A Business Case and Action Items
• About us
• The Business Case for Inclusion
• Being Out
• What the Workplace needs to do
• The Business Case for an Employee Resource
Group
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• Plexus, The Chamber of Commerce for the LGBT
Community and Allies
• Mission:
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To provide proactive business development for the LGBT
community and allies
• Core Values:
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Small business development
Supplier Diversity
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• The Chamber’s Current Activities:
• Network Nights
• Roundtables
• Supplier Diversity
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Supplier Diversity Conference on September 20, 2012
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- Plexus Education Foundation
- Mission:
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To improve the workplace environment for Lesbian Gay
Bisexual and Transgender individuals through education,
research and development resulting in enrichment of the
entire community.
 Core Values
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Promote Workplace Equality
Provide support for employee resource group development
Provide educational support for out individuals
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 Plexus Education Foundation Current Activities
 Employee Resource Group Series
 LGBT Leadership Institute in partnership with The
Weatherhead School Executive Education
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Goals for Today
• Increase awareness of workplace issues
for LGBT employees
• Understand the business case for inclusion
• Understand the business case for LGBT
employee resource groups
• Determine what you can do to help
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• What did you do this weekend?
- Where did you go?
- Who did you go with?
- What was the best part of the weekend?
• Change all the pronouns to be non gender
specific. No Him/Her He/She His/Hers
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• For many LGBT employees sharing their
weekend or previous evening can be
difficult if they are not out at work.
• Think about the amount of time and energy
that needs to go into not revealing your
authentic self.
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Workplace Current View
• Research shows that 40% of LGBT employees aren’t comfortable
being out in the workplace – the unseen minority
• Stereotypes still exist – homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and
heterosexism
• Organization and fellow employees assume heterosexuality and
therefor conforming to traditional gender roles
• LGBT issues are not acknowledged or discussed
• LGBT employees who are not out are spending time and energy
hiding
• Many employees who could be allies are not sure if it is “OK” to
ask for fear they will “say the wrong thing”
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Some Facts and a Disclaimer
 The LGBT “Community” is united around the issues
of discrimination and harassment due to sexual
orientation and gender expression.
 The LGBT “Community” then breaks into individual
groups that have differing issues.
 I do not represent all LGBT people.
 The point of view I will express is based on my
experiences.
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Why an Inclusive Workplace
 From A Social Justice point of view it is the Right
thing
 The hunt for talent – why would you want to exclude
people when talent is hard to find
 We frequent firms and organizations that support the
LGBT community publicly
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Why an Inclusive Workplace
 Freeing the time used to stay hidden to be more
productive
 Hiding and covering can detract from team
productivity
 A recent California study showed that when a person
acknowledges and comes out to a team, the team is
27% to 35% more productive 1
 Employee Engagement is a key to retention and
productivity
 Gallup Employee Engagement Key Questions (Q12)
1 Everly, B. A., Shih, M. J., & Ho, G. C. (January 2012 Volume 48, Issue 1). Don’t ask, don’t tell? Does disclosure of gay identity affect partner
performance? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 407-410.
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Gallup Q 12 of Employee
Engagement
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Do you know what is expected of you at work?
Do you have the materials and equipment you need to do your work right?
At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing
good work?
Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a
person?
Is there someone at work who encourages your development?
At work, do your opinions seem to count?
Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is
important?
Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work?
Do you have a best friend at work?
In the last six months, has someone at work talked to you about your
progress?
In the last year, have you had opportunities at work to learn and grow?
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Business Case Summary
 Increased individual productivity
 Increased work team productivity
 Higher employee engagement
 More business from the LGBT community
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Coming Out
 Is Coming Out an event?
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Coming Out
 A LGBT Individual decides come out:
 First to themselves
 Friends ?
 Family?
 Co-workers?
 Every time that they meet a new person
 When coming out you need to assess:
 Is it safe?
 Will it create work team issues?
 Will it impact my future at work?
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Heterosexism in the Workplace
 The “norm” is to assume heterosexuality
 A LGBT person has to disclose
 Assumes stereotypical heterosexual
gender roles
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How is Heterosexism expressed
in your organization?
 Are Company event invitations inclusive?
 Are there special benefits for being
heterosexual?
 No partner benefits
 Family leave policies
 The language used to describe
relationships
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What does Ohio have in common
with 29 other states?
 There is no Employee Non-Discrimination Act that
protects for Sexual Orientation and/or Gender
Expression
 That means I and any other LGBT person can be
fired for just being who they are
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What does your Business need to do?
