So, how are things at work?
Every LGBTQ person should feel safe in the choice to be out at work, and employers should have comprehensive policies for LGBTQ people. Organizations that support and promote equality for members of the LGBTQ community offer competitive recruitment advantages, and most importantly, create a workspace for all staff to feel valued in their work. Mossier’s eight areas of focus guide our workshops, training, education, and consulting, and our consultants work with your business to make diversity, equity, and inclusion much more than a human resources task: We guide cultural shifts that lift your organization to the next level.
It all starts with making a commitment to your staff. Business leaders in Minnesota have a history of innovation, and we are passionate about accelerating our state’s place in the national effort to create inclusive workspaces.
Productivity
MN loses $500M in productivity annually due to LGBTQ workplace hostility
Healthcare & Wellbeing
LGBTQ talent on average take more sick days, incurs greater healthcare costs, and reports lower levels of job satisfaction
Turnover
Closeted LGBTQ employees are 73% more likely than their peers to leave their employer in the next three years
Lifetime Losses
Equity is access to the same raises and promotions as non-LGBTQ counterparts. Access is more than just opportunity, it is culture, inclusion, and safety.
Purchasing Power
MN will be 400,000 jobs short by 2024 and the battle for diverse top talent is sharply increasing. 2018 Fortune 500 spending on diversity and inclusion was $9B.
Recruiting and Retaining Allies
When all else is equal, 80% of allies will choose the more LGBTQ inclusive employer
Mossier's Consulting Approach
We know that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to making your workspace LGBTQ friendly, and we have crafted our approach to accommodate all shapes and sizes of organizations. Clients appreciate our LGBTQ Workplace Equality Scorecard™, which is an equality index that outlines an employers opportunities for growth, the associated costs, and an analysis of benefits in terms of employee productivity, wellbeing, and turnover and benchmarked with local and national data/rankings of similar organizations as yours. This index helps employers get the pulse of where they are currently in the LGBTQ inclusion journey.
Click here to download more information on Mossier’s workshops, advisory and consulting services.
Focus Areas
With the help of our partners and clients, Mossier has developed eight comprehensive focus areas that guide our D&I workshops, training, education, and consulting. Click on a topic below to learn more.
What does a good strategic plan look like for your company’s ERG/BRG/ERN? Do you have an executive sponsor? What are the benefits? How do you design a leadership structure, committee structure, and delegate roles so that your ERG can maximize results and minimize burnout?
Key Learning Objective: Create a streamlined ERG Strategy that allows for accomplishment of and congruence with DEI goals
Best practices for ERGs – purpose, involvement with firm, integration with HR and DEI
- Breaking down silos between other ERG chapters within the firm and with other firms
- Addressing discrepancies between best practice and firm policy
Selecting leadership and governance within the ERG
Managing budget and creating budget guidelines
Generating executive buy-in
- ERG Funding
- Executive Sponsorship
Effective prioritization techniques for ERG goals
- Launch-phase ERG strategy
- Time-phased objectives and 80/20 Rule thinking
Creating programming aligned with ERG goals: Mentorship programs, outreach to allies, and recruitment tie-ins
How could sending an LGBTQ+ employee to one of the 72 countries where homosexuality is criminalized be an issue? What about the 8 that utilize the death penalty? How do these situations prevent LGBTQ+ employees from getting promoted and ultimately, feeling safe in their place of work?
Key Learning Objective: Understand that diverse international cultures present challenges for outsourcing, expatriation, hiring, and entering foreign markets due to differences in LGBTQ+ inclusion norms
Where do you do Business?
Are you aware of your place in the global LGBTQ+ landscape? Do you do business in countries with harsh anti-LGBTQ+ policy?
Understand current events, policy conversations, supreme court decisions affecting your customers and/or potential hires.
Provide current event updates, recommendations, and benchmarks that are specifically of relevance to the company and country of our client.
Who do you do business with?
Protect LGBTQ+ talent during the expatriation process
- Ensuring that Self-ID information does not follow them to other countries
Opportunities to source products and services from LGBTQ+-owned businesses and/or LGBTQ+-friendly businesses
Reconcile cultural norms and attitudes towards DEI efforts with international hires
Understand how global LGBTQ+ policy can negatively influence an LGBTQ+ employees career and promotion trajectory
- Implement risk management procedures
Recruiting LGBTQ+ talent in a major urban corporate headquarters requires a different set of needs than your plants, businesses, or co-op partners based in more rural parts of the country. How do we create inclusive workforces outside of major cities?
Key Learning Objective: Understand that LGBTQ+ people live in rural areas and are at increased risk of LGBTQ+ discrimination. Ensure that the firm has practices for LGBTQ+ inclusion across all geographies
- Adjusting HR and DEI strategy to be effective in close-knit work environments and communities
- Leveraging strengths of regional offices, plants, and stores
- Designing training for rural communities and plant locations
- Respect towards regional norms, including use of language
- Address of unconscious bias towards regional employees
- Kaizen and Continuous Improvement for HR + Use of Effective Metrics and KPI (Key Performance Indicators)
- Differences between effective metrics for major and regional offices
- Training for managers and addressing problematic managers
What does Generation Z want out of an inclusive company and how do they make decisions about who they want to apply to? Explore the many factors outside of salary and benefits that this new generation is weighing.
