Reaching out

We knew that statistically we must have lesbian, gay and bisexual staff, but had no idea how many or how it felt to be gay and working at Gentoo. So we set about finding out, by launching our sexual equality handbook to make clear our commitment to LGB equality, and then offering to support the establishment of an LGB staff network group.

It’s about a drip-feed strategy, but always trying to find new and innovative ways to communicate the messages, and ensuring that the messages are relevant to the target group.

So, for example, for managers and supervisors, a key message about LGB equality has been: ‘It’s not just about being politically correct, it’s a fact that people perform better when they can be themselves, so it’s in your interest as a manager to ensure that your LGB staff feel comfortable and supported in their working environment if you want to maximise their performance and their potential.’

For frontline staff, we stress that equality and diversity is really just an aspect of excellent customer care – making sure that you respond to your customer’s individual needs.

Staff handbooks put information out into the workplace, and made topics like sexual orientation and transgender much easier to discuss and understand. They create spaces for discussion, which is vital in creating culture change.

However, it needs to be more innovative, so we’ve also developed a version of snakes and ladders based around equality and diversity scenarios. Usually, if you tell people they’re going on an equality and diversity training session, there isn’t an awful lot of excitement. But staff tell us it’s fun and different. It’s part of finding different ways of communicating, and getting people to buy into the messages.

Have your say

You must sign in to make a comment