Working to accommodate transsexual employees
when they 'transition' from one sex to another is more than just 'political
correctness' or a matter of the law. It makes strategic sense too, argues trans
rights campaigner Christine Burns.
Not
all diversity issues may seem as challenging as helping a colleague
metamorphose from one sex to the other. But being able to say with confidence
that your organisation can rise to that level of adaptation is perhaps the
ultimate proof that you are serious about the whole business of welcoming
difference. Also remember that the "employee relations challenge" who walks
into your office may also hold the key to your company's crown jewels.
Take
the case of Lynn Conway. If you use virtually any sort of microelectronic technology
in your daily life then you owe her an immense debt. She is Emerita Professor
of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan
and, while working at Xerox "PARC" centre in the mid 1970's, she made a pivotal
contribution to the way in which large and complex computer chips are designed.
The
techniques she invented with her colleague, Professor Carver Mead, meant that
more engineers were able to design more computer chips in a fraction of the
time that it had taken before. Her methods are still taught to university
students around the world and the paradigms she gave the engineering world have
influenced the design of many things from desktop computers and personal
organisers to toasters.
Yet
even before this seminal contribution, back in the late 1960s, Conway had
already contributed enormously to the product design strategy of one of the
world's largest computer manufacturers with ideas that also changed the way
that very fast computers are designed. Chances are your desktop PC uses those
ideas even today - allowing it to carry out several instructions at the same
time, rather than one after the other.
Despite
Conway's obvious intellectual talents, however, that relationship with her employers
was soon to come off the rails. The inventor whose talent was to think "outside
of the box" was about to come out of the closet, too. Until this point, her
colleagues had known Lynn as male. It was an identity that she couldn't live
with. Unfortunately, neither could her management live with the alternative.
"When
I explained to the company in 1968 that I was undergoing a 'change of sex',
they just couldn't deal with it. I lost my employment, right when I needed it
most," she says.
In
fairness to her employers, it is doubtful that Lynn would have found a better
reception anywhere else - so long as people in those days were aware of her
transsexuality. Regardless of talent the universal assumption was that it was
absolutely out of the question to even contemplate employing "someone like
that".
One
of Lynn's US contemporaries described to me her own experience of violating
this most fundamental of society's taboos in the early 1970s:
"I
was raped, fired, beaten, ostracized from family and subjected to about every
kind of discrimination you can think of. It didn't matter how good I was at
anything - that was all to no avail when employers learned of my condition. My
first company fired me two months from my surgery date; the second fired me a
month later. At the third I worked on classified defence technology before they
fired me too - and said outright that it was because I was transsexual.By 1981 I was beaten down to the point
where I was walking the streets, scraping for survival, living in my car, and
flipping hamburgers for survival in an roach infested joint."
For
Conway, the 10 years following her expulsion from her job are an inspiring tale
of gritty determination - from riches to rags and back to riches again. She was
fortunate in having already met the pioneering physician Harry Benjamin shortly
after he published his seminal textbook The Transsexual Phenomenon in 1966.
With Benjamin's help she had already begun the lengthy process of transforming
her body and used the savings she had to go abroad for the surgery to complete
the process. Returning to America with a new name and identity she started
again from the very beginning - as a humble contract programmer - and forced a
new career on the basis of her talent.
Many
transsexual people become more energetic and creative following their treatment
and, within five years, Conway had established enough of a reputation in her
own right to be offered a job by an exciting new research venture just started
by Xerox. The Palo Alto Research Centre (PARC) was a hothouse of talented
designers; practically every aspect of modern desktop computing - the computer
mouse, windows, icons, menus and more - was invented there. Conway flourished
and, within five years, had published her classic textbook on microchip design
and was teaching at the world-famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Nobody
knew of Conway's past life or of the pioneering work she had done before. To
"own" her past would have meant risking everything she had rebuilt. It is only
quite recently that her story has emerged and she is able to take the credit
for the contributions she has made to the development of.
Stories
like Conway's aren't often reported - not because they are necessarily rare but
because the people concerned know first hand what exposure can mean. And even
though campaigners such as myself can vouch from first hand experience that the
world has changed greatly in the 35 years since Lynn was fired, it is hardly
surprising that people who have lost everything are wary of putting that
assertion to the test. Would you?
Until
recently the picture was very similar in the UK - until a senior manager from
an educational institution in Cornwall took their employer to court. In 1996
the European Court of Justice finally ruled that the dismissal of the manager,
known only as "P" violated the European Equal Treatment Directive and, by this
single act of good sense, outlawed a form of discrimination which hung over the
lives of an estimated 35,000 transsexual men and women throughout Europe. In
1999 the decision was formally adopted into the Sex Discrimination Act, too -
and, in the four years since then, many transsexual people have won substantial
settlements using their new-found protection.
In
February 2001 a Harley Street therapist won £140,000 against the school that
had trained her, for refusing to place her name on their register and thereby
preventing her access to NHS patients. In an earlier case a trans Barrister
reached an undisclosed but substantial out of court settlement with the Crown
Prosecution Service, whose director had withdrawn a written offer of employment
when it was disclosed that their new recruit was planning to undergo gender
reassignment.
Even
in manual or junior administrative posts the damages can still be substantial.
