Gay rights group publish list of gay-friendly employers

Stonewall, a UK gay rights charity, has published its annual list of the UK’s most gay-friendly employers. The 2010 list used data from over 350 organisations to identify employers that are most responsive to the needs of gay employees. The report assessed organisations on a variety of criteria related to the inclusion of gay employees, and identified a series of good practice measures used by employers to promote the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered employees.

About the survey

In January 2010, Stonewall, a UK gay rights group, published its sixth annual survey on workplace equality – the Workplace Equality Index 2010. The survey identifies the top 100 employers in the UK that create the most inclusive workplaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) employees. For the 2010 survey, Stonewall received 352 submissions from organisations in 24 sectors of the economy. Organisations that wished to enter the survey completed a questionnaire comprising 25 questions that covered nine areas of policy and practice. Furthermore, organisations wishing to take part in the survey had to produce additional evidence to demonstrate the work that they were doing in the field of LGBT rights. The report assessed employers on the extent to which they had comprehensive policies on gay rights that were integrated into the daily running of the organisation, the extent to which staff were engaged and trained in LGBT-specific issues and the extent to which support was given to individual LGBT staff members.

Main findings

Best performing companies and sectors

In the 2010 survey, the multinational information technology (IT) company IBM ranked first in the list of LGBT-friendly employers. Hampshire Constabulary, a regional branch of the UK police force ranked second on the list, while Ernst and Young, a multinational financial services company, was placed third. Based on sector of economic activity, various results emerged. According to the survey, the best performing sector in terms of the 352 submissions received from employers was the business services sector. This was followed by public security, law and order activities in second place and the public sector at central government level in third place. The two fields of activity with the lowest average scores were housing and education at university level.

Good practice measures of employers

The survey revealed a variety of means that UK employers are using to promote the inclusion of LGBT employees at the workplace. Several organisations reported the inclusion of specific references to homophobic bullying in the organisation’s bullying and harassment policy. The Gentoo Group, a company operating in real estate activities, reported the development of a detailed policy on the topic of homophobic bullying and also reported carefully monitoring the implementation of the policy.

Many organisations reported engaging closely with their staff in order to promote inclusive attitudes to LGBT employees. Merseyside Police and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office provided training to non-LGBT employees that involved informing them of the importance of the organisation’s work in this area. It emerged that many organisations also used what the survey described as ‘senior role models’. For example, 46% of the top 100 employers had openly gay, lesbian or bisexual employees in the top ranks of their organisation. Some 94% of the top 100 employers had an openly gay, lesbian or bisexual employee acting as an LGBT role model within the organisation.

Of the top 100 employers, every respondent also reported conducting monitoring activities on the sexual orientation of their employees. Overall, 86% of the top 100 employers did this as part of staff attitude surveying. Employers believed that the possession of data on the sexual orientation of employees allowed for the better management of workforces and the more effective tackling of problems related to the inclusion of LGBT employees.

Commentary

The Stonewall survey provides a useful insight into the activities of UK employers to promote inclusion and equality for LGBT employees. However, given the voluntary nature of participation in the survey, a methodological drawback is that it is likely that it was mainly organisations with good to very good records in LGBT equality that participated in the survey.

More broadly, the diversity of approaches to LGBT equality within organisations highlighted by the survey is part of a wider, more tolerant shift in attitudes to LGBT individuals that has occurred in the UK over the past decade. This has been in part attributable to the policies of successive new Labour Party governments which have introduced several reforms that place LGBT individuals on an equal legal footing with heterosexuals.

Thomas Prosser, University of Warwick