How often LGBTQ+ employees have to come out at work 2 Daily LGBTQ+ employees who are broadly out at work 1 Senior leaders Executives who embrace this opportunity can become more effective leaders and boost the empathy, effectiveness, and productivity of their organizations.Ĭoming out at work is more challenging for women and junior employees. Our intent is to inspire integrated action that meets the needs of all employees. Supporting a diverse workforce is easier said than done, we recognize. The voices you will hear in this article and the research we have conducted have led us to recommend six key changes to help improve workplaces for LGBTQ+ employees and for employees who have LGBTQ+ family members. Listening and learning about employees’ lived experiences is the first step business leaders must take if they want to create fairer workplaces. Such voices are essential to any conversation on inclusion, whether the focus is on ending gender discrimination, racial discrimination, or any other kind of discrimination. In this article, we share what we’ve learned about the challenges these employees face, including firsthand accounts and reflections from LGBTQ+ people about their work lives and environments. Our research illuminates the everyday experiences of LGBTQ+ employees, many of whom remain in the closet. The Alliance members we spoke with hail from a range of countries, including Canada, China, France, Ireland, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States.įinally, we drew on our ongoing Women in the Workplace research, which has shed light on the experiences of LGBTQ+ women. To ensure that LGBTQ+ voices were prominent, we interviewed and conducted focus groups with members of The Alliance, a global network of LGBTQ+ leaders from public-, private-, and social-sector institutions.
For additional survey findings, see “ Understanding organizational barriers to a more inclusive workplace,” June 2020. To adjust for differences in response rates, the data are weighted by the contribution of each respondent’s nation to global GDP. The online McKinsey Global Survey was in the field from September 10 to September 20, 2019. First, we surveyed more than 2,000 employees at a variety of organizations worldwide respondents ranged from entry-level to CEO and included both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ employees. To learn how LGBTQ+ employees are faring in today’s workplaces, we compiled a broad set of data, both quantitative and qualitative.
In short, your company may not be as inclusive as you think it is. When it comes to true inclusion, everyday interactions with peers and leaders matter as much as organizational policies or formal processes. Learn more about Diana here.īut while diversity and inclusion have climbed corporate agendas over the past decade, many LGBTQ+ employees continue to face discrimination, discomfort, and even danger in the workplace. McKinsey partner Diana Ellsworth describes key insights from this article. As one person we interviewed put it, some leaders at his company seem to have the following perspective: “We’re a really decent place. The US Supreme Court made discrimination against workers based on their gender identity or sexual orientation illegal on June 15 your company has been actively fighting such discrimination for years.
) employees? If you are like many other leaders, you might think that it is: your diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives are in place, some employees are out as LGBTQ+, and people seem to respect one another’s differences. The Human Rights Campaign defines sexual orientation as “an inherent or immutable enduring emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction to other people” the group defines gender identity as “one’s innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither-how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves,” noting that “one’s gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth.” LGBTQ+ also includes people of other sexual orientations and gender identities. Is your company a welcoming place for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+ 1