How Employee Ownership Enables LGBTQIA+ People to Thrive

By distributing ownership and giving everyone a stake and a say, EO fosters workplaces where LGBTQIA+ employees can flourish, leading to a more equitable and representative corporate landscape. Join us for a closer look this Pride Month.

Image: Canva Photos

Cast your mind back to 2014. No, we’re not talking about the introduction of the EOT legislation for once. We’re talking about the historic moment when Apple’s Tim Cook became the very first openly gay CEO on the Fortune 500 list. 

It sparked what seemed at the time to be a revolution in LGBTQIA+ representation in senior leadership. 

In the years that followed, Beth Ford become the first openly lesbian CEO to lead a Fortune 500 company, while DowDuPont appointed Jim Fitterling as its first openly gay CEO. 

Last year, Sam Altman – the gay, AI wunderkind currently worth $1 billion – was named TIME’s ‘CEO of the Year’. 

Yet while these achievements are worth celebrating – and they do represent undeniable progress – they’re very much exceptions to the rule. 

What the above examples illustrate is that there’s altogether too much emphasis on being the first LGBTQIA+ person in this or that role.

Instead, the focus needs to be on levelling the playing field and empowering queer people from all backgrounds into leadership roles. Not to mention directly tackling systemic issues that affect them within the workplace.

There’s also no getting around the fact that once in major senior leadership roles, queer CEOs often pull the ladder up after them, when they can be spearheading powerful changes in their own companies and across their respective industries. 

But employee ownership (EO) is a catalyst towards greater, more meaningful equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), paving the way for workplaces where queer people are not only welcome but are free to flourish. 

A Fairer Economy?

Data reveals, unsurprisingly, that most business owners in our economy are white, cisgendered men. 

The Longitudinal Small Business Survey shows that more than 93% of SME business owners in the UK are white, while the UK Female Entrepreneur Index reports that only 16% of UK SME business owners identify as women. 

EO helps to address this inequality by spreading ownership across a variety of diverse groups within a business.

As all employees become owners, employee owned businesses (EOBs) are more likely to have diverse, inclusive workplaces than non-EOBs. 

The ‘People Powered Business’ report found that EOBs are more than twice as likely as their counterparts to have EDI policies in place to promote fairness, mitigate workplace harassment and bullying, and ensure a business is receptive to the nuances of their employee’s lives.

Evidence shows that these policies cover recruitment, career progression, gender pay gaps, and support networks, as well as representation in senior roles. 

This also includes establishing workplaces that are welcoming to, accepting of, and developed for individuals who are disabled and/or neurodivergent – many of whom also identify as LGBTQIA+.

Given many queer people struggle with workplace prejudice and the need to conceal their identities, the impact of EO on EDI cannot be overstated. 

A survey by the Williams Institute found that 46% of LGBTQ+ workers have experienced unfair treatment at work at some point in their lives.

Many have also engaged in ‘covering behaviours’ – trying to conceal their sexual or gender identity to appear heteronormative to avoid harassment and discrimination in the workplace. 

But with research from myGwork revealing that 36% of students and graduates identify as LGBTQIA+, businesses need to create actively inclusive workplaces or risk alienating a significant percentage of the incoming workforce. 

A Place for Everybody

Contrary to the ‘go woke go broke’ argument that has pervaded so much of the business and industry discourse, inclusion is good for the bottom line. 

Statistics show that fostering diversity and meaningful inclusion leads to stronger, more informed decision making, increased innovation, and greater revenue.

Research undertaken by Forbes reveals that diverse teams deliver 60% better results and make better decisions in 87% of cases, while a report undertaken by Open for Business shows that the top 25 corporations in LGBTQIA+ transparency were 2.3x more profitable than the bottom 25.

EDI in EO Businesses in Action

We recently spoke to Ed Riseman from The Big Group about how employee ownership enabled the business to better embed EDI. 

During that conversation, Ed spoke about how an employee ownership trust (EOT) is the ideal vehicle to ensure everyone is fairly represented, included, and recognised within the workplace.

"The main tenet of being an EOT is that we all succeed together. It’s not senior management against middle management or anything like that, everyone has an equal stake and equal opportunity,” he said. 

“In an EOT, there’s equal value in everyone and that’s built into the model. It offers a safe space for someone to make big life decisions without it impacting on their ability to earn a living. I think everyone should work in one.”

Ed also points to larger companies – particularly in his sector of marketing and advertising – whose involvement in EDI initiatives often depends on legislation because they’re over a certain size or the board of directors focus for the coming year. 

He points to the Black Lives Matters (BLM) initiative that many companies actively supported a few years ago but for which support has significantly dried up for. In fact, a recent Guardian article stated “The Black Lives Matter era is over” and that without root and branch reform any movement is bound to stall.

John Lewis Partnership, the poster business for employee ownership, continues to showcase how EO empowers people. 

The business has specific committees around not only Pride but IVF. Utilising employee voice, they’ve also listened to their LGBTQIA+ employees and has created a truly inclusive workplace. 

This ensures they always practice what they preach all year round, rather than falling to the usual rainbow capitalism of other companies during Pride Month.

That’s why we loved to see the launch of the rainbow bouquet of flowers sold in Waitrose stores a few years back. As if often the cast, John Lewis Partnership were ahead of the curve. 

But that’s the power of employee ownership in action. When everyone gets a stake and a say, everyone’s say matters, and the majority is stronger for the uniqueness of each individual. 

Differences make us stronger and the growing number of businesses becoming employee owned continues to reaffirm this. 

LGBTQIA+ employees are an asset. EOBs already understand this, but hopefully the rest of the working world will realise it. It’s like Ed said, everyone should work in an employee owned business.

You can learn more about the importance of diversity in the workplace with our upcoming Diversity Includes Everyone webinar.