As a previous HR manager, I thought a lot about employee turnover. Employee attrition is a part of the natural life cycle of a business and employees join companies and leave companies for a variety of reasons. Understanding those reasons was important as I understood the cost of replacing valuable staff members who had a deep understanding of our business and valuable client relationships. Human Resources professionals understand that the costs associated with replacing a staff member include recruiting costs, costs of business lost due to lost relationships and open positions with other staff members having to cover workloads, costs of paying out paid time off balances to the exiting employee, and time and costs of training new staff members. Depending on the industry it can take three months to a year before the new staff member is up to speed on their new role and even longer to develop those valuable client relationships that may have been lost.
As I considered these realities the question that stood out to me was how do I reduce turnover? There are many solutions to this question, but one you may not have thought about is, are there employees on my staff who will voluntarily quit because they don’t feel welcome in their work environment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity?
A 2014 Human Rights Campaign study titled The Cost of the Closet and the Rewards of Inclusion found that over half (53%) of LGBTQ employees feel the need to hide their sexual orientation at work. Why should that matter? Well, if current national LGBTQ population estimates are correct and if LGBTQ employees are represented in your company at the same rate, around 4%+ of your employee population is gay or transgender. And if half of those 4% feel the need to hide their sexual orientation because of your workplace environment, 2% of your employee population may decide to leave the job voluntarily and look for a more inclusive environment elsewhere. Every employer is different but if you could impact that 2% of turnover each year it could have a measurable impact on your bottom line, client relationships, and even on your employee morale.
So why might your LGBTQ employees not be comfortable being open about their authentic selves in your workplace? The same study referenced above found that 70% of non-LGBTQ employees agree that “it is unprofessional” to talk about sexual orientation or gender identity in the workplace. When I first started working in the business world a common theme I heard was “leave your personal life at the door”.
The problem with that idea is that increasingly the lines between our personal and work lives are being blurred with flexible schedules and constant communication with our workplaces and clients from the phones in our pockets. And we tend to develop personal relationships with our coworkers because we spend so much time working and collaborating with each other. Those relationships are often very beneficial to effective team building and communication and benefit the business.
Think for a moment about your average Monday morning water cooler or coffee conversations when you arrive at work. Do you chat with your coworkers about what you did over the weekend? Share that you went to the movies with your wife or to a museum exhibit with your boyfriend? What about your desk? Are there framed photos of you and your spouse or significant other like there are on mine?
Now imagine if you had to constantly be careful to never mention your spouse’s gender or even name because it might out you to your coworkers as gay. Imagine if you didn’t feel comfortable displaying pictures of them on your desk because it would invite questions or comments or even discrimination. Imagine if you overheard jokes or offensive comments about people like yourself by coworkers or your boss who don’t know you are transgender. Would you feel comfortable?
The Cost of the Closet and the Rewards of Inclusion study found that “30% of LGBTQ employees felt distracted from the job at hand due to negative workplace environments” and “35% felt compelled to lie about their personal lives at while at work.” That sounds like lost workplace productivity to me and an impact to your bottom line and employee morale.
So what can you do about it? A great place to start is by taking a look at your company policies and making sure that you are including protection for sexual orientation and gender identity in writing in your non-discrimination/EEOC and harassment policies. Just changing a policy isn’t enough though. Communicate those policies to your company internally and externally and consider offering sensitivity training for your staff on LGBTQ issues. Consider offering training to your management on legal protections for and harassment of LGBTQ employees and what their responsibilities are so they feel educated and equipped to handle situations as they arise.
For help in your workplace surrounding LGBTQ sensitivity contact RANGE Consulting at jhumphrey@lgbtqcolorado.org.