A factory worker was recently awarded more than £20,000 along with a public
apology from her employers.
Discrimination
against trans people is generally far from subtle - and tribunals have tended
to award correspondingly punitive settlements. When the employee concerned is a
high earner of course, the lack of a ceiling on sex discrimination awards means
a claim can easily run into six figures.
The
arrival of the "Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations" in 1999
has therefore led many companies to think much harder about what to do when an
employee walks into their manager's office, closes the door, and says quietly,
"I have something very important to tell you".
Yet
the law alone is not the only reason for thinking about how to retain highly
talented staff going through such a dramatic change in life. As Professor Lynn
Conway's example illustrates, people who are different often think differently
too - and that spark of originality may be your company's ticket to riches.
One
company that sees diversity issues in this light is Hewlett-Packard, an
enterprise that famously grew from the originality of its two founders turning
their ideas into high tech products in a garage.
HP
chief executive Carly Fiorina places diversity at the heart of the corporate
business strategy. Writing on the company's global website she makes the vision
plain: "We need the creative talents, the enthusiastic commitment, the ideas
and contribution of every HP employee. Invention requires creativity;
creativity requires true diversity."
Managing
the gender transition of an employee is not as difficult as it may sound at
first - especially as the person with the greatest commitment to helping make
the project a success is the employee themselves.
The
key, as in any project, is to be well-prepared. Learn the facts about
transsexuality so you can explain them to others. Understand the employee's
anticipated timescales, any factors which may be outside their control (such as
surgery waiting lists) and their preferences for who is to be told, by whom and
when. Anticipate the time that the employee will need to take off, and come to
a mutual agreement about how that is to be handled, through sick leave and
holiday entitlements. Work out all the things that will need to change - from
security passes to email addresses and payroll details. And know that some
staff are going to find the event easier to deal with than others. What will
you do, for instance, about the thorny issue of toilets? (Hint: The answer is
not to expect the trans employee to use the disabled loo for the rest of their
career in your company). Remember that if anyone is likely to feel stressed
about using the loo, it is most likely to be the transsexual employee
themselves. Yet consideration also cuts both ways. This certainly isn't an
exhaustive list, but you get the idea.
Gender
Identity Disorder (GID), the medical term for people who are innately unhappy
with their gender, used to be thought of as incredibly rare. Current estimates
suggest that it affects roughly 1 in 11,900 adults born apparently male, and
perhaps slightly fewer of those registered as girls. Yet these figures are
misleading, especially as trans people seem to gravitate towards certain kinds
of careers for some unknown reason. The statistics are challenged by some
researchers, suggesting that the syndrome is at least twice as common as
currently thought. Some organisations may therefore have not just one but many
trans employees in their midst. Maybe they're not all about to invent something
that turns your own industry's paradigms upside down, but a fair number will
already be doing tremendously valuable work. Why then sacrifice that talent
when it can so easily be retained?
In
February 2001 Hewlett Packard invited Lynn Conway to address staff and
management at one of its principal research and development facilities in
Colorado. High on the agenda were meetings with senior HR managers to explain
the increased numbers of gender reassignment surgeries around the world, and
the challenges they posed for employers.
Later,
in a feature article for the company's global intranet news service, she
emphasised what Carly Fiorina's strategic vision meant from her own
perspective: "A company emphasis on conformity can stifle growth and
individuality", she cautioned. "Employees need to see diversity in their work
environment. Otherwise, they're afraid to reveal anything different about
themselves - even ideas."
A
company executive later reflected: "The first rule here is 'Believe you can
change the world.' Dr. Conway has inspired me to really believe that this is
possible."
Learning
to value your employees' diversity is a matter of good business strategy. You
can hide from the challenges and watch your best, most interesting and talented
employees head for more exciting places to work, or you can seize the challenge
and make it into part of the way your organisation defines its entire culture.
©
Christine Burns - June 2003
About
the Author
Christine
Burns is a transsexual woman and a leading community activist in the UK. She is
a member of the Parliamentary Forum on Transsexualism, a former vice-president
of the campaign group "Press for Change" and lectures regularly on trans
diversity issues. She was closely involved in the introduction of employment
legislation in 1999 and has been similarly connected with recent Government
announcements concerning legal recognition. She lives in Manchester and is now
involved in the care industry, after more than 25 years working in IT and
business consultancy. Christine can be contacted at c_burns@btinternet.com
More
information
Professor
Lynn Conway: www.lynnconway.com
Hewlett Packard Diversity Policy: www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/diversity
UK Government Policy on Trans People: www.lcd.gov.uk/constitution/transsex
Press for Change: www.pfc.org.uk
Trans Diversity Training: www.plain-sense.co.uk/diversity
For employment advice for trans people go to
www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Handling_discrimination/Transsexual_and_transgender_issues/Overview/p!ebafaL
Press
for Change and the Parliamentary Forum on Transsexualism have jointly published
a guidance booklet for employers entitled, "Transsexual People in the Workplace
- A Code of Practice". This is available in printed form from Press for Change
(e-mail letters@pfc.org.uk for details)
and is also available online at www.pfc.org.uk/employ/empguide.htm
Note:
This article may not be reproduced in any shape or form, Copyright belongs to
the author
