CHINA: A study on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees in Hong Kong finds direct correlation between productivity at work and their ability to be 'out'.

Record ID: 276826

  • Title: CHINA: A study on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees in Hong Kong finds direct correlation between productivity at work and their ability to be 'out'.
  • Date: 19th May 2012
  • Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (FILE - 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HONG KONG PRIDE MARCH 2011
  • Embargoed: 3rd June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: People,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVA4UZ8AI5SJQZZNN788WRLK8W35
  • Story Text: A study released by a non-profit organisation on Thursday (May 17) has highlighted the case for businesses to address the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees in Hong Kong.
    Although the Community Business survey, the first of its kind in Hong Kong, found that the majority of Hong Kong people are accepting of LGBT individuals, cultural and family pressures lead many to hide their sexual preferances, while the majority of LGBT employees are not open at work because they are worried about negative consequences.
    The study found that 35 percent of people surveyed found it acceptable not to give LGBT individuals customer service jobs, while 25 percent believed it was all right to refuse an LGBT person a job altogether.
    "So we very much still see discrimination happening in the Hong Kong workplace. Most employees feel not comfortable to come out in the workplace, whether to their colleagues, to their HR departments or to their boss or their superiors in the office. So a lot of people still hear anti-LGTB jokes in the workplace and people still have rumours round people's sexual orientation or gender identity and talking about them behind people's backs. So it's still a very much a sensitive issue in the workplace," said Community Business senior researcher and author of the study, Amanda Yik.
    Targeted at the corporate sector, the findings of the study, sponsored by Barclays, are designed to help companies develop their strategies for addressing LGBT issues in the workplace. It was based on 1,002 random telephone interviews of Hong Kong's workforce and an anonymous online survey of 626 LGBT employees.
    "This survey was able to find there is a very strong business case for companies to address this issue and starting creating a workplace that's more inclusive for LGBT individuals, because we found that LGBT productivity is directly related to their ability to come out. So if they are able to be themselves and bring their full self to work, they're able to work to the best of their ability, they're able to build authentic relations with their colleagues and their business contacts and they generally feel more happy at work," said Yik.
    She said the two top wishes from LGBT employees were benefits for partners and equal opportunities policy covering sexual orientation and gender identity at work.
    Barclays, which is one of the few companies in Hong Kong that has such a non-discrimination policy, has introduced an LGBT mentoring programme where LGBT staff receive one-on-one time with senior management.
    James Wang, operations director at Barclays is part of the mentoring programme and said it is invaluable to promote a sense of inclusion and acceptance within a corporation.
    "I've been in Hong Kong for 10 years and being an Asian and being a Chinese and with a certain family pressure and culture, everyone experienced that. But I think that with my career progression and a sort of my age growing old, and especially coming to Barclays with such a diverse, inclusive environment, it really made me more comfortable so I can step out, being a, sort of, openly LGBT member in the company," Wang said.
    His mentor, Barclays Head of Equities Asia Pacific, Mike Di lorio, said that aside from being surprised at how much he had learned from the experience, it was also good for business.
    "We can't afford to have any talent left untapped and if anyone is feeling disenfranchised, they're feeling uncomfortable, they're feeling not appreciated, whatever it might be, they're feeling that their voice and perspective isn't being heard, that's bad for business. And I think appealing to banks' self-interest in that way, really gets a programme like this off the ground," said Di lorio.
    Homosexuality was decriminalised in Hong Kong in 1991 but the age of consent was only brought down from 21 to 16, in line with heterosexuals, in 2006 after a lengthy legal battle between activists and the government.
    In recent years Hong Kong's LGBT community has become more active -- the climate study was launched on the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT) which is in its 8th year in Hong Kong and was marked on Saturday (May 12) with a small rally.
    In 2009 an annual "Mr Gay Hong Kong" contest was launched to promote gay rights and to work against homophobic bullying in schools.
    The last large-scale general attitudes survey in Hong Kong was conducted by the state's Home Affairs Bureau in 2005 - before the first Pride Parade took place in 2008.
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