Top 50 gay-friendly companies • Job board for gay and lesbian professionals • Best practices for the gay-positive workplace • Same-sex harassment • Unions fighting for same-sex benefits
Providing gay and lesbian workers with a comfortable and inclusive work environment should be an important part of any organization’s diversity strategy. To create a truly equal opportunity work environment for gay and lesbian employees, a number of things need to be considered when implementing diversity policies. The following sites offer tips and resources for employers.
Top 50 gay-friendly companies
www.gfn.com/gfn/gfn50.phtml
This list, found on the Gay Financial Network website, is a list of the most powerful and gay-friendly public companies in America. The list itself is a little older, but it sheds some light on the big name companies that have implemented successful diversity initiatives.
Job board for gay and lesbian professionals
www.gaywork.com
This professional resource site offers an international job board where gay and lesbian professionals can link up with equal opportunity employers. “Gaywork.com is an online community for both the gay and lesbian individual looking for a job, as well as the global business community seeking gaywork.com’s diverse job applicants.” The site also features an employers’ section, articles and news, events, resources and other links. Their partner site, gaybusinessworld.com, offers a number of other resources, but is written more for the employee than the employer.
Best practices for the gay-positive workplace
http://home.earthlink.net/~globalage1/id80.html
This site lists a number of best practices in diversity initiatives, specifically for creating a gay-positive work environment. It outlines challenges, as well as sources of support. It discusses ways in which addressing sexual orientation differs from other diversity issues, and although some of the finer details reflect U.S. legislation, the broader concepts apply this side of the border. It offers points to make to build a business case, methods for delivering awareness training and many other useful items to consider.
Same-sex harassment
www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2004-09-19-harass_x.htm
This short article on the USA Today website highlights the increasing number of workplace sexual harassment claims where men are the victims. “Sexual harassment claims filed by men with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has grown from nine per cent of all charges in fiscal 1992 to 15 per cent in 2003. Many of those claims involve male-on-male harassment; harassment of men by women is rarer, according to legal experts.” The article also lists a number of same-sex harassment lawsuits faced by major employers in the U.S.
Unions fighting for same-sex benefits
www.psac.com/bargaining/documents/No.1_%20same_sex-e.pdf
The Public Service Alliance of Canada offers this paper on same-sex benefits. It lays out their policy for achieving and maintaining equal recognition for same-sex relationships. It also highlights some of their struggles to ensure that the definition of “spouse” includes same-sex relationships, to gain provisions for spousal union leave (marriage leave), and other bargaining table issues. Well worth reading.
Shannon Simson is Canadian HR Reporter’s resource editor. Her Web Sight column appears regularly in the CloseUp section. To share an interesting HR Web site, contact [email protected].
Top 50 gay-friendly companies
www.gfn.com/gfn/gfn50.phtml
This list, found on the Gay Financial Network website, is a list of the most powerful and gay-friendly public companies in America. The list itself is a little older, but it sheds some light on the big name companies that have implemented successful diversity initiatives.
Job board for gay and lesbian professionals
www.gaywork.com
This professional resource site offers an international job board where gay and lesbian professionals can link up with equal opportunity employers. “Gaywork.com is an online community for both the gay and lesbian individual looking for a job, as well as the global business community seeking gaywork.com’s diverse job applicants.” The site also features an employers’ section, articles and news, events, resources and other links. Their partner site, gaybusinessworld.com, offers a number of other resources, but is written more for the employee than the employer.
Best practices for the gay-positive workplace
http://home.earthlink.net/~globalage1/id80.html
This site lists a number of best practices in diversity initiatives, specifically for creating a gay-positive work environment. It outlines challenges, as well as sources of support. It discusses ways in which addressing sexual orientation differs from other diversity issues, and although some of the finer details reflect U.S. legislation, the broader concepts apply this side of the border. It offers points to make to build a business case, methods for delivering awareness training and many other useful items to consider.
Same-sex harassment
www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2004-09-19-harass_x.htm
This short article on the USA Today website highlights the increasing number of workplace sexual harassment claims where men are the victims. “Sexual harassment claims filed by men with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has grown from nine per cent of all charges in fiscal 1992 to 15 per cent in 2003. Many of those claims involve male-on-male harassment; harassment of men by women is rarer, according to legal experts.” The article also lists a number of same-sex harassment lawsuits faced by major employers in the U.S.
Unions fighting for same-sex benefits
www.psac.com/bargaining/documents/No.1_%20same_sex-e.pdf
The Public Service Alliance of Canada offers this paper on same-sex benefits. It lays out their policy for achieving and maintaining equal recognition for same-sex relationships. It also highlights some of their struggles to ensure that the definition of “spouse” includes same-sex relationships, to gain provisions for spousal union leave (marriage leave), and other bargaining table issues. Well worth reading.
Shannon Simson is Canadian HR Reporter’s resource editor. Her Web Sight column appears regularly in the CloseUp section. To share an interesting HR Web site, contact [email protected].
