WASHINGTON—Fifty-one percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers continue to hide their identity from most or all co-workers because they are afraid of suffering repercussions in the workplace, according to a report released Tuesday by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
The report, “Degrees of Equality: A National Study Examining Workplace Climate for LGBT Employees,” concluded that despite significant advances in employment policies at major U.S. corporations, a majority of LGBT workers remain uncomfortable living openly among their professional peers. Workers between the ages of 18 and 24 are particularly likely to hide their LGBT identities, the report notes: only 5 percent reported they are totally open at work, compared to more than 20 percent of older LGBT workers.
“Overall attitudes towards LGBT people have come a long way, but we can’t forget that people still struggle at work and that this has a profound impact on LGBT workers’ careers,” said Human Rights Campaign Foundation President Joe Solmonese. “‘Degrees of Equality’ helps us bridge the gap between policy and practice to fully understand LGBT workers’ experiences. The more we understand the workplace, the more we can help usher it to a place where all employees can thrive.”
The study examined why workers choose or don’t choose to disclose their identity, how issues arise in the workplace, the impact disclosure and its consequences have for businesses, and what can be done to improve productivity and retention. In recent years, businesses have engaged in sustained efforts to implement policies aimed at creating safe and productive workplaces for talented LGBT employees. The number of companies that receive top ratings on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation Corporate Equality Index, for example, rose from just 13 in 2002 to 305 in the 2010 report released last week.
Nevertheless, significant numbers of LGBT employees continue to experience a negative workplace climate that affects productivity, retention and professional relationships. Forty-two percent of LGBT employees reported lying about their personal lives at least once in the past year. Twenty-seven percent have felt distracted, 21 percent have searched for new jobs and 13 percent have stayed home from work as a result of working in an environment that does not always accept LGBT people.
As reasons for hiding their identities, 39 percent reported fear of losing connections, 28 percent said they fear being passed over for advancement, 17 percent admitted they fear being fired and more than one in ten (13 percent) said they fear for their personal safety. Transgender workers are much more likely than other groups to report personal-safety concerns: 40 percent compared to 20 percent of gay men. In addition, 42 percent of transgender workers said they fear they will be fired if they reveal their LGBT identity, compared to 22 percent of gay men.
An employee’s revelation of sexual orientation or gender identity often is unavoidable in casual, non-work-related conversations, the report notes. Such conversations occur frequently and are an essential component of building productive work relationships. Eighty-nine percent of LGBT employees reported engaging in conversations about social lives at least once per week. Eighty percent confronted conversations involving spouses, relationships and dating at least once per week, and 50 percent said the topic of sex arose at least once a week in their workplaces. These topics are the most likely to make LGBT employees feel uncomfortable, according to the report: Fewer than half said they feel “very comfortable” talking about any of the topics.
Derogatory comments and jokes still happen at work, and study subjects said such remarks convince them it is unsafe to be open about their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. A total of 58 percent of LGBT workers said someone at work makes a joke or derogatory comment about LGBT people at least once in a while. Similarly, jokes and derogatory comments about other minority groups are equally indicative of a negative climate. About two-thirds (62 percent) of LGBT employees reported hearing negative comments about minority groups at least once in a while at work.
Even with inclusive employment policies, significant numbers of employees reported negative consequences of an unwelcoming environment for LGBT employees. Moreover, the vast majority of LGBT workers said they do not report instances of anti-LGBT remarks to a human resources representative or company management. On average, 67 percent said they “ignore it” or “let it go,” 9 percent reported raising the issue with a supervisor, and only 5 percent said they took up the matter with HR.
“We’ve found that inclusive non-discrimination policies and equal benefits are the essential first steps toward cultivating a productive and engaged LGBT employee, but they are not the last step,” said Daryl Herrschaft, director of the HRC’s Workplace Project, a new endeavor that will provide employers with a climate-assessment tool and toolkits for improving their workplaces. “By understanding how LGBT identity surfaces and unfolds in the workplace, we will be better able to turn policy into practice and address opportunities to improve productivity and retention of LGBT employees.”
The HRC Foundation conducted 14 focus groups to examine current LGBT workplace experiences and identify key elements of workplace climate. Since there is no uniform LGBT experience, the diversity of the working LGBT community was accounted for by conducting focus groups around race, ethnicity and gender, among other sub-groupings. In addition, the HRC Foundation commissioned the largest national survey of LGBT workplace experiences to date, administered to 761 LGBT workers from across the country. Finally, in-depth interviews supplemented the research.
The report is available at DegreesOfEquality.org.
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation is a civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality.
