Diversity, Inclusion and Employee Benefits: A Q&A with HR experts

At YuLife, we love celebrating Pride Month. But we also know that supporting your LGBTQIA+ employees is a year-round endeavour. It’s a question of developing an inclusive culture with strong systemic support.

When it comes to building that structure, HR has an important role to play. Recently, our colleagues in the UK sat down for a chat with two outstanding HR leaders: David Blackburn, Chief People Officer at the UK's Financial Services Compensation Scheme, and Emma Cusdin, Director of Global Butterflies. Read on as our UK's Head of People Cali Gold leads this enlightening the Q&A, or watch the full discussion here.

Cali Gold: What moments from your own journeys make you feel especially proud?

Emma Cusdin: My transition. Speaking to my line manager. That’s a tough thing to do, and when I came out there wasn’t really any conversation within my organisation about being LGBTQ+. I’d socially transitioned, and now I had to speak to my line manager. I’d worked with him for seven years, but we’d never spoken about LGBTQ+ and I didn’t know how he’d respond. And so I took him out to lunch. I had a glass of wine, because I needed a bit of Dutch courage. And his response will stay with me forever. He said, Emma, I know nothing about this, but we’ll be great. Just tell us what you need, tell us what support you need. And that was brilliant… eleven years later, we’re still friends.

David Blackburn: I’m very proud of the fact that, over my 25-plus-year career in HR, I have worked to build more inclusive environments where these issues are being discussed, whether it’s LGBT+ issues or race or gender. And to be recognised as the fourth-most inclusive employer in the UK takes a lot of work. We were fortieth three years ago! We’ve gone up 36 places because we really encourage an environment where everyone is having these conversations. On a personal level, it’s those little moments where you think, I’ve actually helped somebody else on their journey. It’s those things that make me proud.

CG: What is the key to allyship in the workplace?

EC: Allyship looks different for different workplaces, but ultimately I still come back to: it’s a verb. It’s a doing word. And it’s small steps, and often. Think about where you’re comfortable and where you’re uncomfortable, and ask, how do I step into that bit that’s uncomfortable for me? Ultimately, LGBTQI people are here, we are part of the population, and we want to come and work in places that are safe and secure, where we can thrive.

DB: Allies won’t have a lived experience of coming out, but they can understand those stories and seek to understand the unique challenges. Allies are massive amplifiers. That’s the really powerful thing that they can do. It’s not enough just to put on your Pride lanyard and go on the Pride march. It’s what happens in the unstructured moments, too. Think of those times when you’re in a group without a member of the LGBTQ+ community present, and something related comes up. Can you as an ally speak up and say, actually I know something about this, and I’m going to tell you what the story is? That really makes a difference, particularly in a hybrid world of work, where we’re interfacing in a way that’s really different.

CG: How can we train people managers to support people who are uncomfortable being openly themselves in the workplace?

EC: For me, we don’t put enough effort or investment into training people who lead others. But more and more organisations are starting to train people in unconscious bias, and move beyond that to questions like, who are you as a leader? What are you good at? What areas are you looking to develop? And of course, we need to remind managers that they’re human beings, they’re not robots! They cannot know everything about everything, and it’s okay to make honest mistakes and admit when you don’t yet know something. It’s about learning to lead with kindness and compassion, with empathy, and with coaching styles. It’s about having a growth mindset, and remembering that, essentially, your role is to help people be the best they can be.

DB: The Chartered Management Institute recently published its 75th-anniversary report, The Everyone Economy. A huge piece of research, and I was delighted to be included in that research phase. The idea is simply that the only way we’ll unlock productivity and performance in this challenging environment is by creating inclusive workplaces. We’ve known this for a long time, and people are starting to see that there is a tangible economic benefit to making this happen. PO Consulting have also just published a really interesting document, A New Way to Lead, which picks up on what Emma is saying – what people want is kindness. They want high trust, they want leaders who’ve got emotional intelligence.

CG: We’re living through what’s been termed the Great Resignation. How can we recruit and retain the widest and most diverse pool of talent?

DB: Firstly, organisations need to understand their own data. Not just who, but where are the underrepresented groups? Too often, organisations only talk about their headline number, but if it’s all at the entry level, or it stops beyond middle management, what are the barriers to progression?

Secondly, you need to set targets. We’re a founding signatory of the Race at Work Charter, and of the Women in Finance Charter. For the latter, we said that by March 2022, 50% of our leadership positions would be filled by women, and I’m pleased to say that we achieved that target. But it doesn’t happen by osmosis.

Thirdly, you have to use a wide range of channels. Actually research who’s doing good work. MyGWork, for example – fantastic. And it becomes a virtuous circle. We have no problem attracting candidates at the FSCS, because people can see that we have very high values. We have LGBT+ representation at the board, executive and senior leadership levels. So when people are worried about the Great Resignation, well... our retention is really good, because people feel like they belong here, and they want to stay.

CG: Why is it so important for us to bring ourselves to work?

