How IT leaders can cultivate an LGBTQ-friendly workplace

Not all individuals from groups that are often discriminated against feel comfortable self-identifying in the workplace. According to a 2018 study from the Human Rights Campaign, nearly half (46%) of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual or queer (LGBTQ+) employees say they are closeted at work.

“Sexual orientation or gender identity is more something hidden, or that people can hide if they want to,” says Jean-Luc Vey, founder and board member of PrOut at Work, a German think tank advising on LGBTQ+ topics in the workplace.

Visible or hidden, sexuality and gender are a profound part of identity, and people want to feel accepted for who they are, at home and at work. For IT leaders seeking to build a culture of inclusion, one that enables colleagues to feel safe and authentic regardless of whether they chose to share their full identity in the workplace, openness is a key cultural trait to build on.

“Think about the design thinking method: It is looking for an open culture where people can speak out, bring what they can, so that you come to new, good solutions close to the people you want to reach, your clients,” he says. “To understand them, it’s better to have a diverse group of people around, with diverse perspectives.”

That’s echoed by Ernesto Marinelli, senior vice president and head of HR for customer success at SAP. “Innovation does not come from an environment where everybody conforms. Innovation is the antithesis of conformity,” he says.

Marinelli, who is out as gay, says his current employer has always been supportive. “It has never been a secret about my background, my sexual orientation, the fact that I’m married to a German husband,” he says. “We have an inclusive culture, and that has not ever been an issue.”

When SAP invited Marinelli to move to the US in 2012, only a few states recognized same-sex marriages. “SAP put a lot of effort into ensuring that my husband could get a visa, so that we could move there for one year,” he says.

At one of Marinelli’s previous workplaces, however, support was less than wholehearted. He had come out to his colleagues at work, but a senior leader asked him to keep his sexuality a secret from clients. “I did not want to work in an environment where I could not be myself. Although internally they were accepting, they did not want me to show who I am,” he says.

Marinelli’s experience shows that there’s far more to inclusion than providing equality in family benefits: Managers’ attitudes are important.

Making an impact

To actively demonstrate their commitment to diversity, IT leaders need to step up and participate in events, launch initiatives, or become executive sponsors for one of the dimensions of diversity within their company, Vey says.

“As a top manager, you give an example to others and you drive the strategy,” he says, adding that a culture of openness is key to making LGBTQ+ staff feel comfortable in the workplace. Training to highlight and eliminate unconscious bias is a good place to start, especially when it comes to recruiting, he says: “Because of the unconscious bias that we all have, we have a tendency to hire or to promote people who are comparable to ourselves.”

If, as Vey suggests, LGBTQ+ staff are less visible than other minorities, then companies must go the extra mile to spell out to candidates how welcoming they are in other ways, setting out the scope of benefits offered and making it clear to candidates that they do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, nor any other protected identity characteristic.

Multinational enterprises, in particular, can play a greater role. Rather than just following local norms, they can become “embassies” for LGBTQ+ inclusion by extending workplace inclusion policies worldwide, as SAP did when helping Marinelli and his husband move to the US, or even become advocates, seeking to influence local law and culture to be more inclusive even outside the workplace.

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