{"id":28612,"date":"2018-06-26T14:13:07","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T14:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/?p=409524"},"modified":"2018-06-26T14:13:07","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T14:13:07","slug":"part-of-the-lgbtq-community-heres-what-being-welcomed-at-work-looks-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2018\/06\/26\/part-of-the-lgbtq-community-heres-what-being-welcomed-at-work-looks-like\/","title":{"rendered":"Part of the LGBTQ+ community? Here\u2019s what being welcomed at work looks like"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Building your career is a journey filled with challenges, excitement, and forks in the road. And journeys are easier with maps. In this column, job experts answer your questions and deliver advice to help you take the next step.<\/em><\/p>\n

Question:<\/strong> I\u2019m part of the LGBTQ+ community, and it\u2019s important to me to work at a place that accepts me for who I am. What\u2019s the best way to figure that out, even before I apply?<\/p>\n

Answer:<\/strong> When you choose a job, you\u2019re choosing more than the actual work you\u2019ll do. You\u2019re becoming part of a whole culture: the environment around you, the coworkers and leaders, and the role the company plays in the broader world. Our workplace becomes a significant part of our lives. And how we feel there can influence our focus, our ideas, and our sense of well-being.<\/p>\n

As Claudia del Hierro, a senior program manager at Microsoft\u2019s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, puts it, \u201cYou\u2019re going to live that culture every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re actively seeking a new job or casually curious about what other companies are like, how do you decipher if a workplace is somewhere all employees, including those who are LGBTQ+, feel supported? We spoke with a few employees who have sought that answer for themselves. Here are their tips and advice.<\/p>\n

Investigate the company\u2019s track record<\/h2>\n

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) releases an annual Corporate Equality Index<\/a>, a national benchmarking tool that tracks corporate policies and practices pertinent to LGBTQ+ people. Checking that index is a good place to start, del Hierro said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs the company you want to work for rated? What\u2019s its score? That alone tells you a lot about the culture. Some companies have jumped on the LGBTQ+ train for marketing or to gain consumers but don\u2019t really live those values,\u201d she said. \u201cHRC digs into policies so you can assess more deeply.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t stop there, said Sera Fernando, an assistant Microsoft store manager in Santa Clara, California, who identifies as a trans female. Fernando already worked at Microsoft when she made the decision to transition. At the same time, a transgender friend of hers was also interested in the company and was asking her about its culture. Fernando set out to learn more about how the company approached transgender people, employees, and issues. She began to research both internally, where she found Microsoft\u2019s LGBTQ+ employee resource group GLEAM<\/a>, which stands for Gay and Lesbian Employees at Microsoft and includes the entire LGBTQ+ spectrum and their allies, and externally, where she found helpful news coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cRead news stories. Enter all the search terms. See what comes up. Do the research,\u201d said Fernando, now the community codirector of GLEAM.<\/p>\n

See how the company shows up<\/h2>\n

Supporting and participating in local and national Pride events and parades does not guarantee a welcoming workplace year-round, but it\u2019s a clue, said Dena Y. Lawrence, a pre-sales manager for Microsoft in Dublin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re out at a Pride parade, see which companies are showing up. You can see from a public corporate perspective which ones have embraced LGBTQ+ equality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once you know whether a company lends its support publicly to the LGBTQ+ community, look closer, Fernando adds. Does the company advocate for equity, at events and in the public sphere?<\/p>\n

\u201cAre all LGBTQ+ groups being represented\u2014nonbinary, genderqueer, transgender, intersex? Are those stories being shown and told? Are there signs that the company is in tune with the message year-round? Are they just rainbow-fying everything, or are there deeper commitments? What is the senior leadership team doing and saying\u2014what is its involvement? Is it involved in the initiatives? How is the company amplifying efforts?\u201d<\/p>\n

See how it recruits<\/h2>\n

Beyond celebratory events, look at marketing.<\/p>\n

Pay attention to how and where a company recruits, said Lawrence, who has served on Microsoft\u2019s GLEAM board and has created a talk on how to assess how progressive a company is.<\/p>\n

\u201cHas a company taken the time and initiative to find advertising space in LGBTQ+ specific magazines or digital channels?\u201d If so, she said, it\u2019s an indication of a commitment to make those employees feel welcome and supported and to ensure that the company is recruiting all types of employees, she said.<\/p>\n

See what it offers<\/h2>\n

Look as closely as you can at a company\u2019s policies and benefits. Is there equity for LGBTQ+ employees? Are there family benefits and medical benefits that support the needs of LGBTQ+ employees?<\/p>\n

\u201cGo into the policies. Ask Human Resources for links to the benefits. Look closely at the language around leave, parental leave\u2014does the language refer only to male and female partners? Updating that language means the organization has already done a lot of work internally to transform,\u201d Lawrence said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there are antidiscrimination policies that call out sexual orientation and\u2014the holy grail\u2014gender identity, then they have the core ingredients for inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talk to employees<\/h2>\n

If you have friends or networking connections who can put you in contact with employees\u2014especially those who are LGBTQ+\u2014grab the chance to talk with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey live the culture every day. What\u2019s on paper might not be the reality. Sometimes the reality is even better; sometimes it\u2019s not,\u201d said del Hierro, who serves as GLEAM\u2019s Latin American director.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo they have an employee resource group that\u2019s active? Could you be visible in that space if you wanted to be? Find people who are thriving; see what that looks like,\u201d said Fernando.<\/p>\n

See how the company responds to you<\/h2>\n

Don\u2019t hesitate to ask directly in an interview about how the company supports diversity and inclusion. Take note of how those questions are received.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many companies embracing diversity and inclusion\u2014you don\u2019t want to work for a company where you can\u2019t be who you are, in this day and age,\u201d Lawrence said.<\/p>\n

And if a company won\u2019t support and welcome you, del Hierro said, you probably don\u2019t want to work there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the cofounder for the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico, and I started my college\u2019s LGBTQ+ alumni chapter. It\u2019s on my CV because it\u2019s important to me and relevant to my experience. If someone won\u2019t consider me because of that, then I would not want the job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Building your career is a journey filled with challenges, excitement, and forks in the road. And journeys are easier with maps. In this column, job experts answer your questions and deliver advice to help you take the next step. Question: I\u2019m part of the LGBTQ+ community, and it\u2019s important to me to work at a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[58,50],"class_list":["post-28612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-microsoft-news","tag-diversity","tag-recent-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}