5 Tips for Including LGBT Workers/Candidates

Employers who value their employees strive to make them comfortable in the workplace. Achieving this goal requires sensitivity in today’s diverse workforce. Employers can attract and retain LGBT job candidates and employees by following five tips that show inclusiveness.

To help explore these issues, College Recruiter is hosting a College Recruiting Bootcamp on LGBT and other diversity hiring issues on Tuesday, September 29th at the Twilio headquarters in San Francisco. Join us.

Prior to that event, we’ll publish the opinions from a number of talent acquisition and recruiting leaders about why and how employers should diversify their workforces. In today’s article, Dr. Angelique Harris of Marquette University shares tips on including LGBT workers and candidates.

Dr. Angelique Harris, Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Social and Cultural Sciences and Director of the Gender and Sexualities Studies Center at Marquette University

1. Employers can post LGBT stickers, etc., around in the workplace; even one would help. Stickers, flags, etc. go a long way in helping LGBT workers to feel more included and supported.

2. Provide more than male/female options on job applications.

3. Give people the option to use preferred names/pronouns in case they are not cisgender or gender non-confirming.

4. Offer a gender neutral restroom; mention gender neutral restrooms to potential job prospects.

5. Don’t ask employees about their significant others by mentioning boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, etc.

Angelique Harris is Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Social and Cultural Sciences and Director of the Gender and Sexualities Studies Center in the Helen Way Klingler College of Arts and Sciences at Marquette University. Her research and teaching interests include the sociology of health and illness, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, sociology of religion, urban studies, media studies, and social movements. Dr. Harris’s research examines social problems and issues within marginalized communities, primarily focusing on the experiences of women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ communities. She has authored the book AIDS, Sexuality, and the Black Church: Making the Wounded Whole and co-authored the writing reference book Writing for Emerging Sociologists.