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They think this is a great idea and have already started thinking of decorations and small events they can hold. They’ve asked however what more they can do, not just during Pride month but throughout the year.
A. Pride month is a good time for organisations to celebrate LGBTQ+ people and recognise the diversity of their workforce. Held to commemorate the Stonewall riots in America in 1969, it’s also a time to focus on what those rights are and what more can be to ensure equality, diversity and inclusion are central features of organisational culture.
Knowing the law
The Equality Act 2010, protects people from being discriminated against because of a protected characteristic, including age, sex, race, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity. Its provisions must be applied correctly not only to ensure equality at work but also to avoid legal liability.
It’s important that staff know their legal rights and your client understands their legal obligation to comply with them.
There are different ways that employees can experience discrimination at work:
- Direct discrimination — being treated unfavourably because of a protected characteristic.
- Indirect discrimination — being put at a disadvantage because of workplace policies or ways of working that discriminate against or exclude any protected characteristics.
- Harassment — when a person is subjected to unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic with the effect of violating that person’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.
- Victimisation — being treated badly for making or supporting a discrimination claim.
Discrimination does not have to be done knowingly, or deliberately, to occur. It can arise through careless comments, deliberate actions or even something like how a system is set up.
Your client should consider, for example, what would happen if an employee changed their gender, or uses a pronoun not listed on their HR system. Does the system allow for these things to be changed, or added in? If not, there’s a danger the affected employee will suffer a detriment – and discrimination.
Review internal policies
These need to be checked to ensure there are no inclusion barriers. For example, policies relating to family leave – are they inclusive of all gender identities and sexualities, and of the different ways a family can be formed, in keeping with the requirements of the law?
Non-inclusive language can arise at work unintentionally, but there are alternatives they can use instead. Your client could review their policies, practices, employee communications etc to see if there’s an inclusive alternative. For example:
- gendered greetings — “hey guys/ladies/gentlemen” — this excludes people who don’t fall into a gender binary. It’s better to say “hi all/folks/friends/everyone”
- inviting people’s girlfriends, boyfriends, wives or husbands to work events — never assume that someone is heterosexual. It’s best to say partner or spouse
- gendered job roles and phrases — such as best man for the job, chairman or barman. Instead, say best person for the job, chairperson or bartender
- referring to someone’s sexual preference — never refer to someone’s sexuality or gender identity as a lifestyle choice or preference. Instead, say sexuality or sexual orientation
- using the gendered pronouns “he/she” — instead, use the neutral “they/them”.
Your client should also consider having a dedicated equality and diversity policy that outlines:
- the Equality Act 2010
- their attitude towards equality and discrimination
- the work environment they want to create
- zero tolerance for discrimination and what will happen if anyone discriminates, ie disciplinary action.
Use training and processes to back it all up
Using neutral language, and having an understanding of the law, is good, but words are not enough to bring it all to life. To make a real difference, staff must hear and understand thy this is all so important.
Supporting these efforts with diversity training is an important tool your client can use to help their staff become aware of their own assumptions and prejudices. It can be used to stress the importance of equality and diversity, and can also help to boost awareness, build staff morale and stay legally compliant.
Processes such as disciplinary are also vital to reinforce this message, and they should be robust and applied consistently where rights are breached in the workplace.
