LGBT+ inclusion | How to create a welcoming workplace

June 2020 marks Pride Month, where the LGBT+ community celebrates in a number of ways, but how exactly should the workplace build an environment that is welcoming for LGBT+ staff?

With the number of new ways of working, from remote working situations to the new technologies many teams are now having to embrace in order to stay connected and to communicate, is HR neglecting the importance of diversity and inclusivity as factors such as the coronavirus crisis take precedent?

According to Advocate, a recent Human Rights Campaign study revealed that 46% of LGBT+ employees say they are closeted at work – down by four per cent over the past ten years. Meanwhile, 53% of those surveyed stated that they had heard jokes about lesbian or gay people at least once in a while, elsewhere 31% claimed they had felt unhappy or depressed at work.

But it seems that change is starting to happen, for example in the US it was announced this week that the US Supreme Court has ruled that employers who fire workers for being gay or transgender are breaking the country’s civil rights laws.