Essay Sample on LGBT Workplace Diversity

Introduction

Diversity in the workplace is described as the recognition and celebration of dissimilarities in individuals in line with their sexual orientation, age, culture, social class or ethnicity. Hence, workplace diversity and equality has been a concern in the United States, and therefore, the federal laws have been put in place to prevent and regulate discrimination of employees. Other than the federal laws for such regulations it is important that organizations promote equality and diversity so that diverse inclusive is enhanced (Ashe & Nazroo, 2017). Workplace diversity is of different types this including culture, ethnicity, religion and LGBT inclusion.

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LGBT is as also known as the gay community that is defined as a grouping of lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender and other social movements. The group is said to enjoy diversity, sexuality and pride for who they are and what they do. However, due to the differences between this group and the norms of the society workplace discrimination is likely to be experienced. The essay will discuss and assess the effort displayed by employers in promoting the LGBT because of their great concern on the corporate image-building compared to what is considered as the genuine inclusion (Ng & Rumens, 20117)

Managing Equality and Diversity at Work

Equality and diversity at work seeks to include everyone for equal participation in organizational development. Therefore, it will be important that the management of organizations communicate about their inclusion factors as well as values of diversity to employees currently employed and the potential employees. In this case, leaders are the people who promote the commitment of the organization to equality and diversity using a number of factors. This includes the fact that they encourage diverse application from employees, develop an equality and diversity training program, lead as an example and instituting different belonging groups.

An organization that is committed to embracing equality and diversity in its workplace, assists employees from different groups find a community that could make them feel appreciated within the organization. Additionally, the organization will be committed to reaching out for affirmative hiring to the diverse groups. This goes beyond creating equal opportunities for these groups so that it is possible for the organization to gain their support. Besides, all the activities carried out in an organization to build on equality and diversity has earned benefits for the organization as well as the surrounding community. A diverse workforce by itself means that the organization has pooled together ideas, resources, energies, and skills that enable the company to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors in the market (Sherbin & Rashid, 2017).

However, equality and diversity in the workplace has been heard and not experienced in many of our organizations. In this case, employers are aware of the importance of diversity but have not embraced it in the working stations. Some of the factors that lead to such cases include generation gaps in the organization. People from different generations cannot work in a similar manner because these groups of people have different perceptions on how to perform their duties. This means that all the equality and diversities that should be embraced have not been met based on the different appreciation aspects of the organization. An organization could be effective in ensuring that workplace diversity and equality has been attained while in another organization these aspects do not matter. . Like defined from the diversity management, it goes beyond offering equal opportunities to all communities because it is the management of procedures and policies. The policies and procedures should embrace the different forms of diversity from all areas this including religion, culture, sexual orientation, and moral difference.

The Concept of LGBT Workplace Diversity

Social justice theory is used to describe social identity groups that are formed to meet the desires of all individuals. Hence, the process of attaining this in the context of LGBT workplace diversity will require that people adhere and respect the human diversity. However, violence and inequality has been continuously faced by people due to who they are, how they love or how they look. The sexual orientation of an individual as well as gender identity is an integral part of who we are, and this should not at any point lead to discrimination of any kind (Harley & Teaster, 2016). The members of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender has, however, faced a lot of unfair treatment and which has not been well addressed. Most important is the unequal opportunities offered to them in the workplace hence, developing a need to have laws and policies that protect this group so that human dignity is maintained. The LGBT rights are currently ascertained but not fully accepted in some countries and completely banned in others. Hence, there is need to assess the role played by employers in organizations to promote LGBT as they promote and manage equality and diversity at work for better performance.

Sexual orientation is identified as a hidden factor from the employers by their employees because of the stigma and discrimination that comes along with it. Therefore, people will not often disclose their sexual orientation if it is what is acceptable in the community which has a negative impact on the employee-employer relationship. For instance, members of Lesbian, gay and bisexual group live in fear in case their orientation is disclosed to their employers because in most cases they face bullying, physical violence, exclusion and even loss of their jobs (Galupo & Resnick, 2016). Even after making steps forward to move on with the LGBT equality in the workplace, most employees in this group of workers face increased fear to lose their jobs. Currently, in America and several other countries, LGBT rights have been granted to the people; hence, they are a recognized and highly accepted community in the country.

