Pride Month 2023: How can HR help businesses become an LGBTQ+ inclusive employer all year round

The beginning of June marked the beginning of Pride Month; A month dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating LGBTQ+ communities around the world. LinkedIn is adorned with companies changing logos and branding to include the rainbow flag to show solidarity and support for the LGBTQ+ community and their LGBTQ+ employees. But how can this support go beyond the month of June? Here, Simon Cutner, Director at Macmillan Davies explains some of the ways HR can help to promote diversity and inclusion, and empower their LGBTQ+ employees all year round, not just during Pride Month.

Over the last few decades, progress has been made towards creating diverse and inclusive workspaces. However, a report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) published in February this year showed that over 40% of LGB people experienced conflict in the workplace compared to just 29% for their heterosexual colleagues, with this percentage rising to 55% for transgender and non-binary staff. The conflict comes in the shape of being humiliated, undermined or discriminated against by other colleagues, with the report suggesting that these issues are often left unresolved.

So, with more needing to be done to protect and support LGBTQ+ people within the workplace, how can HR help?

Leading from the front

HR can and should celebrate Pride Month by firstly celebrating those in HR that are part of the LGBT+ communities and by being allies. HR leaders are often the enablers or the conduits for the D&I agenda and frequently co-ordinate efforts between leadership commitment and mass movement – habitually employee networks, putting them in the perfect position.

Where are you now?

The adage, “What gets measured, gets managed” is particularly pertinent for diversity and inclusion. The biases that enable workplace inequality are mostly unconscious and automatic, therefore changing an organisation’s talent management paradigm from ‘cultural fit’ to ‘diversity and inclusion’ takes more than well-meaning policies and programs.

To further understand what you need to do to become a more diverse and inclusive employer, you first need to know where you are currently. The best way to do this is to talk to your employees whether that’s in 121 interviews, group discussions, or anonymous surveys – which is usually the most effective.

Educate and train

Training can address, prevent, and educate staff on areas such as microaggressions and demeaning behaviour in the workplace, and then in turn help employees to report this behaviour when they see it to support their LGBTQ+ colleagues. You can also use Pride Month as an opportunity to encourage your employees to also invest in self-education. There is a huge range of free resources available from different organisations on how to be inclusive of LGBTQ+ people, from podcasts, documentaries, articles and social media campaigns.

An inclusive employee culture and experience

Ensuring current LGBTQ+ employees feel included in the workplace is particularly important, but this also needs to be reflected in recruiting and onboarding process too. This could include a blind resume screening to reduce any unconscious biases during the hiring process and providing your talent acquisition teams with training on inclusive hiring practices.

Any employee support services should also be inclusive of LGBTQ+ people. For example, making your health coverage inclusive by supporting leave for transitioning employees.

It’s also important to ensure you have a clear mission statement in your diversity and inclusion policies that outlines your support for LGBTQ+ employees; this should include measurable outcomes that hold you accountable as an employer.

Conclusion

This is by no means a comprehensive guide, but just a few areas where HR can lead the way forward. HR can be the leaders within this business when it comes to inclusive policies, practices and actions, with true diversity following in the from the recruitment and retention of employees. D&I isn’t just for the month of June…

Get in touch

Should you wish to have a confidential chat with Simon Cutner to discuss the current HR market and where we can help with inclusive recruitment or your search for work/recruiting into your team, please contact him directly at scutner@mdhr.co.uk 

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