Key Learning Objective: Create tailored HR efforts for Generation Z, who conform to a broader range of sexualities and genders than their older counterparts and respond uniquely to HR efforts
Generation Z Employees Look For:
Benefits
- Publicize benefits and policy
- Make benefits and policy language LGBTQ+ inclusive
-
Community/Culture
- Create Gen Z, LGBTQ+-Specific networking opportunities
- Incorporate LGBTQ+-specific information during an in-person recruitment conversation
- Encourage face-to-face conversations for candidates by leveraging employee resource groups (LGBTQ+ and Gen Z)
Connect with student groups at Universities
- On an HR level
- On an alumnus level
- Database for LGBTQ+ business groups nationally
Advancement Opportunities
Gen Z value company culture and career opportunities
LGBTQ+ representation in upper management enable Gen Z to see themselves advancing in the firm
One of the top issues that Mossier is discussing with companies is self-ID programs and creating options for LGBTQ+ talent to self-ID via engagement surveys and performance reviews. A large barrier that companies face is a lack of information on how many LGBTQ+ employees work for their company, what their productivity and retention rates are compared to non-LGBTQ+ employees, and what the business case for closing those gaps is.
When is it safe, legal, and culturally appropriate to ask a job applicant, interviewee, or current employee about their LGBTQ+ status? What are the laws that govern the ways that data is stored and who can access it? How can self-ID information be used to inform HR and D&I decision-making? We hope to answer these questions.
Key Learning Objective: Identify appropriate analytics solutions (including whether or not self-ID is appropriate) for the firm and understand key insights provided by analytics
Modes of data collection
- Is Self-ID an appropriate mode for the firm?
- Fit for culture + Fit for purpose
- Asking questions inclusively and legally
- Collecting data at the appropriate time in the employee life cycle
Purpose of analytics, key insights, and use of insights in business decisions
Knowledge Management within LGBTQ+ employee base
Data policy best practices
- Access by HR to individual employees’ data
- Geography, where to use Self-ID or other analytics solutions?
Self-ID for smaller organizations
Effective use of existing HRMS and ERP solutions from third-party vendors
You adopted the policies, you got a 100% on the Corporate Equality Index, you made all of your bathrooms gender-neutral. Now what? Why is culture so hard to change?
Key Learning Objective: Understand the intersection of unconscious bias, vulnerability, self-improvement, communication, leadership, and how they all influence culture
Align cultural changes with organizational objectives and policies to create synergies
Change Management Process Best Practices
- Frameworks and best practices
- Communicating the business and social cases for change
- Resolving complaints and handling pushback
- Gauging culture: goals, KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), metrics
- Inclusion of all employees in goals, KPIs, and change process
Identify and support change agents at all levels of a firm, including top-down and bottom-up influences
Generate executive and governance buy-in
Communicate effectively with all stakeholders, including customers, potential new hires, communities, etc.
Workshop Topics and Options
- LGBTQ+-Inclusive Leadership
- Diversity and LGBTQ+ Recruiting
- Racism and Unconscious Bias in the LGBTQ+ Community
- Authenticity At Work
Sharing the lived experiences of the trans community in Minnesota and how companies can create policy and cultures that allow transgender talent to thrive
Key Learning Objective: Understand aspects of the company that affect transgender and gender nonconforming employees’ ability to present themselves and efficiently navigate the workplace.
Ensure protocol is in place for trans/non-binary employees specifically, especially to assist with transition experience
Affirm gender identity of all employees by verifying that general policy structure is inclusive or gender neutral
- Include the topics of gender-neutral restrooms, names/pronouns use in email, directory, etc., paid-leave, and inclusive medical benefits
Train allies on best practices for voicing questions or concerns and supporting their trans/non-binary coworkers
- Micro-aggressive actions that negatively impact trans/non-binary employees’ success and mental health
- Micro-affirmative actions that foster a more inclusive environment
- Appropriate language and jargon for discussing LGBTQ+ issues
You adopted the policies, you got a 100 on the Corporate Equality Index, you made all of your bathrooms gender-neutral. Now what? Why is culture so hard to change?
Key Learning Objective: Understand that proactive company policy can be used to protect LGBTQ+ employees from discrimination and avoid lawsuits
Compliance with State and Federal Law
Current LGBTQ+ discrimination protections
- State and Federal
- Title VII, EEOC, FMLA, BFOQ Cases
-
-
Proactive Best Practices
Monitor supreme court decisions, changing legal protections, and emerging precedents to mitigate legal risk
Inclusive Family Leave policy
Accessible discrimination reporting protocol
Inclusive language on forms, policy, and company communications
Contact Us
Your pledge for inclusivity is the starting point, and building the spaces where all people feel comfortable takes time. It’s worth the effort, and Mossier is committed to helping you create a positive workspace for everyone. We would love to help you make inclusivity a reality for your workspace!