他她话题:营造性取向宽容环境

When Lord Browne left his role as BP chief executive, amid rumours about his sexuality, he said it “was simply unacceptable to be gay in business”. 当布朗勋爵(Lord Browne)因个人性取向的传言而辞去英国石油(BP)首席执行官职位时，他表示，“同性恋是肯定不会被商界接纳的”。 The remark was made in 2007. But is the workplace of 2012 any more gay friendly? 他说这番话的时间是2007年。但是，2012年的职场对同性恋者是否更宽容一些呢？ Attitudes do seem to be changing in the corporate world, with 86 per cent of Fortune 500 firms now banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In the UK, leading companies are included among the 2012 Workplace Equality Index of Britain’s most gay friendly employers produced by Stonewall, the campaigning organisation. 商界的态度看来确实已开始变化，现在86%的《财富》500强公司禁止以性取向为由的歧视行为。在英国，在同性恋维权组织“石墙”(Stonewall)制作的2012年“工作场所平等指数”(Workplace Equality Index)中，一些顶级公司进入了英国最宽容同性恋的雇主榜单。 There is a legal imperative too: the 2010 Equality Act brought existing equalities legislation together and introduced “the public sector equality duty”, requiring public bodies to deal with inequalities experienced by staff and customers. 态度转变也是法律的要求。英国2010年《平等法》(Equality Act)统合了现有的平等法规，并规定了“公共部门平等责任”，要求公共机构处理员工和顾客遭遇的不平等经历。 According to Colleen Humphrey, Stonewall’s director of workplace diversity: “It’s hard to believe but 10 years ago it was perfectly legal for an employer to dismiss gay staff just because of their sexual orientation. That only changed in 2003, when Stonewall helped secure protection for gay people in law. “石墙”工作场所多元化总监科琳．汉弗莱(Colleen Humphrey)表示：“很难相信，就在10年之前，雇主纯粹以性取向为由解雇同性恋员工还是完全合法的。这一状况直到2003年才开始改变，当时“石墙”帮助把保护同性恋员工的内容写进了法律。 “Stonewall later established the Diversity Champions programme – Britain’s employers’ forum on sexual orientation. We know from working with more than 600 diversity champions in every sector that people perform better when they can be themselves...Today, a fifth of the UK’s workforce is employed by diversity champions.” “后来，‘石墙’启动了多元化冠军项目，这是英国雇主的性取向论坛。我们从自己与各行各业600多家多元化冠军公司的合作中发现，当员工能够做真实的自己时，他们的表现会更好。如今，多元化冠军公司雇佣的员工人数占英国劳动力队伍的五分之一。” However, recent comments by Lord Browne reveal there is still much more to be done for business to accommodate the needs of Britain’s 1.7m lesbian, gay and bisexual employees. Speaking at the launch of a lesbian and gay, bisexual and transgender network set up by Arup, he said business is still less tolerant than other areas of life and called for “concrete targets” to measure progress. 然而，布朗勋爵近来的话表明，商界还应采取更多的措施，照顾英国170万女同性恋、男同性恋和双性恋员工的需求。在工程顾问公司奥雅纳(Arup)设立的LGBT（女同性恋者、男同性恋者、双性恋者与跨性别者）网络的发起仪式上，布朗表示，商界的宽容度仍比不上其他社会领域，并呼吁设定衡量进展的“具体目标”。 Also highlighting continuing concern is Trouble at Work, a book by Ralph Fevre, Amanda Robinson and Trevor Jones of Cardiff School of Social Sciences and Duncan Lewis of Plymouth Business School, and published by Bloomsbury Academic. It reveals how lesbian, gay and bisexual employees are much more likely to report ill-treatment, particularly from managers. 《工作中的麻烦》(Trouble at Work)一书也道出了继续存在的担忧。该书作者为卡迪夫社会科学学院(Cardiff School of Social Sciences)的拉尔夫．费夫尔(Ralph Fevre)、阿曼达．罗宾逊(Amanda Robinson)和特蕾弗．琼斯(Trevor Jones)，以及普利茅斯商学院(Plymouth Business School)的邓肯．刘易斯(Duncan Lewis)，由布鲁姆斯伯里学术出版公司(Bloomsbury Academic)出版。该书表示，同性恋和双性恋员工受到不公平对待（尤其是来自管理人员的不公平对待）的可能性比其他人大得多。 They experience humiliation, intimidation and hints that they should quit. In the largest study of its kind, LGBT employees were shown to be 12 times more likely than straight colleagues to be given hints to leave and four times more likely to be threatened. Gay or bisexual employees were also five times more likely to report violence at work compared with heterosexual colleagues, and the figures show an escalating pattern of ill treatment. 他们会遭遇侮辱、恐吓以及他们应当辞职的暗示。这方面最大规模的调查显示，LGBT员工比普通员工得到辞职暗示的可能性高12倍，受到威胁的可能性高4倍。