A third of employers think employee benefits fail to offer insufficient support for LGBTQ+ employees, according to new research from Peppy.
In total 63 per cent of employers surveyed said it can be hard to get senior management to buy in to benefits that do not support the majority of employees. However, 34 per cent of respondents strongly agreed that employee benefits play a key role in fostering diversity and inclusion within the workplace.
The research found that two thirds through there is a strong business case to provide employee benefits that demonstrate diversity and inclusion, alongside the moral and societal benefit.
The research from Peppy, the wellbeing platform, found most employers (64 per cent) try to engage with their employees about benefit offerings. Encouraging it found 62 per cent of employers believe they must actively seek employee benefits for minority groups within the workplace to demonstrate their diversity and inclusion.
However, 65 per cent said their organisation does not have employee benefits for specific minority groups, as they believe their benefits are broad enough to support all their employees.
Peppy COE Mridula Pore says: “It’s important to bear in mind that not everyone in minority groups or the LGBTQ+ community wants their private life to be known within the workplace, and some employees will be on a journey to determine their own identity. With this in mind, it’s important not to label certain benefits as only being appropriate for certain employees as this could prevent people from accessing help when they most need it.
“Not all employee benefits may meet the needs of the LGBTQ+ community but many will, whilst also offering comprehensive support to the wider employee community too. Employers need to be selective about which employee benefits providers they choose to partner with and should raise the issue of support for different minority communities when looking at who to work with.”
Three out of five (60 per cent) of employers say their organisation’s diversity and inclusion policy makes reference to the specific employee benefits that it offers for minority groups, which shows that many employers are thinking about ways to integrate and embed support into day-to-day operations.
Pore adds: “It’s great to see that organisations are joining the dots between their policies for minority groups and the benefits that they offer – this is really switched-on thinking and shows that an increasing number of employers are embedding D&I in to the fabric of their organisations.”
Pore points out that one of the areas in which the LGBTQ+ community can feel isolated is that of fertility. Deciding to start a family can involve complex fertility treatments including donor sperm, donor eggs, surrogacy or adoption which can create financial, legal and emotional strains.
Pore says that while these areas can also be an issue for heterosexual couples, there are additional complications for LGBTQ+ people so it’s really important for employers to be aware of the challenges this group faces and ensure that they offer relevant support.
Bespoke support from specialist clinical experts is a great benefit and confidentiality is a must.
Dr Mridula Pore said: “It’s vitally important that employers select benefits that are appropriate for everyone but with sufficient breadth and depth to meet the needs of every individual.”