LGBTQ+ employees are finding acceptance in Indian companies, but inclusivity challenges exist still

About 15 years ago, Sonal Giani shared her sexuality with a manager at the organisation she worked for then. The manager explicitly said the information would remain confidential, but outed her because of internal processes. “I faced a lot of backlash—graffiti in the washrooms, sexual harassment, etc. When I tried to address it without coming out, it was very difficult. I had to leave the workplace,” says the 35-year-old Senior Technical Advisor (Diversity and Inclusion) at International Planned Parenthood Federation, who identifies as a bisexual non-binary person. A few years later, she joined a hotel that positioned itself as queer-friendly; but it turned out to be an unsafe space and this pushed her into severe depression. “I thought I would not be able to work anywhere and that I’m good for nothing. I had to undergo therapy for two years.” Thanks to that and subsequent career-building roles, she has progressed in her career. Else, she would have been left with fewer economic prospects.

LGBTQ+ commitments are growing louder in India Inc., at least on paper, driven by a younger and more socially aware consumer and talent pool. “Corporates are waking up to the fact that these are my consumers too and the talent I might be hiring. They are becoming more and more conscious that they may reject brands and corporations who don’t really care,” says author and workplace inclusion consultant Sharif D. Rangnekar, who identifies as gay. For instance, P&G India says it reflects directly on its business results. Referring to a Vicks ad campaign called ‘Touch of Care’, which featured a transgender woman adopting children, HR Head Srinivas P.M. says the cold & flu product is a leader in its category. “Many consumers want to relate to brands that have a shared value and belief with them and that translates into the love, preference and loyalty we see for our brands.”

Saundarya Rajesh, Founder and President of D&I consulting firm Avtar Group, says “Of the companies in our Most Inclusive Companies Index 2022, 82.5 per cent have LGBTQ+ networks. Seven years ago, it would not have been [even] 25 per cent. About 70 per cent of them engage on social media with LGBTQ+ candidates to say ‘Come, we are hiring’.” Health insurance provider Plum’s Co-founder and CEO Abhishek Poddar says one in 10 companies may proactively ask for LGBTQ+ cover, but the start-up managed to counsel about 90 per cent of its customer base to include it. “The group medical cover can now be extended to same-sex or live-in partners and can include gender-reassignment surgeries that were earlier not covered because they were considered cosmetic procedures,” he adds.

To be sure, in a country where women’s participation in the labour force is at just 19 per cent and where homosexuality was decriminalised only in September 2018, very few companies are trying to be truly inclusive. A January 2022 study by HR services firm Randstad India showed that only 9.5 per cent of the surveyed organisations had made significant efforts to be LGBTQ+ inclusive, of which a majority were MNCs. Moreover, most of the conscious LGBTQ+ hirings take place at the junior (33 per cent) and middle levels (31 per cent). Ramkrishna Sinha, Co-founder of Pride Circle, which conducts job fairs for the LGBTQ+ population, says, “There is greater awareness and hence more conversions [from interviews to hiring]. But the hiring is still largely in the fresher to 5-year experience bracket.” The organisation has placed more than 750 people over the past five years and Sinha says they are seeing year-on-year growth. “IT and BFSI companies lead the hiring efforts, while full-stack developer, data analyst, business analyst, HR, admin, ops, sales and marketing are some of the roles being hired for. We also see a lot of Indian origin companies engaging with LGBTQ+ talent,” he adds.

But, as Giani’s example proves, bungled attempts do more harm than good. “Quite often, organisations are not prepared. A lot of corporations fail to bring in cultural change. They tend to limit it to a policy, a day or a month,” says Rangnekar. In fact, experts add, preparedness begins much before hiring a candidate. It must start with sensitisation of the workforce and reflect in the leadership, policy and programmes. Meesho, for instance, is mindful of the language they use in their communication and policies. “People watch how you define things and it makes them much more comfortable if you use neutral terms,” says the e-commerce platform’s CHRO Ashish Kumar Singh.

Giani points out that the firms usually carry out external initiatives first, followed by internal efforts. “It should be the opposite.” And those that are indeed implementing policy changes are navigating several practical challenges. Take budgets, for instance. “Corporations often cite limited funds for D&I initiatives or relegate it to the HR department, when actually a separate D&I department headed and championed by senior leaders is required to drive it. By expanding their perspective, companies can unlock budgets from CSR, ESG, L&D, recruitment, etc., to integrate D&I into their organisational intent,” says Kanishka Chaudhry, Co-Founder and Chief Impact Officer at Samavesh Chamber of Commerce for the LGBTQ+ community. Worse, some companies want to see quarter-on-quarter results, rolling back policies or slashing budgets when that is not the case or in tough economic conditions, the experts say.

