FIVE THINGS WE

LEARNED
February may have
been LGBT History
Month, but for many
of the speakers and
delegates at the d&i
Leaders LGBT+ at JACQUELINE DAVIES

Work Conference 2020, there was a

feeling that - in some ways - things are
going backwards. “There is rising hate
crime, mental health statistics among
the LGBT+ community are damning,
and one in five LGBT+ young people feel
they’re prevented from accessing work
because of their sexual orientation,” said
Jacqueline Davies, conference chair and
founder of Audacity Associates.

Over the course of the day, however,

more than 150 delegates shared personal
stories and practical strategies for ensuring
the experience of the LGBT+ community
at work is as inclusive as possible. From
targeted support for the mental health
needs of LGBT+ workers to different ways to
promote allyship, here were five things we
learned.

Sponsored by:
THERE IS MORE TO ALLYSHIP THAN A LANYARD

HOW IMPORTANT ARE ALLIES

IN HELPING TO PROGRESS
LGBT+ INCLUSION IN YOUR
ORGANISATION?

Quite important
10%

Super important
90%

Law firm Pinsent Masons was the first of its sector
to be included on the Stonewall Equality Index in
2008, and two of the most important factors in
its continued recognition for being a great LGBT+
employer are senior-level sponsorship and the
power of allies. Kate Fergusson, head of responsible
business, explained: “We send personal leader
invitations to employee network events and
ask them to host. But it has to be genuine and
authentic - they can’t just deliver a speech that the
D&I team wrote and then leave five minutes later.”
She also described the challenges of not always
being able to have visible role models in the
business. Pinsent Masons currently does not have
an out trans role model, for example, so has worked
with support organisation Global Butterflies to
increase employees’ awareness of issues around
trans inclusion. “And in some offices where no-one
is out, our ally network leads the way,” she added.
There are more than 300 active members, who are
asked to make a pledge that they will call out any
discriminatory banter - allies can also work with a
buddy within the network to signpost how they can
help.
Microsoft also offers training for allies across the
business to call out poor behaviour when they see
it. “If you witness something, how should you step in
so that you don’t just support the person who has
been targeted but you’re also an ally to the person
who’s doing it? We want to help people learn to
adjust their behaviour,” said Hugh Millward, director
of corporate, legal and external affairs at Microsoft.
The aim is for Microsoft’s GLEAM ally training
programme to be rolled out across every single
employee.
Pips Bunce, director for Global Markets
Technology Strategic Programs & Co-Chair of the
EMEA LGBT & Ally Network at Credit Suisse, offered
us four simple and important reminders about the
power of allies if they are to help to foster a better
culture:
■  They don’t have to be senior
■  They don’t have to be an expert
■  They don’t have to be the inclusion police
■  They don’t have to be perfect.
Pips added five key actions allies should embrace:
■  They should listen
■  They should be resilient
■  They should celebrate those less heard
■  They should use their own privilege to bring
others forward
■  They should call out micro behaviours against
others.

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 COMING OUT AT WORK HOW
IS NOT SIMPLE
IMPORTANT ARE ALLIES
IN HELPING TO PROGRESS
LGBT+ INCLUSION IN YOUR
Sharing their very personal story, Jade Fraser, who
ORGANISATION? barriers between me DO YOU HAVE A
is global diversity and inclusion manager at Quite
Serco, and other people at
important
TRANSITIONING AT
WORK POLICY?
talked about how tiring it could be to constantly
10% feel work again? Also, I
like they had to share and explain. Only days before didn’t want to limit the
Not sure
the LGBT+ at Work Conference, Jade had spoken at change I could make 13%
a ‘fireside chat’ hosted by Serco where they came by being different.” Yes
28%
out as non-binary (they had, for some years, been an Jade also had some
openly gay woman in the business). words of practical
Super important No
90% advice for organisations 59%
“I’ve certainly been on a journey,” Jade said. looking to support
“There have been times where I thought I was non-binary individuals
trans, or when I lacked the language around non- to thrive at work.
binary, even considered surgery. So at different
intersections of my life I’ve had to start a new “For a long time I was not able to use public toilets,
process of coming out.” And because a lot of so I didn’t drink, or was given a radar key to use the
people in the workplace lack knowledge and disabled toilets. Making these adjustments became
understanding around the challenges for non- part of my life. I’ve recently made a commitment
binary people, this made Jade’s decision even to use the ‘they’ pronoun but people sometimes
tougher. still call me ‘she’ on a call. Organisations also have to
think about how they change things like policies, for
“So much of our lives is defined by gender,” they example healthcare for trans individuals,” they added.
added. “We put people in boxes. I had become Ultimately, it’s up to employers to find ways to make
approachable as an androgynous lesbian, I wasn’t everyone feel included - and practical adjustments
perceived as ‘too different’. Would I be putting such as these can make a big difference.

