Coming out with lots of benefits

IT’S not about kindness, modernity and tolerance – your company’s stance on gay rights could affect your profits. That was the message from Aviva Pride, the York employer’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employee network at an event calling on employees and businesses across York to come out and set up an inter-organisational network for LGBT staff across the city.

Senior staff members from across the global organisation spoke publicly about their personal journeys coming out in the workplace, why they now act as role models and what the benefits are for the business.

Simon Rodgers, York network lead for Aviva Pride, is spearheading the initiative to create a city-wide network to help small businesses and individuals to become part of an employee network. The group is being supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which also have LGBT networks.

They will be holding an initial networking event at Thomas’s Bar on Museum Street, York, on Thursday, April 18 from 6pm.

The role models

Simon Rodgers, network lead for Aviva Pride in York, is spreading the message of LGBT equality not just through the business community and by talking to local schools about bullying, but also internationally.

He was sponsored by Aviva to attend the One Young World summit in Pittsburgh last year, which attracts 1,300 young leaders from 180 countries. He spoke out about LGBT equality at a plenary session on human rights.

“I have always been able to bring my whole self to work. The idea that people can do what they like behind closed doors but not at work is not true.

‘‘I don’t stop being gay when I come into the workplace.

‘‘There’s still a lot that goes on in our own country, young gay people are being thrown out on to the streets by their parents. We can’t be complacent.

‘‘Being gay is illegal in 77 out of 190 countries around the world, half of which are members of the commonwealth.

‘‘One delegate at One Young World said he could not be openly gay in his country. It would be the equivalent of hiring an assassin to kill himself.

‘‘We have to be a voice for those people so they can share their stories.”

When Jan Gooding, group brand director for Aviva, joined Aviva four years ago she decided not to tell her colleagues she was going through a divorce because she had fallen in love with a woman after 16 years of marriage.

“Working in a male bastion in the city of London had taught me how difficult it is to be a senior woman in the city, no matter gay as well.

‘‘Finding my personal brand was ‘she’s a lesbian’ didn’t seem to be a risk worth taking.

‘‘Every now and then I’d start to reveal a true story and have to recover it. I was lying about the divorce and who I was with and the effect was to become guarded with my colleagues, distant and not myself at all.

‘‘Working in marketing requires creativity, something which comes from feeling open to creative possibilities, but I felt shut off.

‘‘What’s worse, I was working to build a new brand which said ‘I’m recognised for who I am and trust matters’.

‘‘I felt like a fraud every time we talked about the brand strategy. If I didn’t believe the company would keep its promise, why should anyone else?

‘‘When I had my annual review, my boss said I was not performing to my usual standard. Strictly speaking, I had achieved all my objectives, but she felt I had lost my sparkle.

‘‘I had become withdrawn and serious and wasn’t taking part.

‘‘I felt huge rage and a sense of reckless defiance that being hidden was affecting my performance.

‘‘I’m not political and not a natural campaigner and don’t want to be known as one of the more senior lesbians at Aviva, but I decided to stand for honesty. Being out has improved my performance and productivity. At my review a year later, my boss told me I was back to my old self and I haven’t looked back.”

Adam Stanley, IT security and shared services director, said coming out at work had changed his path to success.

“When I joined Aviva about a year ago, I didn’t get involved.

‘‘I felt I was out to my parents and the people that mattered most to me in the world. Why would I care about anyone else? But being able to be myself, fully myself, has meant I’m not worrying about using gender-neutral pronouns all the time. I’m getting to know other LGBT leaders in the business and expanding my network that way and I’m inviting people round for dinner and to meet my partner.

“At Aviva, I have lots of differences. I’m black, American and being gay is only what comes out if the environment is comfortable and I allow it to come out. Being able to embrace those things makes me happy, makes me relax more and makes me comfortable as a leader.”

Angela Darlington, chief risk officer at Aviva UK Life, has pledged to stop hiding behind language and be a role model after coming out at work.

“I’ve always been fine with being gay and never had any problem being harassed or abused. But I’ve only made any effort to be out in the last two years. My attitude was that it’s not really any of your business.

“In 2009 Aviva had a big rebranding exercise and started to talk about if you bring more of yourself to work you’re a more effective leader.

‘‘I remember sitting in this room thinking I completely buy the idea that people are more productive if they bring more of themselves to work.

‘‘I did spend some time talking more about my family, history and career, but I never said I have been with a woman for 16 years so there was a bit missing.

“Following an Aviva Pride talk held by rugby player Gareth Thomas, I said to my boss: ‘Do you know about my wife?’ ‘‘It wasn’t very subtle. I went at it like a bull in a china shop, but it broke the ice.

“Later, Simon called me out for not being a gay role model at work. He said I was role modelling being in the closet.

‘‘I simply realised that as a senior manager in the organisation, being a role model is a really important thing.

“In the day-to-day interactions with my team, not much has changed. A bunch of people know I’m gay and it’s nice they know I’m gay.

‘‘I’m more honest, relaxed and people ask me about my wife and that’s really nice. For someone who hasn’t been asked about her wife, how lovely that is to share.

“My journey now is to talk much more about my wife instead of my partner. I do find myself referring to my partner and I think I missed an opportunity to be a positive role model to somebody in this room by hiding behind the word.”

• Closeted gay people are 52 per cent more likely to feel isolated than their ‘‘out’’ colleagues.

• A fifth of the lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) population feels they have been harassed at work because of their sexuality.

• Four million people have witnessed verbal homophobic bullying at work and one million witnessed physical homophobic bullying.

• Thirty-five per cent of LGBT employees in the UK reported that their productivity increased after coming out at work.