Creating a sense of belonging should be at the forefront of an organization – with a goal of making every employee feel welcome – regardless of race, gender and sexual orientation. Despite this, over 53% of LGBTQ+ workers hide their identity at their day job due to fears of harassment and judgment. With a record-breaking 417 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced from this January to April alone, it’s more important than ever to protect the safety of all employees and foster a welcoming culture.
In celebration of Pride Month, this blog will focus on how employers can be year-round allies and create more inclusive and safe workplaces:
- Be Conscious of Unconscious Biases and Provide DEI Training: When employers and employees recognize personal implicit biases, they can take steps to correct harmful, innate ways of thinking. Employers can provide ongoing DEI training sessions to celebrate inclusiveness and diversity, educate employees, and hold individuals accountable for discriminatory actions.
- Promote an Upstander Culture: By blatantly ignoring discriminatory practices and actions towards the LGBTQ+ community, bystanders are not only not helping the issues at hand, but exponentially worsening them. By promoting a speak-up, upstander culture, LGBTQ+ employees will feel empowered, supported, safe and respected at work – vastly improving employee engagement, satisfaction and job performance.
- Ensure their Voices are Heard: Organizations must ensure that every employee is able to safely and securely report any type of misconduct in the workplace. Work Shield was created to protect individuals, organizations and cultures from misconduct – and ensure all voices at an organization are heard. From the day an incident is reported to its resolution, Work Shield provides a non-biased, third-party solution to resolve issues of discrimination against all employees, including LGBTQ individuals, in order to prevent future misconduct. With Work Shield’s full-service incident management solution, employers can promote belonging in their workplace while mitigating fear or toxicity.
At Work Shield, we understand that true allyship takes place not only in Pride Month, but year-round. To create a celebratory, safe workplace for all, organizations should provide continued education and training, promote an upstander mentality in the workplace and ensure employee voices are heard, through solutions like Work Shield’s incident management platform that provides unbiased, efficient resolution of workplace misconduct.
To learn more about Work Shield’s incident management platform, click here.