I’VE CERTAINLY BEEN ON A JOURNEY. THERE HAVE BEEN

TIMES WHERE I THOUGHT I WAS TRANS, OR WHEN I LACKED
THE LANGUAGE AROUND NON-BINARY, EVEN CONSIDERED
SURGERY. SO AT DIFFERENT INTERSECTIONS OF MY LIFE I’VE
HAD TO START A NEW PROCESS OF COMING OUT.
Jade Fraser, global diversity and inclusion manager, Serco
DON’T CUT AND PASTE YOUR POLICIES
Keeping pace with developments in D&I from
a policy perspective can be a challenge for
organisations, and one area that can often
slip through the cracks is HR policies. Leng
Montgomery, D&I manager for accountancy firm
BDO UK LLP, said there were three types of policies
he’d come across in his career: “The good, the bad
and the copied and pasted.”
Too often, he said, policies would be written
for compliance purposes and then hidden away
from view. “But they should be like a first aid
kit - there will be one day that you need [that
policy] so it should be accessible to people,”
he explained. Some had been directly copied
from a template from another organisation
altogether, going so far as to leave the name/
description of the employer from whom they
had been copied.
“Of course we need guidance, but you also need
to make sure your policy reflects your values and
speaks to the people in your own organisation,”
said Montgomery. “When you do annual reviews
of policies, take another look.” Within different
strands of diversity, the approach should be subtly
different, he added. So, for example, the experience
of trans and non-binary people will have some
OF COURSE WE NEED GUIDANCE, BUT YOU ALSO
NEED TO MAKE SURE YOUR POLICY REFLECTS YOUR
VALUES AND SPEAKS TO THE PEOPLE IN YOUR OWN
ORGANISATION.
Leng Montgomery, D&I manager, BDO UK LLP
commonalities but also some aspects will be very
different.
Other practical considerations include ensuring
that HR data systems reflect the policies (full
availability of pronouns, for example); that leave
policies are inclusive (such as allowing leave for gender
reassignment appointments); facilities consider
everyone; and benefits such as medical insurance are
fit for purpose. Consultation with network groups can
be invaluable as a sounding board, he added. Finally,
Montgomery offered the following list of ‘must-dos’:
Use clear language
■  Make sure processes are set up and ready to follow
■  Be proactive rather than reactive (so don’t create
the policy as someone begins to transition)
■  Review regularly and look at policies from a
global perspective
■  Use stories and role models to inspire
■  Create a glossary if that could be useful
■  Encourage pronoun identification and offer
guidance on this
■  Use gender neutral language in policies where
possible
■  Embed trans inclusion into LGBT awareness and
ally sessions
 NETWORKS CAN ACHIEVE MORE TOGETHER
One of the key challenges for organisations in
establishing employee network or resource groups
is that they can jostle for attention and resources. At
the same time, group leaders are often managing
groups alongside their day job so campaigning for
support can feel like an uphill struggle.
Marc McKenna-Coles, global diversity, inclusion
& wellbeing manager at Lloyd’s, and Jade Fraser,
diversity and inclusion manager at Serco, talked
about initiatives at their organisations to foster more
collaborative working between networks. At Lloyd’s,
for example, there are six core networks and a plan
to bring them altogether under a single umbrella
of the Lloyd’s Inclusion Network. At Serco this has
already happened, under a web platform branded
as the Serco Inclusion Hub, which includes relevant
content to both specific content for particular
networks and materials that can be valuable to all.
One way Serco has avoided networks competing
with each other is to grant a limited number of
‘milestone moments’ for which it will provide
budget per year (for example, LGBT History Month,
International Women’s Day). “It gives groups a way
to focus, while the business and the leadership also
START BY HAVING A COLLABORATIVE CONVERSATION
AROUND INCLUSION RATHER THAN FOCUSING ON
ONE THING - YOU MIGHT FIND THAT ONE INCLUSION
NETWORK WILL DELIVER MORE VALUE THAN FOCUSING
ON SEPARATE IDENTITIES.
Marc McKenna-Coles, global diversity, inclusion & wellbeing manager, Lloyd’s
know what’s coming,” said Fraser. Cross pollination
and conversation between groups is also a good
way to create value, said McKenna-Coles, as can
looking into your own organisation for inspiration.
“You don’t always have to invite in an external
speaker, for example. Our new chief digital officer
was an inspiring speaker on the future of work but
we might not have known that had we not asked,”
said McKenna-Coles.
For organisations just starting on the employee
network journey, this umbrella approach won’t
necessarily be achievable. But it is possible to start
with a more general inclusion approach. “Start
by having a collaborative conversation around
inclusion rather than focusing on one thing - you
might find that one inclusion network will deliver
more value than focusing on separate identities,”
he added. Fraser added that it was important
not to exclude those without internet access - at
Serco, many employees work on site with clients.
“At Serco, many of our allies are in operational roles
and take packs created centrally by the networks,”
they said. “The key is to ask how people would
like to be engaged with, rather than making
assumptions.
TARGETED SUPPORT PAYS DIVIDENDS
With research around the experience of LGBT+
individuals at work continuing to show it is not
where it should be - there is a strong business case
for targeted support for particular groups and even
sub-groups within them.