 Non-Discrimination and Inclusion Policies
 Does it include sexual orientation and gender
expression?
 Is it easy to find on your company website and
materials?
 Do you provide partner benefits?
 Do you provide inclusion and diversity training for all
employees?
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What does your Business need to do?
 Do you know where you would stand on the Human
Rights Campaign’s Equality Index?
 Do you market or advertise to the LGBT community?
 If you have employee resource groups, do you have
an LGBT ERG?
 Are inappropriate behaviors challenged?
 Such as jokes
 Comments
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Employee Resource Groups
 Who has them in Northeast Ohio
 What is the Business Case for them
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Cleveland Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Employee Resource Group active or
emerging in Northeast Ohio
 American Greetings
 Cleveland Clinic Foundation
 CWRU
Alumni
 Students
Deloitte
Ernst & Young
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Key Bank
MetroHealth Systems
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney
NEORSD
PNC
Progressive
University Hospitals
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The Pillars of the LGBT ERG
Business Case
 From the Company
Point of View
 From an Employee
Point of View
 Recruitment
 Visibility
 Retention
 Networking
 Professional
opportunities
 Leadership
Development
 Peer mentoring
 Help drive company
policy and/or business
development
Development
 Business Development
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The Not so Standard Disclaimer
 Most data that supports the impacts of employee
resource groups is based on non-LGBT groups
 Very few data sources regarding the effect of a
LGBT ERG
 Data is not collected at the organization level
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No box to check
 Data collected is self disclosed and not necessarily
reflective of the LGBT population in general
 Great deal of anecdotal data
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Conclusions and Thoughts
 Employee Resource Groups in general have shown
success in improving results along the four
dimensions of the business case:
 Recruiting
 Retention
 Professional Development
 Business Development
 Data has not been collected effectively to measure
the impact of LGBT ERG’s to date.
 The business case needs to be developed specific to
the organization that the ERG resides in.
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Questions?
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Thomas Hawn, Board President
P.O. Box 91697
Cleveland, Ohio 44143
Phone: 888.953.9879 Ext 13
Cell: 216.390.2111
Email: Foundation@thinkplexus.org
www.PlexusEducationFoundation.org
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Recruitment
 Studies Show:
 People are attracted to companies that have policies that
provide inclusiveness to them as individuals
 Matching recruiter attributes to desired candidates
increases recruiting pools
 The environment of the employer must match in terms of
policies and recruiter attributes
 Anecdotal Information:
 Ernst and Young wanted to move an out partner from
France to Cleveland. The existence of the ERG and
partnership with other groups persuaded the partner to
relocate.
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Retention
 Studies Show:
 The involvement of female and minority employees
has resulted in increased retention of those groups.
 The data is mixed on the percentage impact.
 Female and minority employees show a positive
psychological contract between themselves and the
organization.
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Professional Development
 Studies Show
 Mentoring programs and involvement with ERG’s has
shown a direct impact on the growth of women and minority
employees into mid-level management cohorts.
 Involvement in ERG’s has shown increased visibility of
female and minority employees to senior management
through the programs and efforts of ERG’s
 Intra-ERG mentoring programs can provide increased
exposure and support for LGBT employees. i.e. role
models
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Business Development
 Many organizations use their ERG’s to provide input, direction and
ideas to create and improve business results
 Frito Lay has a business case showing the use of their Hispanic
ERG to develop new products and appropriate packaging to
reach the Hispanic market
 A number of financial services companies have used their
Hispanic and LGBT ERG’s to develop specific marketing and
products to reach these respective populations.
 Using ERG’s and inclusion policies companies market and
promote their policies to LGBT individuals. i.e. HRC Indices,
Target, Best Buy, etc.
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A Member’s Perspective
 The Four Pillars of the business case represent a
sponsoring organization’s point of view
 Don’t forget the member’s point of view
 What’s in it for me?
 How will it help me?
 Why should I join?
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The Employee Value Proposition
 What’s in it for me? How will it help me? Why should
I join?
 Visibility
 Networking opportunities
 Leadership Development
 Peer mentoring
 Help drive company policy and/or business
development
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Thomas Hawn, Board President
P.O. Box 91697
Cleveland, Ohio 44143
Phone: 888.953.9879 Ext 13
Cell: 216.390.2111
Email: Foundation@thinkplexus.org
www.PlexusEducationFoundation.org
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