Anyone in the LGBTQI community, whether working in an office or a construction site, is nervous about how their coworkers will treat them once they learn whatever truth they are living. While it has undoubtedly become more commonplace to be accepting of homosexuality today, for the trans community, their remains a substantial gap in how non-binary people are treated by their business peers and management and their cisgender coworkers. Part of this is simply ignorance, as even though as transgender stories are finally being told in movies, tv, and covered in the news, the emergence of the transgender individual as a recognized part of the community as a whole, is still relatively new. Progress has been made, but not enough towards normalizing the transgendered as to be entirely accepted by the mainstream as just another diverse member, as humdrum as people with blue eyes in a town with mostly brown-eyed people.
All this being said, many companies want to support their transgender employees in a way that is sensitive and compassionate. Truthfully, many times people are not even aware that they are being offensive, why something they have said can be so hurtful, or the struggles a transgender person has already faced in their life. In these cases, education is the most useful tool towards making a healthy, non-hostile work environment for everyone. This is what TransNewYork is offering Organizational Education.
Much the same way racial diversity and women’s equal rights were promoted during the latter part of the twentieth century, transgender workers in all fields require support, and from the top down. Companies and businesses that do not embrace practices that treasure diversity and equality in their mission statement are less likely to institute a policy to back up those ideals regarding the trans community. For those that do, they may assume that means hiring more people in the trans community, but that is just the first step. Everyone should feel comfortable in the place they work, but the benefits of having a cohesive staff that works well together goes beyond politically correct lip service. Statistics support the fact that more diverse staffing in the workplace offers more diversity of ideas, problem-solving, and creativity, which ultimately improves bottom lines.
So many can benefit from Transgender Non-Conforming (TGNC) Training. There are programs for Human Resource department members to learn how to adjust policy for how gender impacts individuals in the workplace. Additionally, this training provides strategies and the best practices in building and communicating in an inclusive environment.
Beyond team training, Gender-Related Consulting Services, Speeches and Webinars, Customized workshops and training experiences, and small group facilitated discussion session, TGNC also offers specific education for individuals struggling with understanding the “complexity and importance of diversity with an emphasis on the trans community.” In other words, if one person on your staff is struggling to “get it”, while everyone else is working well together, more specific training may be required if that person wants to enjoy future employment with that company. TGNC can help navigate the reasons behind the struggle and hopefully overcome that learned behavior.
This education is desperately needed in every kind of workplace for all staff members to function at optimum efficiency and satisfaction. No one is helped when there is tension and extreme emotion- hatred, despair, rage, to name a few. We spend most of our waking hours at work, shouldn’t everyone do what they can to make those hours calm and productive? If you are a business or individual who thinks their company could stand to be educated on diversity; if you are transgender who has experienced unfairness or harassment from coworkers/management-check out the TNGC page on the TransNewYork website or contact us to find out which of our programming can best serve you.