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Diversity Executives, Don’t Shy Away From Sex Talk
Kellye Whitney, 06-01-2010
June is LGBT Pride Month, and there probably isn’t a better time to discuss the dimensions of difference for LGBT employees and their heterosexual counterparts in the workplace.
“Too often we take for granted some of the norms we experience at work that are traditionally acceptable. Pictures of spouses on desks, wedding rings and talking about weekend plans with the family and soccer games and that sort of thing, and that doesn’t always translate well for individuals who self-identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender,” said Scott Hoesman, president of The Kaleidoscope Group.
Thus, while today’s workplace jargon often includes discussions of bringing one’s whole self to work, that may be easier said than done. But diversity executives are in the perfect spot to help individuals be more productive, more innovative and more engaged with the business at hand, as opposed to a concept Hoesman calls simply “working to work.”
One of the diversity executive’s first steps to ensure sexual orientation is included in diversity and inclusion efforts is to be certain it is a part of an organization’s nondiscrimination policies. Hoesman said he has seen a movement gaining traction recently where more progressive companies have added gender identity to the nondiscrimination policy mix.
Beyond compliance, the diversity executive has to focus on raising awareness. Hoesman said that without that, efforts to drive dialogue through lunch and learns, training programs, speaker series or to demonstrate that this is a conversation employees can have appropriately at work can be challenging.
Hoesman said organizations can measure their progress in LGBT awareness and programming using the inclusive equality index published by the Human Rights Campaign, which is considered a best-in-class, comprehensive measurement tool on workplace inclusion for LGBT employees.
“We use that as a framework, but going a step further, are there employee resource groups for LGBT employees? That’s one of the programmatic or systemic efforts that a diversity executive could explore. A lot of times there’s still hesitation: ‘We’re OK with the women’s group and the African-American or Latino resource group,’ but many organizations struggle with, ‘Do we want to have an LGBT network?’”
He said he would actively encourage organizations that have not already done so to take this step and to identify a few champions in the organization who can help to get a grass-roots effort off the ground.
“Understand that if I have to work through either assimilation or a way to cover a dimension of difference that I’m carrying with me in the workplace, my energy and creativity is going toward that versus the work itself,” he explained.
HR leaders have a great responsibility and impact on the policy angle: domestic partner or same-sex partner benefits, a comprehensive nondiscrimination policy, and ensuring that language used to present and package work-life balance initiatives or other benefits does not inadvertently seem to exclude LGBT employees.
But Hoesman said HR professionals and their diversity peers cannot ignore the real challenge of balancing this dimension of difference with religion or values and beliefs as a dimension of difference. Essentially, how can the diversity executive ensure the organization honors both without getting caught up in an either-or debate?
“It really is recognizing that we may have individuals of all religions and wide continuums of values and belief propositions in the workplace as well as varying sexual orientations,” Hoesman said. “How do we create an environment that is respectful and honors all?
“The reality is this is our total workforce, and too often in the conversations I have with diversity executives, there’s a tendency to want to shy away from [sexual orientation] as opposed to understanding [that] here’s what it is; we do have very different views on this topic, and that’s OK.”
Diversity executives may have a great deal of connection to one or two dimensions of difference, but those few may not always cover the dimensions of difference for everyone. No matter what, there is always something that will be taboo based on an individual’s experiences and background, familiarity and comfort.
“It’s impossible to expect that any diversity executive has it all figured out,” Hoesman said. “Take the givens on gender, for example. That dimension of difference is at a very different level of workplace conversation today than even race. Then take sexual orientation, and we’re even less comfortable. Talk about disability as a dimension of difference, and we’re even farther behind.
“We’ve had less practice having these dialogues as a workplace-connected conversation than we have with race and gender because those are the two areas where we often start honing our diversity and inclusion skills, and perhaps age. We’re just not as practiced.”
