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Being transgender means that your gender doesn’t align with the sex you were assigned at birth. This doesn’t always mean that transgender people identify as the ‘opposite’ gender. Some people identify as somewhere between male and female, or as having no gender at all.
The experience of being transgender or gender diverse and of ‘coming out’ is unique to each individual. Some may choose to medically transition, which can involve hormone replacement therapy or gender-affirming surgeries. But this isn’t the case for all trans and gender diverse people.
LGBTQ+ people are not a homogenous group―trans and gender diverse people may have different needs. Here we explore how you can support transgender employees in the workplace.
Why should you include specific policies for trans people?
The most important reason for creating policies that support transgender employees in the workplace is because it’s the right thing to do. Half of trans people have not told their workplace they’re transgender for fear of discrimination. What’s more, one in three trans people has been discriminated against by colleagues for being transgender. Discrimination, whether intended or not, has a detrimental impact on trans individuals’ wellbeing.
Employee wellbeing has a big impact on employers, too. This is another reason to support transgender employees in the workplace. Feeling discriminated against or unwelcomed at work leads to less job satisfaction and increased likelihood of quitting. Nearly half of trans jobseekers actively search for trans-inclusive employers.
How can you include trans people in your policies?
1. Have a clear diversity policy that has legitimate value
Make sure that all employees are aware of and have access to your organisation’s diversity policy at all times. As part of the policy, there should be a description of what counts as bullying or harassment. You should clearly explain the steps for reporting harassment and the consequences of engaging in it.
Any support that’s available to trans and gender diverse employees should be clear and easily accessible. If you want to learn more about policies that support transgender people in the workplace, Stonewall has a great resource.
2. Encourage welcoming behaviour in all staff
Make sure that all employees know how to react when they witness discrimination. Training courses can encourage a deeper understanding of what counts as discrimination, why it’s wrong and what to do about it.
It’s easy to think that this kind of training is not a priority if none of your employees are transgender. However, you can’t always be sure that you don’t have any trans employees―they might not feel ready or safe enough to come out at work. Plus, if you hire a transgender employee in the future, it’s important that they feel welcome and safe at work from the beginning.
3. Make sure your own behaviour is welcoming
There are things you can do to ensure that trans colleagues feel respected and welcomed by you. One place to start is to respect their pronouns. Sometimes, asking someone’s pronouns when you’re unsure of their gender can single them out and make them feel uncomfortable. A way around this is to always volunteer your own pronouns before asking for someone else’s.
It’s natural to have questions about things you don’t understand. But it’s always worth considering if your question could make the other person uncomfortable. Is the information actually necessary to know in a work setting? If your colleague wants you to know something, they’ll often volunteer the information themselves, provided they feel safe and ready to do so.
4. Get feedback on your approach
With all the preparation in the world, it’s still possible to miss something important. You can’t always know how the employees you’re training or the trans employees you’re trying to support will receive your policies. This is when feedback becomes really useful.
You can collect feedback through staff surveys, confidential questionnaires after employees complete a training course, and exit interviews.
If you don’t have lived experience of being trans, you won’t always know what kind of support trans people might need. Given this, it can seem sensible to ask the trans people in your organisation what to do. However, this can place unnecessary pressure on trans people. It’s not their responsibility to become ‘ambassadors’ or to educate people who might exhibit microaggressions towards them.
There are plenty of organisations that offer advice and training to help you support transgender people in the workplace. These include Stonewall, Beaumont and LGBT Health and Wellbeing.
These are just some of the ways you can support transgender employees in the workplace. But by making these changes, you’re committing to becoming a more supportive, diverse and welcoming organisation. This increased diversity will benefit both your employees and the organisation as a whole.
And don’t forget to mention your new policies and commitments in your job adverts when posting a job.
Tags: charity recruitment, discrimination, diversity and inclusion, inclusive recruitment, training and development, workplace wellbeing
