Sexual Orientation Diversity in the Workplace

     Career Diversity

 When talking about diversity in the workplace it is something that is important and all companies should take into consideration. Many companies brag and talk about how their company offers a diverse environment for everyone, but many just assume it is based off of race, age, or health and not many take into consideration and importance of having sexual orientation as an important part of diversity in the workplace.

Introduce the diversity topic and summarize the main points of the article

 The Article that I chose to use was the Sexuality as a Diversity Factor-An Examination of Awareness in the Article it talks about how to break down sexual orientation and how more people should be aware of people’s orientation. It breaks down into many definitions and talks about the complexity behind it. The main point from this Article is to show how there is a development in companies being unaware over many years that it is important to involve everyone no matter their sexual orientation. In the recent studies within the article it shows, “…This finding is consistent with Schon’s (1987) assertion that two individuals confronted by an issue will likely differ in their perception of the issue based on their perspective or meaning schema. Responses indicate that some individuals are unaware of the various facets of sexuality.”

Discuss your thoughts about this issue. Include whether you agree/disagree with the main points. Explain your reasoning.

 I enjoyed how the article had many definitions within it and it talks about what it means and how sexual harassment and everything can be looked over in many situations. The job I have now has a zero tolerance policy, that talks about how nobody should be judged based off sexual orientation and has just as much of a chance of getting hired as the next person. I think that is something that is important especially now in these times. We have so many people with different genders and different orientation that we should be more accepting and cognoscente of what is around us. It is important to put all of our bias aside and see the person for their skill set and not what their orientation is. This is also seen as another form of harassment that goes on in the workplace. What I found interesting and is also a sad reality is the fact that, “There are federal laws that protect against workplace discrimination based on race, sex, national origin, age, religion, pregnancy status, and disability. Unfortunately, there is currently no federal statute prohibiting private sector sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace. However, if you work for the federal government, you are protected from sexual orientation discrimination.” I like how it was mostly factual bases and it was more data research compared to opinionated piece. “The results demonstrate that employees within the same workplace context have different stages of awareness development around the five facets of sexuality. The results also show that the stage of awareness development around sexual orientation and gender identity is substantially different—less developed—than the stage of awareness development for sex discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual attraction.” Lack of understanding of the areas of sexuality can be stressful and could potentially hurt the workplace and the environment. This eventually leads to a hostile environment causing issues beyond what is needed.

Discuss how and why this issue is relevant to career development in general.

This issue is very relevant to career development because many people already feel discouraged and when you sexual orientation differs from others makes it that much harder to feel confident and move up in your career. It is important to understand the challenges faced by people who have a different orientation. It is important to understand the hardships that many have to go through to work their way up in the workplace. Many workers face many unique challenges that influence their careers and workplace experiences. There is an ongoing pattern that many face and can be stressful on deciding decision about whether or not or even when to disclose their sexual identity in the workplace. The majority of the people in the LGBTQ community try to conceal their sexual identity to some certain degree at work, but others try to at least make it known or have people at least be aware. It has to be hard on some people to talk about this topic and if we don’t have a friendly and welcoming environment it makes it that much more challenging for many people to feel welcome. The second challenge that affects the careers and workplace experiences of LGBTQ workers is that discrimination against LGBTQ employees who are gay, or simply appear to be gay, is legal in most workplaces in the United States and abroad. As a consequence, LGBTQ employees are particularly vulnerable to

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Discrimination is another big issue that might affect many LGBTQ people in their career development. Since discrimination against LGBTQ workers is widespread and something that is very common, being able to be open and aware of someone’s sexuality shouldn’t have to be a bad thing and shouldn’t make someone feel less of themselves. There has been many instances where people end up resulting in social rejection, job termination, and even physical assault all because they have a different preference. This makes things very uneasy for many people and makes things much more challenging for the LGBTQ Community and feeling safe in regards to their career and community.

Relationships are so important, not matter what you do. Creating connections and being able to have a bond with your coworkers is always great to have. That way you are able to provide career support, guidance, and assistance. You want to be able to know that you have people you can talk to and can give you advice with work. Connections are important when working in many different careers and you never know what might come your way when you making those connection. Better opportunities come your way, but if you feel intimidated or feeling left out it makes that more challenging. You want to feel accepted at you place of work and I think that once we are all welcoming it makes things run smoother and it makes it easier for people to branch out.

Discuss thoroughly how the issue applies to you and your career choice.

 I have had many coworkers who have come out to me and have confide in me that they were gay, and I didn’t want them to feel less of themselves because of their sexual orientation. I am a firm believer that everyone should be treated with kindness no matter their situation. I had a friend who was gay and he never felt accepted in his work environment. He eventually quit that job and went to another place and I remember him loving it. He felt welcomed right off the bat and he noticed that his place of work had policies implemented and were taken seriously at his work. If he ever felt discouraged there was always people to talk. There was policies in place and way to communicate with the boss’s if there was something going on without retaliation. This made things so much simpler for him. Eventually I will be working in a Hospital and will be overseeing Doctors, nurses, and surgeons. I want to make sure that they feel comfortable in their environed no matter what the case may be. I will be accepting and hope that people won’t be afraid to come to me if they have an issue or if someone they are working with are treating them unfairly. Hospitals should be diverse and I want to make sure that is a possibility without there being conflict.

Discuss how you would go about setting policies if you were the decision maker in a company in order to prevent/minimize challenges and issues related to diversity.

There will be a zero tolerance policy that I would make sure gets followed. I want to make sure that we have training in place to make sure people are aware that there should be no discriminatory actions going on in my workplace. I hope to eventually make sure that everyone feels welcome and feels safe and comfortable in their work environment. I want to make sure I have a reporting procedure that allows individuals to bring complaints of discrimination or harassment without the fear of having retaliation. I also want to try to be accommodating as far as dress code and other rules and regulation especially since times are changing and we should be able to adapt to each and every situation that has come across. I think that these little steps will be a great way to minimize discrimination in the workplace.

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This has made me really realize that no work place is really diligent about things like this. I think many forget that sexual orientation falls underneath the umbrella of Career Diversity. It is important to be aware and make sure things are being taken care of in the workplace and that there are so many issues that need to be fixed and I think if there were more policies in place then there would be a lot less discrimination in the workplace and there should be much more awareness.

    References

• Sexuality as a Diversity Factor: An Examination of Awareness. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249631556_Sexuality_as_a_Diversity_Factor_An_Examination_of_Awareness
• Sexual Orientation Discrimination in the Workplace. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://employment.findlaw.com/employment-discrimination/sexual-orientation-discrimination-in-the-workplace.html