An inclusive environment for LGBTQIA+ employees in the workplace is a legal and human right, which correlates with good business returns. However, many workers are still treated unfairly because of how corporate culture has traditionally imposed limits on gender expression.
Numerous complaints of harassment and discrimination in the workplace have been launched by members of the LGBTQIA+ community. The argument for creating solid reporting structures (for such behaviour) within the labour market keeps strengthening. Achieving this would help accelerate the realisation of the rights and dignity of the LGBTQIA + community in the workplace. An increasing number of companies are looking for new ways to address this issue — deemed ‘highly sensitive’ and ‘top priority’ for corporates looking to be on right side of history.
Reversing the red tape
One of the key challenges disempowering LGBTQIA+ employees is corporate culture’s embracing of stereotypes. Instead of gaining an understanding of each individual employee, bundling perceptions through perpetuating stereotypical messaging and interactions is the norm. This creates an automatic loop of red tape for LGBTQIA+ employees.
Thankfully, many corporations now intend to do the right thing. And that means being armed with the right information about humanising realities identified as ‘different’.
The Labour Research Service has worked to raise awareness around gender expression for LGBTQIA+ employees (and employers), to assist the corporate sector in navigating this long overdue issue. The campaign was documented in a booklet titled A Practical Guide for LGBTI Workers in South Africa.
Creating sustainable structures
Companies need to be on the right side of the law. Section 187 of South Africa’s Labour Relations Act prohibits employers from dismissing employees purely on the grounds of their sexual orientation. Further protections are guaranteed under the Employment Equity Act 55 (of 1998), which prohibits any of form of discrimination (or behaviour resulting from such) on the basis of sexual orientation. The transformation necessary for workplaces to become enabling environments for LGBTQIA+ employees is achievable through creating reporting and accountability structures to monitor and act on incidents of discrimination. As an added assurance, these measures can be supplemented by establishing an additional regulatory body to observe the performance of these reporting/accountability structures.
In situations of harassment, employee complaints would first be launched with a direct line manager before reaching human resources and, ultimately, the employer’s desk.
Should the situation be irreconcilable using these internal mechanisms, then the matter could be taken up with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). This is an independent body that promotes fair labour practice, and which is tasked with resolving employment disputes, including those attributed to gender-based discrimination.
Case studies
A survey by the SA Labour Research Service documented key concerns of LGBTQIA+ people in society and the workplace:
Stereotypes
“After they hear that you are gay, they assume all gay people are sex pests… People make outrageous claims. This affects how your colleagues relate to you. I decided to challenge this discrimination and pushed management to allow me to educate everyone on LGBTQI+ rights.” – Nomsa
Gender Policing
“It’s embedded in this idea of ‘how to be professional’. It’s in the tiny things: when you’re presenting, don’t use so many hand movements. From personal experience, I’ve always felt the need to ‘fem up’ when I’m being formal.” – Vavi
Being Transgender
“A CCMA case concerned an employee who was dismissed and asked to reapply for the position. The employer claimed the change from female to male messed with the company’s BEE accreditation. Unfortunately, legal representation at a particular level at CCMA is not permitted. A lot of people tend to be fearful that even if they use such processes, they’ll still face discrimination.” – Busi
Having a say
According to the booklet produced by the Labour Research Service, employers have a pool of resources to pull from when addressing incidents of discrimination on the basis of gender orientation in the workplace.
The research suggests that companies increase the involvement of LGBTQIA+ employees in workplace policy formulation. This means employers will have to re-evaluate how they construct workspaces for freedom of movement and engagement (often anchored around sexual or gender disposition).
The research also highlights the positive impact that carefully crafted messaging and wording can achieve. This is dually instrumental in sustaining an atmosphere of inclusion for LGBTQIA+ employees — a practical approach for easing the anxiety linked with feeling invisible and under-valued in the workplace.
A welcoming work environment
A top-performing company in the private sector looking to achieve a more positive approach to dealing with this matter is Vodacom. The company hosts a series of intentional and decisive round-table discussions called #PrideAtWork.
Here, the company’s LGBTQIA+ employees have the opportunity to measure their own contentment with their employer’s approach towards their well-being, and detail how the various interventions have impacted their daily experience in the workplace, while also suggesting more meaningful contributions.
This #PrideAtWork campaign has succeeded in shifting the approach of other corporates, setting an example for each other by addressing matters central to the well-being of everyone in their workforce.
PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte Touche, working with the Department of Labour, have spearheaded research initiatives, with the goal of creating recommendations that employers need to implement for the roll-out of interventions.
Another example has been set by Nedbank. Through the launch of the LGBTQ Forum, the banking giant stripped down to the level of its most vulnerable LGBTQIA+ customer when establishing protections for its staff (and customers).
An example of an initiative by a multinational corporation is the Global LGBTQIA+ Employee and Allies, known as GLEAM, at Microsoft.
Although a successfully diverse and productive company culture is a constantly moving target, companies that implement changes to close the gap will be winners in the long run.
By: Levi Letsoko
Photography by: Gallo/Getty images
Text courtesy of Club X magazine