EC: For me, it’s about the cost of not bringing yourself to work. I know gay people in organisations where they don’t have psychological safety. They create fake girlfriends. They don’t talk about their husbands. They’re very cautious. You’re always checking yourself, and I know that very well. For 25 years of my working life, I gave an Oscar-winning performance every day as a guy! I was reserved, I was closed, I was very cautious. So was I the best that I could have been? Probably not. And it’s hugely damaging for your mental health. So there’s a business case, but a personal case too. I love the Oscar Wilde quote: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

DB: There’s an old Stonewall strapline, too: People are better when they can be themselves. It is as simple as that. If there’s one thing we’ve seen over the last few years, it’s that you need a high-trust culture. In order to make hybrid working work we have to trust one another. I can’t physically see what you’re doing anymore, so I’ve got to trust that you’re getting on with it. And one of the big ways that you build high-trust teams is you really get to know each other. Not just I know you in that work context, but I know you as a person.

CG: How do we educate team members on the different terms used in the LGBTQ+ community?

EC: There are so many different terms, which is great, but it can be confusing! Just knowing that there’s a difference between people we love, sexual orientation, and gender identity is a really good start. We use the genderbread person to teach those basics, but Stonewall also has great definitions, and in the US GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign do too. Basically, do the research – but then, don’t be afraid to ask. I’m still learning new terms, and I do this for a living! My caveat is, don’t steam in as if you’re an alien who’s never interacted with a human before. Just check first – do you mind if I ask you about that term? If the answer’s no, then like any decent person, you stop. If yes, then you can say, that’s a new term for me, do you mind explaining what it means to you?

We need to continually challenge policies to ensure they support all employees. How can HR leaders do this?

DB: I’d be the first to say that sometimes HR is a blocker. In my ten years at the FSCS we’ve halved the number of policies. Because often it doesn’t need a policy – it needs a toolkit or a guide. I would like to think that we recruit intelligent adults who can work this stuff out. Family leave is a good example. We’re really proud of our simplified policies there. We had an enhanced maternity policy that gave you six months’ pay, and I went, well, why not just give that to fathers too, and adoptive parents? So often we think that these changes are complicated, but in my experience, they’re not. Our job is simply to say, I want you to be able to be here, be yourself, access what you need. And it shouldn’t take 40 million forms to do so.

CG: Any tips for engaging LGBTQ+ staff, for instance, to get an LGBTQ+ network off the ground?

EC: I’m a great believer in getting the most senior leader possible to talk about it, because people are waiting for the organisation to give those signals that it’s inclusive. Whether you do it with a blog, a conversation, a town hall… whatever communications frameworks you have, getting someone senior to talk about LGBTQI inclusion is the best way to get a network off the ground.

DB: We reinvigorated our network at the beginning of last year, and a load more people came forward. And all we did was, I recorded a little video message saying, look, you know what a great place this is. Come and talk to us. I want new ideas and thinking. People feel more empowered to come forward then because they’ve been given permission by us on an organisational level, so they know it’s fine.

CG: For anyone working at a newer or smaller organisation, one which hasn’t yet approached LGBTQ+ inclusion, how would you recommend starting that journey?

EC: Some of this is about: what do you stand for? But it also depends on which sort of business you are. If you’re in retail, then you should consider the fact that there’s a lot of research on LGBTQI consumers. They will buy product or they won’t buy product from you – similar to employees – based on signals and signs. Ultimately, look at Gen Z. There are lots of studies about how they identify more as LGBTQI. They’re your colleagues of the future, your customers of the future, so absolutely there’s a business case right there!

DB: We are living and operating in a candidate-led market right now, and purpose- and values-led organisations are the ones that attract the best talent. People don’t just want pay and rations. Those things aren’t the biggest drivers of employee experience. That’s the place to start. We’re delighted that YuLife became a supplier to us at the FSCS this year, and it’s because of your very distinct value proposition. We were looking to partner with an organisation which has a focus on health and wellbeing, which thinks about its culture and is inclusive. You as a business are embodying the stuff we’ve been talking about.

CG: How do we ensure we’re respecting individuals’ right to tell their stories in their own time?

DB: It’s always about being respectful. Any network is not about outing people at work. It’s actually, how do you ensure that you are creating an environment that is psychologically safe? They’ll be on a journey to working out what their whole self is. And some people decide they don’t want to be out at work, or they want to be out to one group but not another. There are so many different variations that I think what you want to signal is: when you do, if you do, it’s going to be okay. And there will be people here to listen and support you.

EC: To finish on a very personal note, the organisation where I came out wanted to publish my story, about how great they were, and what was really great was somebody saying, what are you concerned about? How can we make sure this is a good experience for you? I was worried about negative comments, and a senior leader said they would make it clear that any transphobic or homophobic or biphobic comments, they would absolutely step in. They made it feel safe. So again, this is all about psychological safety, listening, supporting… just having that sensitivity, humility and kindness in supporting people coming out.

CG: Absolutely, it’s about giving people the space, making them feel supported and accepted, and allowing them to be their true authentic selves. Emma and David, thank you so much for joining us.