The Road Ahead: LGBTQ+ Inclusivity in the Workplace

During Pride Month, Blind, an anonymous professional network with over 3.6 MM+ users about safe workplaces, inclusive health/ family policies, and career progression. Our user base includes over 49,000 employees from Microsoft, 34,000 from Amazon, 13,000 from Google, 10,000 from Facebook, 9,000 from Uber, 8,000 from Apple, 6,000 from LinkedIn, and 5,000 from Salesforce, just to name a few. 

About Pride

Pride Month is celebrated during June to commemorate the Stonewall Riots of 1969. While progress has been made in 51 years, the team at Blind wanted to dive deeper into the nuances of feeling safe when you identify as LGBTQ+, inclusive health and workplace policies, and what LGBTQ+ representation means in the workplace.  We also wanted to uncover what how business leaders can enhance their team and company cultures by comparing data by sexual orientation and gender identity. 

Key Learnings:

    1. Do you feel that your workplace is a safe space for LGBTQ+ individuals? 
      1. Overall, 86% of professionals said yes.
        1. However, that number decreases by 10% (76%) when answered by LGB+ community
        2. There is an even starker decline within the trans and gender non-binary community, where only 64% feel their workplace is a safe space for LGBTQ+ individuals
    2. Does your company have inclusive family and health policies available for LGBTQ+ employees?
      1. Overall, 74% of professionals said yes.
        1. 69% of LGB+ professionals said yes
        2. 64% of trans and gender non-binary professionals said yes
    3. Is your sexual orientation or gender identity represented in the upper management / c-level of your company?
      1. Overall, 55% of professionals said yes.

 

  • Only 34% of LGB+ professionals said yes

 

      1. 41%  of trans and gender non-binary community said yes

Download Deck Here: The Road Ahead: LGBTQ+ Inclusivity in the Workplace

If you’ve spent any amount of time on social media during the month of June, you’ve likely seen multinational brands announcing support for the LGBTQ+ community in honor of Pride Month. We want to look at this further and evaluate who is making their social media stances actionable by creating safe, inclusive, and diverse workplaces. At Blind, we believe the best way to do so is to get employee input during the planning process.

The road ahead to a truly LGBTQ+ equal Workforce

LGBTQ+ equality is fighting for fundamental workplace rights. It has been less than two weeks since, at a federal level, LGBTQ+ people can not be fired because of who they are. About ~ ten days ago, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of LGBTQ+ advocates in Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act.

LGBTQ+ rights are human rights. Maslow defines safety as a basic need, and feeling safe at work is the minimum. While feeling safe is a basic need, the workplace needs to strive for inclusive health and family policies, with career progression opportunities.

Companies need actionable policies that are more than just progressive on the surface. Professionals need to be able to take care of their health and families, without it being at the expense of their career progression, is the next frontier.

The LGBTQ+ community is robust and diverse, and the workplace policies also need to be to represent and support the community entirely. While tech companies have a reputation for being progressive, these results remind us of the road ahead field with learning, listening, and action plans. Business leaders have a chance to create a dialogue and feedback loop on these policies to improve continuously.

LGBTQ+ Inclusivity in the Workplace from TeamBlind