In 2020, AnswerLab launched The Human-Centered Work Project, utilizing our core skills as researchers to study and iterate on workplace structures, policies, benefits, and culture, and making our learnings available to all. We’re continuing these efforts by turning our focus to the experiences of the LGBTQIA+ community in the American workforce, what companies are doing now, and where there are opportunities for improvement.
To start, we conducted a literature review to evaluate and present best practices for how companies support LGBTQIA+ workers.
Below we’re sharing the results—making them available publicly to give others a starting point for their own efforts.
Timeline: LGBTQIA+ Policy and Social Changes in the US
The Impact of Policy Change on Work Life
Putting it into Practice
Within the last 20 years, policy in favor of LGBTQIA+ people has increased legal protections, protecting against discrimination and making a positive impact.
While legal policy has improved for LGBTQIA+ citizens, they are still at higher risk than their heteronormative peers, and this also presents in work environments. A company’s leadership and environment heavily impact the workers within, and when company leaders push back against inclusivity, it creates a toxic environment for their employees.
We’ve seen this recently with Kraken’s CEO directly fighting against his own employees calling others’ words “toxic, hateful, racist, x-phobic, unhelpful, etc”.
Almost half of US LGBTQIA+ employees are still experiencing discrimination and negative impacts at work. Indirect discrimination, including not being hired or not receiving a raise for an unknown reason, also impacts minority workers (Krieger, 2000). Due to this, minority employees may feel like they are being discriminated against even without direct discrimination.
Discrimination and feeling at-risk while at work causes:
Impacts on Mental and Physical Health
These negative factors lead to less enjoyment and productivity at work and can also lead to worse mental and physical health. Many reports we examined showed that this type of stress and discrimination can lead to anxiety and depression, as well as illness (Cole, 1996, Lattanner et al., 2022). Those who lived in communities with high structural stigma even had a shorter lifespan (Hatzenbuehler et al., 2014).
Due to the additional stress and mental effort to self-police and mask their authentic selves, LGBTQIA+ colleagues have to focus on their job security and safety in addition to their work.
Impacts on Turnover and Retention:
Lack of policies combined with a negative environment can hurt a company's bottom line, including greater workforce turnover. A study from 2015 estimated that US companies could have saved around $9 billion by implementing diversity and inclusion policies for LGBTQIA+ staff (LGBT 2020 – LGBT Diversity Show Me the Business Case, 2015). This was calculated by combining estimated turnover, legal cases, and revenue lost by not supporting LGBTQIA+ policies.
In a 2017 study, 72% of participants said they would consider leaving their place of work for one that was more inclusive (“Business Success and Growth Through LGBT— Inclusive Culture,” 2019).
Conversely, diverse, positive, and supportive work environments improve both job satisfaction and productivity for LGBTQIA+ employees.
Social support, both from supervisors and coworkers, improved job satisfaction and commitment to their workplace. For TGDNB (Trans, Gender Diverse, and Non-Binary) workers, feeling supported by a supervisor was directly connected to job satisfaction (Huffman et al., 2020). Additionally, LGBTQIA+ workers who come out and are supported by their coworkers tend to be more satisfied and committed to their work (Law et al., 2011) (Cancela et al., 2020).
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and internal support groups also provide an immediate support network for LGBTQIA+ employees. By having a visible entity, even new employees who don’t have strong social ties to their coworkers have an opportunity for support. Providing this structure can positively impact employees’ sense of safety, comfort, and productivity (Lee, 2002).
ERGs can:Correct use of pronouns within a company displays critical support to both internal and external viewers.
While pronoun inclusion did not impact cisgender participants in surveys, pronoun inclusivity increased “satisfaction, comfort level, and perceived relevance of the questions” with genderqueer participants (Palancia et al., 2022).
LGBTQIA+ inclusion starts by companies looking inward and ensuring they have formal policies in place that set the tone internally. Inclusion of diverse policies show that a group has been considered and has value to the company, decreasing discrimination and negative experiences with others (Rostosky et al., 2009) (Button, 2001). Having pro-LGBTQ+ qualities acted as a buffer against negative mental outcomes (Hatzenbuehler, 2010).
In addition to policy changes, training emphasizes to employees what is important to a company, and directly impacts worker views and behaviors.
