Pride and reward
22nd June 2023
Samantha Gee
Are you doing what you can for LGBTQI+ talent?
We’ve added the rainbow to our logo for the month of June. This is to show our allyship with Pride and the LGBTQI+ community. This is something that is reflected in who we are and the work we do.
Of course, creating inclusive workplaces requires a multi-faceted approach that goes so much further than embracing one of the rainbows.
As a minimum, it’s about understanding the terminology and issues faced by LGBTQI+ colleagues and calling out inappropriate language and behaviour.
It’s about listening carefully to what people want and need whilst ensuring the onus does not fall on marginalised individuals to educate those with majority status (Dr Jonathan Booth).
It’s about not making assumptions when we meet new people (Gethin Nadin). As a gay woman, I particularly resonate with this one.
Here’s my thoughts on what we can do from a pay and reward perspective:
- Ensure systems that determine job levels are gender-neutral: have you reviewed your job evaluation or classification system to ensure it isn’t gender biased? We often design bespoke job classification frameworks for clients and checking for gender bias is an important step.
- Bring more transparency to reward decisions: greater transparency when it comes to pay and bonus decisions inevitably results in fairer decisions that can be fully justified. This will help everyone, not just LGBTQI+ employees. You’ll need a clear reward strategy, robust pay principles and frameworks, and transparent bonus terms to enable this.
- Measure and act on LGBTQI+ pay gaps: are you encouraging employees to disclose their sexual orientation, and analysing the impact on pay or any other discretionary decisions taking during the employee lifecycle and putting plans in place off the back of this?
- Ensure policies are inclusive: do your policies for adoption, maternity, paternity, and parental leave apply equally to LGBTQI+ employees and reflect different concepts of parenthood? Does your paid leave policy include civil partnerships?
- Offer wellbeing and benefits that meet the needs of diverse employees: a third of employers have reported that their benefits do not meet the needs of LGBTQI+ individuals (Peppy). Do you offer benefits solely aimed at the majority of employees, or do you include more specific aspects that could affect a greater proportion of LGBTQI+ employees such as fertility support, gender-affirming care and mental health counselling and resources? Is it time to review your wellbeing and benefits to make sure they are as inclusive as then can be?
I’m sure there’s more, but these are the kinds of things we’re talking about with clients now. Are they on your radar?
How we can help
Please get in touch if you’d like to talk to us about how your pay and reward offering can create a more inclusive workplace.
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