Instead of earmarking separate budgets, Tata Steel and P&G India have made it an intrinsic part of their mainstream recruiting, training and development. “It is not like we hire someone externally for our training sessions. Our people have stepped up to be really involved and aware. And they train the rest of the organisation,” says P&G’s Srinivas. This includes running sensitisation for interviewers who may interview LGBTQ+ candidates as well. The consumer goods maker has made Ankur Bhagat, its Product Supply & Chief Supply Chain Officer, the Executive Sponsor for LGBTQ+ inclusion. Manufacturing giant Tata Steel has more than 100 transgender employees, mostly on its shop floors, with plans to increase the number by another 100 in FY24. “Whatever any employee is entitled to, that is what LGBTQ+ employees need to be entitled to, except for their medical treatment. So, gender transition and hormone therapy are over and above what other biologically so-called straight people require,” says Atrayee Sanyal, Vice President of HRM.

One stumbling block for the LGBTQ+ population, especially transgender people, can be around documentation as they may have dropped out of school/college or left jobs abruptly due to homophobia and transphobia. Axis Bank’s VP & Head (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) Harish Iyer, who identifies as gender fluid and gay, speaks of an instance where a trans male candidate couldn’t get a relieving letter from his previous employer because he left in a hurry due to transphobia. “Normally, if you don’t get a relieving letter or have been absconding in your previous organisation, that’s a red flag.” But Iyer and his team managed to convince the previous employer to issue a relieving letter. Iyer, who failed Class 12 and at the MSc level, says: “My existence at Axis Bank itself speaks about our vision to look at talent from the lens of skills.” The lender runs ‘ARISE’, an initiative to hire candidates based on their skills and aptitude instead of their qualifications or the institute they attended, using little human interaction.

Tata Steel, which is usually particular about the colleges they hire from and candidates’ exam scores, makes relaxations on both counts for transgender candidates. “We can give a little bit of a relaxation at the entry level. But once they have entered, merit and merit alone will take them ahead,” says Sanyal.

Then, there is the issue of maintaining confidentiality in cases where the employee is not out and proud. “When we were looking at creating gender-neutral policies around insurance and other benefits, we built it into the system that the employee information is entirely confidential,” says Manmeet Sandhu, Head of HR at fintech start-up PhonePe. The execution of LGBTQ+ policies make people uncomfortable about revealing their identity because one doesn’t know where the documents and forms may go, says P&G’s Bhagat. “At P&G India, if somebody wants to avail of an LGBTQ-friendly policy, we go by trust and don’t require any certifications,” he says.

With many LGBTQ+ candidates also experiencing mental health conditions due to violence and stigma, expecting them to perform at the same level as other employees may not be fair either, say some. The key is to set goals in accordance with what can be achieved without underplaying too much, says Zainab Patel, Pernod Ricard India’s Chief Inclusion Officer who identifies as a transgender woman. “I’m not going to say if someone has X in the KPIs, X-50 is what I’m going to do in affirmative action for an LGBTQ+ candidate. It’s about what is the best we can get out of you if we create the required enabled environment. That’s how my current and former employers did it,” she says, adding that mainstreaming opportunities are more helpful. The alcoholic beverage maker, along with TISS, offers 15 transgender candidates a one-year paid Transformation Fellowship where they are trained in skills such as creating business plans and office etiquette, followed by internships at leading corporates.

A lot of good cultural change happens from the top, say experts. While allyship and sensitive leadership are powerful, not many from the LGBTQ+ population get hired in senior positions where they can effect policy change. Axis Bank’s Iyer agrees: “We (the LGBTQ+ population) have people in the middle- and lower-management levels who identify as queer, but not in the top management. That’s the case with queer people worldwide.”

It is not that companies are not looking to hire for senior positions, adds Pride Circle’s Sinha. “People also must be comfortable to engage. The more senior people have been in the closet for a longer period and feel that they have a lot at stake career-wise, if they come out. Fewer of them are accessing avenues that support LGBTQ+ people with jobs.” Organisations say they can neither force people to disclose their identities nor can they push people after entry levels to get promoted because they are from a diverse background. PhonePe’s Sandhu says there continues to be a fear of disclosing identities in this macro environment. “At least, we are able to do focussed recruitment. But my counterparts in the UK, the Netherlands and Canada cannot even do such drives because one is not allowed to encroach into privacy and say ‘I want an LGBTQ+ leader’,” says Tata Steel’s Sanyal. The best possible thing to do is to ensure more and more LGBTQ+ candidates enter the fray to increase the probability of promotions, say the corporates. For that to happen, experts say both employers and employees must come on board to turn baby steps into a 24x7 way of being, 365 days a year. Just populating June, the Pride month, with rainbow arches and flags will not do.

@SaysVidya, @mittermaniac