与异性恋员工相比，同性恋或双性恋员工报告在工作中遭遇暴力的可能性也要高5倍，同时数字显示，他们受到的不公平对待不断升级。 Working in a non gay-friendly business environment can leave employees feeling isolated because they can’t be themselves. 在对同性恋不够宽容的公司环境里工作，可能让员工感到孤立，因为他们不能做真实的自己。 Stonewall research found that lesbian, gay and bisexual staff who worked in such environments found it difficult to develop working relationships with colleagues, with their confidence and creativity suffering. The effort of self-censoring their behaviour was draining. “石墙”研究表明，在这样的环境里工作的女同性恋、男同性恋和双性恋员工发现，他们很难和同事发展工作关系，信心和创造力也受到影响。自我审查自身行为的努力，白白耗费着他们的精力。 Critically, companies failing to foster a comfortable environment for gay staff, are missing out. Liz Bingham, managing partner for people at Ernst & Young, observes that in the past seven years, the diversity agenda has moved from a “nice to do” space into “hard edged business rationale”. 关键在于，未能给同性恋员工营造宽松环境的公司，正在坐失良机。安永(Ernst & Young)管理合伙人利斯．宾汉(Liz Bingham)认为，过去7年，多元化议程已从“不妨做的好事”变成“商业的硬道理”。 She says: “Due to the current economic environment, the only way firms can grow is to increase market share so you need the best people – the most talented heterosexual and gay employees alike will be deterred by an environment in which staff can’t truly be themselves. And fishing in a narrow pool of straight white men means you limit the chance to bring in amazing talent. 她表示：“鉴于当前的经济环境，公司实现增长的唯一方式是扩大市场份额，所以就需要网罗顶尖人才——无论是双性恋还是同性恋员工，只要工作环境不能让他们做真实的自己，都会在这样的环境面前却步。眼光狭隘地盯在异性恋白人男性身上，意味着你招募到杰出人才的可能性很小。 “I speak personally as a lesbian,” says Ms Bingham. “The acceleration in my personal development has been striking since coming out. I have a responsibility to model this in the business, creating an environment where everyone can succeed. “我本人是一名女同性恋者，”宾汉表示，“我‘出柜’后，个人发展的加速是非常惊人的。我有责任在企业里以此为借鉴，营造人人都能成功的环境。 “There’s a powerful business case for getting it right. Authenticity is very important, whether dealing with clients or leading teams; they want to see a leader they can trust. We are also increasingly asked to demonstrate our diversity credentials, especially in the US.”. “妥善把握是非常符合商业利益的。真切非常重要，无论与客户打交道还是带领团队时都是如此；他们希望看到一位自己能够信任的领导者。我们越来越多地被要求展现自己的多样性，尤其是在美国。” Top of the Stonewall Index, Ernst & Young can now measure the business case after conducting global research around the correlation of employee engagement and the performance of business units. There was a clear link between those businesses with high engagement scores and the best profitability. 领衔“石墙”指数的安永(Ernst & Young)在对员工投入度与业务部门业绩之间的关联进行全球调查后，现在能够衡量多元化的商业必要性。对企业来说，在员工投入度上得到高分与盈利能力最强之间存在着明显的关联。 Law firm Simmons & Simmons LLP was another award winner. Partner David Stone is co-chair of the firm’s LGBT network. He agrees being gay friendly is a social and business imperative, with banks and financial institutions especially keen to see this in suppliers. Good practice helps attract the best lawyers and support staff – and retain them. 西盟斯律师事务所(Simmons & Simmons LLP)是另一家获奖单位。合伙人戴维．斯通(David Stone)是公司LGBT网络的联合主席。他同意，对同性恋表现出宽容态度，已成为社会和商业层面的必做之事，银行和金融机构尤其希望看到供应商做到这一点。良好的公司实践能够吸引最优秀的律师和辅助员工，并且把他们留住。 Fostering a more gay friendly environment means having chief executive or board level accountability for policy and linking the equality and diversity strategy to the company’s aims and values. Policies should be audited to ensure they take lesbian, gay and bisexual factors into account and incidents must be monitored. 营造对同性恋更宽容的环境意味着，必须让首席执行官和董事会承担政策责任，并且把平等及多元化战略与公司的目标和价值观联系起来。政策应当接受审核，以确保它们纳入同性恋和双性恋因素。相关事件必须得到监控。 Having gay staff as visible role models and senior lead champions also helps – as does engaging “straight allies” to support equality, often with “reverse mentoring” programmes, which can see junior staff coaching more senior colleagues.

