Despite political shifts, LGBTQ rights remain
Despite the political rollback of protections for the LGBTQ community, businesses' arms remain open and welcoming.
Major judicial rulings and legislation in recent years have tended to support the basic tenants of LGBTQ equality, such as recognizing married partners with equal rights, and insurance plans that include coverage of transgender medical expenses.
Yet, a new proposed rule by the Trump Administration could strip away some of those rights and protections.
At the corporate level, however, experts say the battle for talent, and a desire to treat employees equitably, override such political shifts.
“A major employer is not going to take away benefits that meet the needs of its LGBTQ employees just because some rule changes,” says one consultant. “The [LGBTQ] lobby is too strong, and the need for talent is too great to do anything like that.”
The Human Rights Campaign, which conducts an annual review of LGBTQ-friendly policies among major employers, continues to report increasing numbers of companies with 100 percent compliance with its criteria. When first published in 2002, 13 companies met the criteria. The most recent survey reported 572 employers achieved 100 percent compliance. When Jackie Glenn served as chief diversity officer for EMC Corp. (now Dell EMC), she championed LGBTQ rights early in her 16-year tenure. The principal and founder at Glenn Diversity & HR Solutions believes corporate support for LGBTQ employees will only grow.
“I made a huge difference in LGBTQ benefits while I was there. I said, ‘Let’s be cutting edge. Let’s make benefits like transgender assignment surgery more available. Let’s cover it.’ And we transitioned 16 people from one gender to another while I was there. That’s the way to build loyalty and attract top talent.”
Bospar, a tech industry PR firm, surveyed more than 2,000 American adults in May, asking their opinions about, among other matters, working with LGBTQ co-workers.
It found that 60 percent of Americans have no preference about those with whom they work, up from 55 percent in the previous year’s survey.
“Now an overwhelming majority of Americans (83 percent) believe that LGBTQ equality will be achieved in the workplace,” Bospar said in a release. “When asked how, the top reasons cited [by respondents] included: more diversity in the workforce; more workplace education about LGBTQ issues; younger professionals joining the workforce; and more employees being out.”
Other highlights of the Bospar survey:
- Nearly a third of Americans say they have been harassed at work due to their sexuality
- More than a third of Americans disagree with the transgender military ban
- Nearly half of the population (48 percent) say Chick-Fil-A’s donation to anti-LGBTQ organizations doesn’t matter
- Nearly a third of Americans (29 percent) agree with Alabama Public Television’s decision to ban an episode of the children’s cartoon “Arthur” which featured a gay wedding; 41 percent thought it was the wrong thing to do
- A majority of Americans (77 percent) believe that LGBTQ topics should be taught in schools
Yet obstacles to true inclusion of the LGBTQ community in benefits and health insurance remain. Carlos Negrete, a long-time LGBTQ activist who currently serves as a disease investigator for Multnomah County, Oregon, says employee forms continue to pose a barrier to those with gender identity differences. “Forms can be very triggering, especially if they don’t include all the pronouns,” he says.
Reviewing all forms for gender inclusiveness, for both new employees and for benefits enrollment, is critical to demonstrating a desire to meet people where they are. It’s a simple way to take a long stride forward, he says.
He offers three tips that can immediately boost inclusiveness:
1. Establish regular feedback loops with employees about their satisfaction with the benefits package. Solicit feedback while onboarding new hires about the benefits they would like to see in the package.
2. Perform an audit of the recruiting process for inclusive language and questions. If a candidate’s first impression of a prospective employer is tainted by non-inclusive language, the candidate likely won’t take the job.
3. Audit the benefits package to find out which benefits are being used and which aren’t. Are there hidden barriers, such as high deductibles for low-wage workers, that are keeping plan members from accessing basic services? Are there features that few people are using because the workforce is generationally weighted in one direction? Could seldom-used features be removed to free up coverage for transgender-related treatments? Claims data, stripped of employee identification, can be powerful in fine-tuning a benefits package.
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