Training directly impacts how employees treat others, and in turn decreases discrimination and decreases structural stigma.
“Straight participants in these programs are twice as likely to recognize discrimination compared with employees at companies that do not have such a program in place. Allies are 3.3 times more likely to intervene when they witness such an event or comment.” - A New LGBTQ Workforce Has Arrived—Inclusive Cultures Must Follow
Many companies support their LGBTQIA+ employees through benefits which, while important for overall health, are now considered table stakes. A 2019 study of LGBT support in companies showed that 93% of companies offered same-sex benefits coverage (“Business Success and Growth Through LGBT— Inclusive Culture,” 2019).
By discriminating against qualified LGBTQIA+ applicants, employers limit their talent pool substantially. In the U.S., gay men were less likely to be called back for a second interview compared to their straight male counterparts after sending out their resumes (Badgett, 2019).
Male and female gender dominant occupations respond differently to transgender applicants. For example, in female-dominant professions "employers were more likely to respond positively to cisgender and transgender female applicants than to cisgender and transgender male applicants" however in male-dominant professionals employers were more likely to respond positively to "cisgender male applicants, cisgender female applicants, transgender male applicants, and lastly transgender female applicants" (in that order) (Granberg, 2020).
Perceived LGBTQIA+ friendliness can draw more LGBTQIA+ job applicants to a company and/or state.
A Procter & Gamble Case Study"For Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble (P&G), one of the barriers they face in recruiting LGBTQ+ talent is competition from companies in cities with stronger perceived equity within the LGBTQ+ community like Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco ("Beyond Pride Guide to Hiring," 2021). |
A best practice for increasing LGBTQIA+ recruitment is through one-on-one engagements through networks. Some companies will partner with secondary entities, nonprofits, and other companies to enhance recruitment efforts.
Making a conscious effort to work with a diverse set of vendors, including LGBTQIA+ vendors, is a best practice for inclusion. Supplier diversity programs allow "companies [to] respond to an important social need, help create a more equitable world, and build competitive advantage." for a wide range of people including LGBTQIA+ ("Accelerating Supplier Diversity," n.d.). LGBTQIA+ supplier companies experienced significant financial growth both in supplier diversity and in non-supplier diversity programs. In 2016, it was estimated that LGBTQIA+ business enterprises averaged about $1.15 billion in annual revenue. ("America's LGBT Economy," 2016).
The collective buying power of all LGBTQIA+ Americans was estimated to be around $1 trillion in 2017 (Eisend et al., 2019).
Some corporations' public display of LGBTQIA+ support (e.g., campaigns, advertisements, presence at pride parades) is met with criticism because of their contradictory behavior elsewhere (e.g., donating to anti-LGBTQIA+ leadership).
Many well-known companies are making intentional efforts to market their products to LGBTQIA+ consumers to enhance consumer loyalty.
A combination of both internal and external forces motivate companies to support LGBTQIA+ public policies. Employee resources groups (ERGs) serve as drivers for companies to engage and support pro-LGBTQIA+ institutional change (Maks-Solomon, 2020).
"Pressure from well-organized and educated employees is a more powerful motive of corporate activity on LGBT rights. We identify ERGs as an important mechanism through which LGBT employees gain access to management and can convince them of the strategic economic benefits of taking a stand in support of LGBT rights" (Maks-Solomon, 2020).
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A Case Study
IBM supported marriage equality because it has a long history of "fighting discrimination and promoting equality, fairness and inclusion," through supporting policies including Equal Opportunity policy written in 1953 and an amendment to its employee nondiscrimination policy in 1984 adding sexual orientation ("IBM Urges senate," 2021). |
Corporations and businesses support philanthropic efforts in different ways including through donations, sales, and sponsorship to ensure their corporate philosophy is reflected in their actions with the public.
Policy changes and workplace protections have increased LGBTQIA+ inclusion and made a major positive impact on work environments. But you may be asking yourself, what’s next? How does my company stack up? What changes and improvements could we make internally to improve LGBTQIA+ inclusion?
As a part of the next phase of the Human Centered Work Project, we’ll be interviewing employees in a wide range of work environments. As we complete the research heading into 2023, we’ll be sharing our findings and resources for you to take back to your workplace. Subscribe to get the latest delivered to your inbox.