diversity paper final
Natalie Zermeno
OLS 454
Spring 2014
Gender & Diversity in Management
Diversity Paper
When you go to work, you clock in, and you go about doing your job. You converse with your coworkers. You go to lunch with your co-workers. You even talk about what each of you is going to do on the weekend. This is a normal routine for you and for most people. Well, for some people, it is not. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) individuals struggle each and every day throughout their days to have a normal workday, like the rest of us tend to have. They don't get to come to work and converse with their coworkers, like the rest of us. They don't get to comfortably attend a lunch date with a coworker and it be considered normal. They don't get to even talk about what one another are going to do over the weekend. These things are not considered socially acceptable or even normal to people whom are not gay, lesbian, transgender, or bisexual. This is what I will be focusing on over the course of this paper. The specific work related or job related concerns and issues gay employees often encounter that are not encountered, or not encountered, as often, by heterosexual employees. I will also be discussing some strategies and recommendations for dealing with those identified concerns. I have conducted some research that I will go over in the course of this paper that will help me to explain my rational.
The number one issue I want to talk about is discrimination. Discrimination has been noted as one of the top issues in my research. There were many forms of discrimination that I found in regards to LGBT individuals. Work, to a lot of us, is considered our second home. If you work 8-12-hour days, you spend 33.3-50% of your day at your job. Do the math, and add up a 5-6 day workweek, you’re at work quite a bit. According to Catalyst (2012): The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy aggregated a number of surveys that examined discrimination
OLS 454
Spring 2014
Gender & Diversity in Management
Diversity Paper
When you go to work, you clock in, and you go about doing your job. You converse with your coworkers. You go to lunch with your co-workers. You even talk about what each of you is going to do on the weekend. This is a normal routine for you and for most people. Well, for some people, it is not. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) individuals struggle each and every day throughout their days to have a normal workday, like the rest of us tend to have. They don't get to come to work and converse with their coworkers, like the rest of us. They don't get to comfortably attend a lunch date with a coworker and it be considered normal. They don't get to even talk about what one another are going to do over the weekend. These things are not considered socially acceptable or even normal to people whom are not gay, lesbian, transgender, or bisexual. This is what I will be focusing on over the course of this paper. The specific work related or job related concerns and issues gay employees often encounter that are not encountered, or not encountered, as often, by heterosexual employees. I will also be discussing some strategies and recommendations for dealing with those identified concerns. I have conducted some research that I will go over in the course of this paper that will help me to explain my rational.
The number one issue I want to talk about is discrimination. Discrimination has been noted as one of the top issues in my research. There were many forms of discrimination that I found in regards to LGBT individuals. Work, to a lot of us, is considered our second home. If you work 8-12-hour days, you spend 33.3-50% of your day at your job. Do the math, and add up a 5-6 day workweek, you’re at work quite a bit. According to Catalyst (2012): The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy aggregated a number of surveys that examined discrimination