When Your Company is "Inclusive" But Has No Trans People

By Ethan Huckel

Huckel Inclusive

When leaders move through the steps of LGBTQ-inclusion in their organizations, the initial work looks the same—recognizing LGBT Pride month, launching an LGBT Employee Resource Group, and updating their EEO policy—but when we’ve checked those boxes, have we created truly inclusive environments?

Is your workplace LGBT-inclusive but doesn’t have any trans people?

If you answered yes, you’re in good company, but you also have work to do. Trans people are everywhere—a 2016 report put the number of trans-identifying adults in the US at 1.4 million—and it’s likely we are in your workplace whether or not you know it. While we appreciate and look for organizations that celebrate LGBT Pride month and have LGBT employee resource groups, these efforts may not do what it takes to make us feel fully included.

Unfortunately, there is a history of transphobia and discrimination within the LGBT community that means trans employees cannot be certain that community-wide employee resource groups are safe for them. Does this mean such groups are not useful? Not at all. These groups are a vital means of giving collective voice to and reducing the isolation felt by underrepresented people and having community-led initiatives in the workplace. They also provide a great avenue to recruit members of the LGBT community. And, indeed, they can be a similar source of support specifically for trans people, but that simply cannot be assumed.

Despite there being a great number of transgender and gender diverse people in the world, we can often feel like the only one in our organizations, and because 1 in 4 of us have lost a job due to discrimination, being out can pose a great risk. In large organizations, even having transgender coworkers may not help mitigate that risk because each trans person can still feel like they are the only one. But, because maintaining employee privacy is important, organizations often struggle with how to address this challenge.

One simple thing that organizations can do is to look at their internal and external marketing materials for gender diversity. Trans people often aren’t visible, even in materials that highlight other parts of the LGBTQ community. [The Gender Spectrum Collection is a great, free resource of transgender and nonbinary stock photos.]

But the truth is that creating an inclusive environment takes more than simple steps.

Visible transgender representation paves the way for greater inclusion, but it doesn’t erase the real risk of discrimination. Inclusive policies and means to report discrimination are vital, but they don’t erase discrimination or guarantee that it will be comfortable for trans people to be out at work.

Instead, organizations must do the vital work of building cultures that reward vulnerability and risk.

It is no secret that organizations must make calculated risks to thrive, but they often shy away from embracing individual vulnerability. In a competitive atmosphere, vulnerability can be perceived as weakness and failure, and women are often wary of reinforcing stereotypes that they are more emotional than their male counterparts. Research shows that embracing vulnerability is good for organizations, and for transgender employees, seeing colleagues be vulnerable by sharing authentically from their own experiences, it can feel more welcoming to be vulnerable in return.

Do you need help creating an organizational culture that embraces vulnerability? Huckel Inclusive can help! Contact us today!