让同性恋员工成为看得见的榜样和高级管理人员也很有帮助，与“异性恋盟友”联合支持平等也是一样——往往通过“逆向辅导”方式，让职位较低的员工辅导更资深的员工。 Gay networks also offer a social and business function and help gauge reaction to policy. Education workshops and engagement programmes with clients are also effective as is involving gay partners. Companies must offer guidance on challenging homophobic behaviour. 同性恋网络也提供社会和商业功能，并有助于衡量政策引发的反应。教育研讨会和客户参与项目也很有效，让同性恋合作伙伴参与也是一样。在挑战厌恶同性恋的行为方面，企业必须提供指引。 Staff need to be supported globally, too: as being gay is illegal in more than 70 countries, and with different legislative frameworks abroad, postings overseas need careful management. 员工也需要在全球范围内得到支持：目前同性恋在70多个国家是非法的；由于国外有着不同的法律框架，向海外派遣人员需要谨慎的管理。 IBM is another company that prides itself on its record of diversity. In 1997, it provided full domestic benefits to lesbians and gays. Fred Balboni, IBM’s global leader for business analytics and optimisation, stresses that diversity is “deep in the DNA of IBM because it creates innovation”. IBM是另一家为自己的多元化记录感到自豪的企业。1997年，IBM就对同性恋提供全面家庭津贴。IBM全球商业分析和优化主管弗雷德．巴尔博尼(Fred Balboni)强调，多元化“深入IBM的基因之中，因为它有助于带来创新。” He says: “Populations of the world are very diverse so it is important to stay close to our clients, to look and act like them. LGBT is a subset of a broader diversity agenda as it creates innovation. It’s also good for social justice, so right for our people.” 他表示：“世界人口多种多样，因此，与客户保持密切关系、与他们言行一致很重要。LGBT是一项全面多元化议程的子集，因为它能够带来创新。而且这也有利于社会正义，因此对我们来说是正确的。” IBM’s “Eagle” – employee network groups in the local community – started in the US about 15 years ago and now operate in 25 countries. The company’s “About You” indicator enables employees to identify themselves formally as LGBT workers. This then enables HR staff to track equal pay and career advancement. 15年前，IBM在美国发起的“鹰”计划——当地社区的雇员网络团体，现在已经扩展到25个国家。公司的“关于你”指标，让雇员能够正式确认自己是LGBT员工。这样，人力资源部员工就可以追踪他们是否获得了平等薪酬和职业晋升。 Dianah Worman, diversity adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, reminds employers that once staff are “out” they cannot go back. Employers can raise expectations for gay staff but people will grow disillusioned if nothing is delivered. 英国特许人事和发展协会(Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development)的多元化顾问戴安娜．沃曼(Dianah Worman)提醒雇主，一旦员工“出柜”，他们就没有回头路可走了。雇主能够提高同性恋员工的预期，但如果什么都没有兑现，人们会大失所望。 She thinks champions and other initiatives work well but personal responsibility must also be cultivated and line managers equipped to look at the issues in a broader context. Rigid cultures of any kind can be daunting so people need both to feel respected and respect their colleagues. 她认为，冠军和其他倡议效果良好，但也必须培养个人责任，部门经理必须学会在更广阔的背景下看待这些问题。任何僵化的文化都会让人望而生畏，因此人们既要感觉得到了尊重，也要尊重自己的同事。 Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme offers specialist resources for organisations seeking to become an employer of choice for LGB talent. A starting point is asking staff what they want – for example via anonymous surveys – building in a question on sexual orientation. “石墙”的多元化冠军计划为寻求成为LGBT人才首选雇主的组织提供专业资源。一个起点是询问员工他们想要什么——例如通过匿名调查——其中植入一个关于性取向的问题。 But for some employees, gay friendly policies cannot mask the fact that problems remain. According to one senior media professional: “The idea of a diversity champion fills me with dread. If I knew that a company was not gay friendly then I probably wouldn’t go and work there – not because I would be concerned that people wouldn’t respect me, but because I wouldn’t want to work somewhere that doesn’t display the kind of tolerance and equality that I believe should run through all of society. I recognise that it doesn’t, but it is up to me to make my own choices and stand up for myself.” 但对某些雇员而言，对同性恋友好的政策，不能掩盖问题仍然存在的事实。一位资深媒体专业人士表示：“多元化冠军的构想让我充满担忧。如果我知道一家公司对同性恋不友好，那么我很可能不会去那里工作，不是因为我担心人们不会尊重我，而是因为我不想在不愿展现宽容和平等的地方工作。我相信，这种宽容和平等应该充满社会每个角落。我知道现在的社会还没有走到这一步，但我有权做出自己的选择，勇敢地站起来。”