Why workplace education is key to supporting LGBT staff

Following a recent survey by YouGov, the TUC has called for the government to introduce a range of measures to support LGBT people at work.

Along with pay gap reporting, which indicates that LGBT workers are paid 16% less (effectively £6,703 per year), the government is being urged to consult with unions to protect LGBT people from workplace bullying and harassment, by introducing a new duty on employers to make workplaces safe.

The poll of around 1000 HR managers, also found that:

Bullying and harassment: Only half (51%) of managers surveyed said they had a policy prohibiting sexual discrimination,  bullying and harassment against LGBT workers in their workplace.

Less than half (47%) said they had a clear reporting route for workers to raise concerns about discrimination, bullying and harassment against LGBT workers – even though one in seven (15%) managers had responded to bullying, harassment or discrimination against one or more LGBT workers.

Trans workers: Just one in four (25%) managers said that they had a policy setting out support for trans (including non-binary) workers who wish to transition to live as another gender.

Family-friendly working: Less than half (47%) of HR managers told the TUC that they had family policies (such as adoption, maternity, paternity and shared parental leave policies) that apply equally to LGBT workers.

Of those HR managers whose workplaces that have LGBT policies in place, only around one in three (34%) have reviewed those policies in the last 12 months.

More than one in four (28%) can’t remember when they last looked at them.

Ensure your bullying and harassment policies are clear and inclusive

It is quite shocking that so many workplaces don’t have specific policies in place to support their LGBT staff, and without these policies, too many LGBT workers experience bullying, harassment and discrimination at work.

To combat discrimination or harassment at work, business leaders should have stringent internal policies which are critical to supporting LGBT staff. Policy documents should highlight the consequences for any customers, clients, colleagues or third parties who are guilty of harassing employees, including LGBT.

It’s also critical to make the process easier for employees to raise grievances and challenge harassment, so this behaviour never gets repeated to another colleague or person in general. Employees must visibly see that their business leaders take harassment cases very seriously and recognise that any issues get tackled straight away, so colleagues feel comfortable raising issues and know what they say matters.

Education is key to preventing workplace misconduct

Everyone deserves access to a safe working environment, and education is key to preventing bullying and harassment at work. Prioritising compulsory equality and diversity training to prevent discrimination and harassment in the workplace, as well as training on how to respect one another, will help reinforce the behaviour that employees should adhere to while at work.

Diversity and inclusion measures don’t just stop there. It also includes educating employees to be more aware of unconscious bias, often based on appearance, cultural, social behaviour or experience, to help change viewpoints and build an inclusive culture.

In addition, training should include implementing inclusive family policies such as adoption, maternity and parental leave, making it easier for LGBT workers to recognise their inclusion. Business leaders must also support the use of gender-neutral pronouns in the workplace and how its use can be effective in making LGBT employees feel more comfortable in the workplace.

Take a look at our full range of Diversity and Inclusion online training courses and improve diversity and inclusion awareness among your employees and managers.

From compliance to cultural normality – the case for getting diversity and inclusion right

If employers were hoping that the issues of diversity and inclusion were just a passing storm to be weathered, they would be very wrong. Societal and legal pressures are coming together as employees demand change.

Research into Google’s online search habits shows consistency in growth across diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace over the last three years.

Searches online for ‘gender pronouns in the workplace’ has risen by 500% over the past three years (April 2020 – April 2022). It remains unclear if this is employers finding out what they need to do to be supportive in the workplace or employees trying to find out their rights.

Further data showed a significant increase in searches for ‘unconscious bias at work’ of 58% in the same period. Interestingly, it also revealed a noticeable spike in March 2022, coinciding with International Women’s Day, where this year’s theme surrounded ‘breaking the bias’. March continues to be a prominent month for diversity and inclusion related searches as organisations endeavoured to compile their mandatory Gender Pay Gap reports in line with Government reporting deadlines.

Most alarmingly, the findings revealed that several types of discrimination continued to fuel search results in the same period. It found that ‘bullying, harassment and discrimination at work’ searches grew dramatically by three-fifths (62.5%), ‘disability discrimination at work’ searches increased by half (51.25%), ‘racial discrimination at work’ searches rose by 40.3%, and ‘age discrimination at work’ searches grew by almost a third (30.6%). Definitely not a passing storm.

Interestingly, this same pattern is also reflected when looking at Employee Tribunal Data. WorkNest, an employment law and HR advisory firm, revealed that nearly half of the Employment Tribunal Claims they received during Jan 2019 – Dec 2021 included some form of discrimination. Disability was the protected characteristic most relied upon by Claimants during this period.

This same period saw an almost one-fifth growth (17.9%) in disability-related discrimination claims, a 52% surge in sex-related discrimination claims, and over a quarter (27.3%) rise in discrimination claims related to race. Racial discrimination claims also saw a considerable spike during 2020, 42.9% more than in 2019.

Whilst the prevalence of Covid during this reporting period could account for a proportion of claims due to shielding requirements for many employees and their dependants requiring adjustments to their roles – it certainly does not account for it all.

Against this backdrop of growing interest and updates to equality legislation, DeltaNet International, a global compliance and performance eLearning provider, decided to launch a new diversity and inclusion collection of online training solutions. The 15 new courses released aim to help organisations improve their diversity and inclusion awareness among their employees and managers to reduce discrimination in the workplace, both in the UK and globally.

“The data reveals that discriminatory issues continue to rise in the workplace; business leaders and HR teams are responsible for tackling these issues to provide a safe and welcoming working environment for all employees to thrive in,” said Darren Hockley, Managing Director at DeltaNet International. “We believe that diversity and inclusion must be at the core of an organisation; we want to help employees and employers evolve from a compliance-based model to embracing true cultural change.”

With management and HR teams increasingly facing scrutiny for diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace, DeltaNet International’s courses allow employees and managers to understand the UK equality legislative requirements. This includes gender equality, disability inclusion in the workplace and addressing sexual harassment.

These latest training courses allow organisations to create a compliant culture and educate employees on common diversity and inclusion issues, from using the correct gender pronouns to treating disabled workers with respect. Available in various formats, including: immersive learning, detailed studies and microlearning, the eLearning courses have been developed with subject matter expertise, reinforced through the diverse range of characters and accents used by voiceover actors.

“Creating a diverse and inclusive culture starts with education to change behaviours and reduce discrimination.”

For more information on DeltaNet’s diversity and inclusion training collection, please visit: https://www.delta-net.com/equality-and-diversity/.