The transgender community faces many challenges in the workplace. Understanding, misinformation, and lack of understanding are some of the reasons that lead to the discrimination and harassment of transgender people in the workplace.
Employers need to address the existing problems by creating an inclusive environment for staff who identify as transgender or gender nonconforming.
An inclusive workplace is open and accepting of all individuals regardless of race, ethnicity, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. It provides an environment where everyone feels valued and respected and has the opportunity to develop their full potential.
Here are 5 tips on how to create a transgender-inclusive workplace.
- Be considerate of gender identity
Organisations need to adopt a gender-neutral pronoun policy and by developing a transgender-inclusive policy. The first step in creating a gender-neutral pronoun policy is changing the language that employees use to refer to each other from gendered terms like “he” and “she” to gender-neutral pronouns like “they”.
The second step is creating a set of guidelines for people who would like to use gendered terms when referring to individuals outside of their organization or company. These guidelines should include what pronouns are permitted and how gendered terms should be used in association with specific words such as “Mr” or “Mrs”.
- Support your employees throughout the transition process
Assisting workers who choose medical treatments to afford costs—and ensuring they have access to gender-identity-specific health care benefits—can eliminate the stress and worry of coming out at work. Such attention offers a powerful message of affirmation to transgender staff members.
- Introduce a gender-neutral dress code policy
The traditional gender-based dress codes are becoming outdated as more and more people identify themselves as transgender or non-gender. The old policies were not inclusive and often led to discrimination and/or discomfort, which is why many companies are deciding to switch to a gender-neutral dress code policy.
Allow your employees to choose from a range of options, including skirts and trousers, with no restrictions on what is considered male or female attire.
- Gender-neutral restrooms
Providing gender-neutral restrooms or encouraging transgender workers to use restrooms that correspond to their gender identity is another way of showing respect to a transgender staff member. Diversity training should inform other employees about the importance of being inclusive and hospitable while using a business restroom with a transgender colleague.
- Create mandatory diversity training sessions and inclusion workshops
Employers should introduce mandatory diversity training and inclusion workshops for all the staff members. These workshops will help employers to get all of their employees on board with the idea of diversity.
Most importantly, companies should acknowledge that not all workers will have had previous encounter with transgender people. As a result, implementing diversity training that incorporates transgender-inclusivity materials is critical, and hiring diversity-training experts may assist workers get the firsthand information from the members of the transgender community.
Allowing businesses to develop and expand their capacity for inclusion increases the likelihood that the workplace will not only become free from prejudice, but proactively inclusive.
Inclusion workshops are geared towards training employees, but they also serve as a way for teams and leaders to understand and overcome their team’s biases. These workshops can be used as a way of making sure employees understand what diversity means and how they can live up to those standards.
Employers need to hire gender-training experts who have extensive experience in the subject to conduct these sessions.
If you have any additional questions, related to creating a transgender-inclusive workplace and conducting diversity workshops, contact experts at National Gender Training. We have already helped several institutions across the UK to create a more inclusive work environment for their employees.
