Inclusion | Employee benefits for LGBTQ+ staff “insufficient”, study finds

One-third (33%) of employers think there are insufficient benefits for LGBTQ+ employees, according to research from digital health platform Peppy.

Although the corporate world has taken great strides towards becoming more diverse and inclusive in recent years – with the CEOs of M&S, PageGroup and the Co-operative Group recently co-signing a pledge to ‘Move the Dial’ on diversity in 2022 – nonetheless, 63% of employees who contributed to the Peppy research felt that it can be hard to get senior management to buy into benefits that do not support the majority of employees.

Despite that, 34% strongly agree that employee benefits play a key role in fostering diversity and inclusion within the workplace – however, it’s important to recognise that different employees may be at different stages in their identity journey, or simply may not wish to share details about their gender or sexuality with colleagues. As Dr Mridula Pore, CEO of Peppy, says: “It’s important to bear in mind that not everyone in minority groups or the LGBTQ+ community wants their private life to be known within the workplace, and some employees will be on a journey to determine their own identity. With this in mind, it’s important not to label certain benefits as only being appropriate for certain employees as this could prevent people from accessing help when they most need it.

“Not all employee benefits may meet the needs of the LGBTQ+ community but many will, whilst also offering comprehensive support to the wider employee community too. Employers need to be selective about which employee benefits providers they choose to partner with and should raise the issue of support for different minority communities when looking at who to work with.”