is focused on issues specific to their LGBTQI+ employees.
Multinational corporations should note that our research proves that company culture often takes precedence on individual behavior over country culture; this means that a company can advance issues of inclusion by internally supporting and advocating for tolerance.
[Related Blog: How to Measure Inclusion and Diversity- and Create Meaningful Change]
Diverse people benefit from relationships with others in similar situations. If your organization is large enough, create opportunities for those within the LGBTQI+ to connect. Smaller organizations can help foster relationships externally. Involve employees in the creation of any affinity groups or mentorship programs to better learn what they need. Make leadership development opportunities available and help facilitate things like external speaking engagements.
Don’t restrict LGBTQI+ discussions or celebrations just to that community. Help create an environment of allyship by enabling others to get involved. Invite speakers to present on topics to the entire company. Encourage employees to include their preferred pronouns as part of their email signatures or video conferencing platform profiles. Provide managers with training geared towards supporting LGBTQ+ employees. Make sure there are ways for people to report issues of discrimination or hate that they might witness.
Soliciting feedback from underrepresented groups can be tricky since you want to understand specific concerns but don’t want to violate confidentiality. If you have a survey consultant, they should be able to provide advice on best practices for measuring sensitive topics. Consider asking for demographic questions around identity, if appropriate for your organization, but make sure your communications around privacy, data policies, and data use are clear. (Multinational corporations operating in very intolerant areas of the globe where homosexuality is illegal need to tread particularly carefully here and ensure that their survey vendor adheres to the strictest data protection policies and methods.)
We recognize that administering DEI&B surveys right now is especially tricky, which is why we are offering free consultations to any organizations looking to understand how to navigate the current climate.
[Read More: DEI&B: Where Do We Go From Here?]
Besides just being the right thing to do, organizations that score higher in diversity issues on employee surveys tend to be more resilient and outperform other companies.
OrgVitality is committed to helping make a more equitable and just world.
If you want help measuring or understanding LGBTQI+ issues within your organization, check out our Free Ebook below or Book a Free Consultation with a Consultant today.