The federal law has not developed new protection laws for LGBT workers so that they are not subjected to workplace discrimination. Therefore, in this case, a large population group has gone through experiences of employment discrimination. However, this is not only bad for this group of individuals because businesses are also facing losses based on these discriminations. This is because the group of individuals is said to have a high population in the society hence influencing the performance of businesses in the country. The business case for diversity, shows that the current workforce has fully embraced the diversity of perspectives. Hence, the results of this kind of management in the organization has reduced costs and increased profit generation. The leaders have since been urged to take action and include the LGBT supporting policies in the workplaces so that this group of individuals feels safe while they disclose their sexual orientation (Butler-Henderson et al., 2018).

Organizations have developed and introduced a number of non-discrimination policies that govern the employees with different sexual orientation. Moreover, a large percentage of these companies have gone the extra mile to make sure that LGBT families benefit from health and insurance benefits (Webster et al., 2018). Thus, businesses will be successful because employees will be motivated and committed to providing skills and knowledge in the business.

However, this has not been as successful to others as it has been for these group because most of the affected individuals are yet to enjoy the protection against workplace discrimination. In this case, LGBT culture is still a crime in many countries as well as organizations. Therefore, companies in such areas will fight for their brand image because they do not want to go against the beliefs and culture of their customers. In this case, the organization will be fighting for its corporate image-building other than genuinely include diversity in their workplace. The corporate image is defined as the way the company is seen by the public and what it actually presents to the public (Perez & del Bosque, 2015). Therefore, because they are no existing formal contact between the public and the corporation, it is important that the company gives an appropriate mental image to those seeing it. Hence, an appealing public image is used for such purposes to make sure that the public likes what the company does and how it actually does it to create an interest in them and brand equity.

In these cases, employers' promotion to LGBT diversity will depend on the community surrounding the organization. Corporate image-building could then suggest that members of LGBT are encouraged and hired in the organizations while on the other hand, it would suggest that it is completely burnt to protect its image. For instance, companies in the United States have effectively shown their support to LGBT equality rights to show their commitment. This has been done through several means including public support, policy support as well as their partnership with the LGBT community (Snyder, 2015). One of the key reasons for this action plan is the fact that this group holds a high population in the country. Therefore, lack of support from the LGBT organizations or social movements will result in them suffering huge losses and losing the relevance in the market (Perez & del Bosque, 2015). Furthermore, most of these companies are dealing with products directly targeting young adults who are great supporters of LGBT rights. In this case, these groups suggest that they will make repeat businesses with organizations that offer an LGBT-friendly community for these families.

As mentioned above, the corporate is building its image based on what the public want to see and hear for them to make profits. Therefore, the employee's uniqueness should be valued so that it is easy to live with each of them. In this kind of an organization, employees will live with less anxiety and reduced stress making it easy to give their best (Zugelder & Champagne, 2018). Hence, in such an organization the impact of equality and organization diversity is achieved. However, this does not show the genuine inclusion of employees in the workplace because the market demand is what has driven the organizations to include LGBT employees.

Besides, in a workplace that embraces friendly LGBT practices and policies, there will be a positive impact on the members; hence, their commitment to working for this company. Furthermore, employees from this group will like to look for companies that offer such working conditions so that they do not live in fear. Therefore, the organization will most likely enjoy having the best skills compared to those that reject and fail to offer protection policies. Therefore, the organization should be keen to develop an organizational culture that lives up to date with the occurrences of things so that employees are supported at all times. Hence, the policies and practices in that organization should be used to develop and build the corporate image because this will reflect the type of employees each of them will have.

On the other hand, organizations in countries where the rights for sexual orientation practices have been declined, will in most cases decline to employ individuals from this group. Therefore, the members of LBGT will hide their identity in the workplace because they fear to lose their employment (Limsiaco, 2019). In case, their status will be unknown, suffer discrimination in pay, promotion and other relevant areas at the workplace will be experienced. Therefore, the organization will unknowingly employ people, while they try t...