David Pearson, director of culture & engagement

at consulting firm KPMG, and lead for its UK LGBT+
network Breathe, said that only 22% of employers
offer targeted mental health support for LGBT+
colleagues, despite the fact that they are often
at higher risk of self-harm or even suicide. Not
feeling comfortable at work creates a sense of
“hypervigilance” among LGBT+ colleagues that can
be exhausting, he explained. “Yet there can be a
30% increase in productivity when people feel they
can be authentic,” he said.

This means that many LGBT+ employees retreat

to their comfort zone, which can mean they ‘closet’
themselves at work. Again, this impacts productivity
and engagement. “We need to enable this ‘fear
zone’ to retreat, share stories to elevate a sense of
belonging,” he said. For its part, KPMG offers a range
of online learning for employees to understand
more about different identities and orientations.
Allyship is also important, and colleagues are
encouraged to call out inappropriate behaviour as
well as be aware of their own prejudices or actions.
Christos Tsaprounis, head of people and culture at
AutoTrader, found that the key to offering targeted
support was in mining survey data. “We had the data
to show that people would recommend AutoTrader
as a great place to work, but when we looked more
closely at specific questions about employees’
experiences and whether they could be their true
selves at work, the results were alarming,” he said.
This analysis found that while 87% of gay and lesbian
colleagues would agree that the company was a
great place to work (higher than straight employees),
only 71% if bisexual colleagues felt this way - there
was a 16 percentage point difference. “So we asked,
what were we doing wrong?”
The company responded in a creative way,
placing cards in coffee cups to spark a conversation.
“We found that bi, pan or asexual colleagues felt
under pressure to explain their sexual identity
to colleagues or felt like they couldn’t be open.
We encouraged all colleagues to talk about
their various identities, because unless you open
up a conversation you can’t get the chance to
educate people,” he added. They also shared
stories of being openly bisexual on the intranet
and opened up the conversation on social media
platforms. The response has been measurable -
94% of bi colleagues now say they feel they can
be themselves at work, compared to 83% of gay
colleagues.

WE HAD THE DATA TO SHOW THAT PEOPLE WOULD

RECOMMEND AUTOTRADER AS A GREAT PLACE TO WORK,
BUT WHEN WE LOOKED MORE CLOSELY AT SPECIFIC
QUESTIONS ABOUT EMPLOYEES’ EXPERIENCES AND
WHETHER THEY COULD BE THEIR TRUE SELVES AT WORK,
THE RESULTS WERE ALARMING.
Christos Tsaprounis, head of people and culture, AutoTrader
 FEATURED SPEAKERS

CHRISTOS TSAPROUNIS DAVID PEARSON KATE FERGUSSON HUGH MILWARD

JADE FRASER LENG MONTGOMERY MARC MCKENNA-COLES PIPS BUNCE

WE NEED TO ENABLE THIS ‘FEAR ZONE’ TO RETREAT, SHARE

STORIES TO ELEVATE A SENSE OF BELONGING.
David Pearson, director of culture & engagement, KPMG

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