Are your 'inclusive' benefits excluding transgender employees?

While the world grappled with the day-to-day restrictions brought on by COVID-19, the pandemic gave Ellie Parsons a newfound sense of freedom. 

Parsons,  the director of mobile engineering at Ovia Health, began her transition in 2020 as the world shifted to remote work, and working from home gave her the space to dress how she liked — in dresses and skirts — and discover her identity without the need for explanation. 

But when she was ready to come out, Parsons knew that she worked in an environment that would support her. While it didn’t make the prospect of coming out any less intimidating, it did take away the fear of rejection or retribution many transgender people struggle with in the workplace. 

“I kind of knew that everybody in the company was going to be very supportive and accepting, just because I had already seen it as part of our company culture,” says Parsons, who first confided in a close, non-binary colleague, and then told more members of the team after receiving that first boost of support. “It provided me with a lot of validation and it was just a very positive experience.”

Read More: Carrot CHRO explains how to ensure fertility benefits include LGBTQ families

Unfortunately, Parson’s experience is not always the norm for transgender employees. According to a recent survey conducted by online data analytics platform SurveyMonkey, transgender adults are 14 times more likely than cisgender adults to avoid using their authentic gender and pronouns in the workplace, and they are 10 times more likely to indicate that others intentionally use the wrong gender markers when referring to them. 

“There's a lot of conversations happening in the workforce right now about the idea of belonging and inclusion,” says Laura Wronski, director of research at SurveyMonkey. “But there's a huge disparity on experiences at work between cisgender adults and transgender adults or gender non-conforming adults.”

For Parsons, the outpouring of support she got at Ovia made it easier to do certain things outside of work that had felt daunting, like changing her legal name and sharing her pronouns. Ovia’s response, she says, will impact what she demands and expects from future workplaces.  

Read More: Microaggressions are keeping LGBTQ employees out of the office

That’s a sentiment shared by many trans folks, according to the survey. Eight-six percent of transgender workers say it's important to them that their employers have gender inclusive policies, while only half  of cisgender workers say the same. Presently, 38% of transgender workers say their employer isn’t doing enough to support them, and 36% say they still feel judged for requesting things such as gender neutral bathrooms. 

“The transgender community is clearly self-selecting into workplaces that have those inclusive policies, or they are advocating for those policies to be added once they get there,” Wronski says. 

According to Parsons, trans folk experience enough self-doubt —  the last place they need to feel additional uncertainty is at work. If they don’t feel safe and seen — or if they don’t have access to inclusive healthcare and mental health benefits — they’ll choose to do what’s best for them.

“I don't care how much money you throw at me,” Parsons says. “If you don't have those kinds of benefits [and culture] you're not supporting everybody and you're not inclusive.”