How Companies Can Make Meaningful Progress For LGBTQ+ Employees

Javier later transferred to Adecco Latin America after four years with the company, a move which he had to weigh carefully given the fact that not all countries are LGBTQ+ friendly.

“Nonetheless, not only did I decide to go, but I decided to speak openly about my husband and my personal situation,” Javier said. “I knew my position within the organisation would grant me the opportunity to be open in a place where not everyone had the same opportunity. I don’t know if I managed to make any difference, but just thinking I could have is good enough.”

Javier is one of several employees from across the Adecco Group that shared his personal experiences working at the Adecco Group being a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Angelique Hall Bovee, Senior Career Coach for Team USA’s Athlete Career and Education Program at the Adecco Group US Foundation, recalled the day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same sex marriage was legal in all 50 states.

What Can Companies Do to Create Meaningful Change?

Meaningful change starts at the recruitment level, Bierinckx explained. It’s important to stop labelling each other, whether in recruitment or in day-to-day lives. “Competencies are important, but even more important are the attitude and the mindset of the candidate,” Bierinckx said.

Leaders at various companies need to better understand the stories, barriers, and obstacles for people who are not from traditionally represented groups (white, heterosexual, able-bodied, and male), said Dick Reasons, who is SVP & Area Director for LHH, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and self-identifies as gay.

That way, everyone can come to work and feel comfortable and understood, Reasons said.

“Executive leadership should be willing to invest in listening to the stories of employees and strive to create an inclusive environment. This will make a company an employer of choice,” Reasons said.

“As individuals we only have so much energy. As leaders, we need to ensure that as much of this energy as possible goes toward contributing to goals and working on what matters most to both customer and company,” Reasons added. “When the work environment fails to support an individual to be who they truly are, some, and often most, of this limited energy is used to put up ‘a shield’ to hide behind, and those around them can never know the true person that they are.”

When it comes to making changes, it is a step-by-step ongoing process, adds Stuti Bajaj, an ally to the LGBTQ+ community and Group SVP HR, who supports leaders in Corporate Functions in developing their ways of working.

We can all drive diversity and inclusion with simple things: adapting language to make people feel included, rather than excluded (say “valued colleagues,” instead of “ladies and gentlemen”), or rewriting job descriptions to make them gender neutral. We also need ongoing feedback from our people so we can continually adapt our approach, whether that be in the form an informal meeting or through regular surveys.

“In my opinion, inclusion is not a one-off training, it is an ongoing effort,” Bajaj said. “When this effort starts coming naturally, instead being a conscious effort to everyone in an organisation, that’s when an organisation has made meaningful progress in this domain.”

Bovee said companies looking to be inclusive should include all marginalized communities. For example: introducing pronouns in corporate and client meetings as well as LinkedIn and business cards.

For companies, it should be all about people and their talent – and not their gender, their ethnicity, or any labels, said Gordana Landen, an ally to the LGBTQ+ community and the CHRO at the Adecco Group.

“We envision a world in which talent matters, not labels, and where everyone has a chance to be part of the world of working," Landen said. “We continuously strive towards a culture of inclusion, belonging and trust where our people feel comfortable to bring their authentic selves to work.”