The essential elements of a LGBT+- inclusive reward strategy

When people feel welcome, happy and engaged at work, they typically perform better and help drive better business results. It should therefore be a business imperative to push inclusivity higher up the corporate agenda.

In the UK, the number of people identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) has hit a record high. According to data published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) in January, the figure increased by 50,000 in 2017, with the proportion of the population identifying as LGB up from 1.5 per cent in 2012 to 2 per cent in 2017.

As a nation, we’re still on the journey to achieving full LGBT+- equality across the board. Reassuringly, however, businesses are increasingly waking up to the importance of inclusivity in today’s workplace to help them attract and retain the best talent and skills.

So, what role can reward strategies play in helping to improve inclusivity and make employees feel more valued and respected at work?

The first step towards improving inclusivity is offering the same key benefits to same-sex couples as you do for heterosexual couples. Creating a culture of diversity inclusion is not about emphasising the rights of a single community – it’s about helping everyone feel valued by their employer.

Family means different things to different people

The definition of the family unit is evolving and HR reward strategies need to reflect this, especially considering that familial rejection rate is disproportionately higher for LGBT+- individuals. Providing Family Medical Emergency Leave to non-biological parents, for example, is a great way to show employees that your organisation is willing to listen and take action to support individuals going through difficult times in their personal or family life.

Help people create their own family

Allowing the same level of parental leave to everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation, biological parentage or adoption status, will allow businesses to retain their best staff by not forcing LGBT+- employees to choose between their career and starting a family. A growing number of businesses are moving towards greater equality in terms of parental leave and this will become increasingly mainstream as more businesses look to update their workplace benefits and reward programmes.

Remove stigmas from the workplace

Many of our LGBT+- friends, family members and co-workers already face higher rates of conscious and unconscious discrimination. In fact, Stonewall’s 2018 research revealed that nearly one-in-five LGBT+ employees surveyed had been subjected to negative comments or conduct from other colleagues in the past year. This discrimination can manifest itself in many different ways and leave LGBT+- individuals – as well as other minority employees – feeling segregated or excluded from opportunities at work.

Every effort should be made to remove discrimination from the workplace, and this includes closing the gender pay gap, as well as de-stigmatising any health-related issues that may impact an individual’s ability to perform at work. Whilst this should apply to any employee, regardless of their sexual identity or any other factor, it’s especially true for individuals transitioning in the workplace. Research has also shown that transgender people who take time off for transgender-related healthcare, for example, are treated differently when they return to work and often face harassment or inappropriate questions. By educating staff and improving employees’ ability to access healthcare, HR teams can encourage more open and inclusive dialogues and help remove discrimination or harassment in the workplace.

Lead by example

Individuals in leadership roles often dictate more than just a company’s business model – they play a huge role in setting out a company’s culture and its values. Creating and nurturing a top-down company culture that praises, champions and celebrates inclusion across a business will not only mean people feel valued, but it will also encourage more people to speak out on key issues that may negatively impact their working lives, by highlighting best practice inclusion initiatives for others to learn from.

At Cigna, we not only take a strategic and structured approach to inclusion within our own workplace, we also support our customers by making our healthcare plans more inclusive. For example, we’re proud to have been the first health services provider to offer pre-operative counselling to transgender patients and we’re seeing this already make a big impact in improving our customers’ lives, both inside and outside of work.

We strongly advocate for the business value that inclusivity and diversity brings to the workplace, including greater innovation, creativity and engagement. And, many of our team serve as inclusivity and diversity champions on behalf of our company.

Our mission is to improve the health, wellbeing, and peace of mind of those we serve. We believe that by creating fully inclusive HR reward strategies, businesses can unlock talent across their organisation to achieve their true potential.

The author is Phil Austin, CEO, Cigna Europe.

This article is provided by Cigna Europe.