Written by:
Lucy Morgan
When a employee comes out as transgender, it is important to be supportive and understanding. Here are some tips on what to do:
- Acknowledge the employee's gender identity. Use the employee's preferred name and pronouns.
- Be mindful of over-questioning someone or asking personal or medical questions about their transition. Transitions are different for everyone, and you need to respect this. Allow your employee to open up to you in their own time.
- Ask the employee how you can best support them. Some employees may want to share more about their transition, while others may prefer to keep it private.
- Ask the person about internal and external communication and how they’d like to progress with this, if at all, and be respectful of the person's choices and timeline.
- Make sure the employee's workplace is safe and inclusive. This includes updating the employee's records with their preferred name and pronouns, and making sure that they are not subjected to discrimination or harassment.
- Educate your team on what discrimination can look like. Micro-aggressions are extremely damaging, as well as misuse of language, but its easy for people to get something wrong. So education is key.
- Provide resources and support. There are a number of resources available to help transgender employees, such as the Human Rights Campaign and the National Center for Transgender Equality, as well as a number of charities, such as The Mermaids.
By following these tips, you can start to create a supportive and inclusive workplace for transgender employees.
Here are some additional things you can do to support a transgender employee:
- Educate yourself about transgender issues. This will help you to understand better the employee's experience and how you can best support them. A great starting point would be a book called The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye. Why not host a book club for your business/team and ask them to read and discuss the book?
- Educate your business on what it means to be trans – you could organise an educational workshop, invite in a guest speaker or work with a DE&I consultant to support your business.
- Look at the recruitment industry and see if any other businesses are leading the way on LGBTQ+ inclusions, specifically trans inclusion, and reach out to your peers for education, sharing ideas and support.
- Take a step backwards and consider inclusivity as a whole within your business. What does LGBTQ+ inclusivity look like within your business? Is your business a safe space for the trans community to exist and come out? What could you do better?
- Speak to HR – are your policies inclusive of the trans community? Do you have a transition policy? Does your healthcare cover mental health support? Does it cover gender-affirming care?
- Be an ally. Stand up against discrimination and harassment when you see it. Especially in your workplace!
- Educate your business on what discrimination and harassment might look like, and make your policy on zero tolerance known.
- Create a safe space for someone to raise issues – this could be a colleague in HR or DE&I, another senior person, or even something as simple as a link to a website or email address where someone can provide feedback in confidence.
- Be patient. Transition can be a long and difficult process and it is different for everyone. Not everyone will want to be out or ready for people to know about their journey straight away. Be patient with the employee and let them drive the choices on communication.
By following these tips, you can make a difference in the life of a transgender employee.
