Where’s the PRIDE in our hiring?

To honor PRIDE month, we at interviewIA highlighted the systemic inequalities that the LGBTQ+ community has historically faced. Getting hired, earning equal pay, and being able to discuss one’s family life at work are basic experiences that many people who identify as LGBTQ+ have never been able to enjoy. There are identical statistics and stories from all other marginalized communities.

Conversations about inequalities have become a necessity, particularly for leaders in organizations who are now making DEI a part of their strategic priorities. Why? Because those leaders are acutely aware that employees are demanding equal and inclusive work experiences. Good leaders want to know how they can make significant changes, not just check a box.

We focus on hiring because that is how we specifically can help organizations make true impact with their DEI initiatives. Our team’s shared passion is helping all people find work that is meaningful to them, and work is the cornerstone of our individual livelihoods and our economy.

People who identify as LGBTQ+ are likely to experience discrimination at work, including harassment. In many parts of the US, there is no legal protection from the actions of employers or other employees:

• A 2017 Harvard study found that more than 1 in 5 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans reported experiencing employment-related discrimination.

• 28 states do not have explicit legal protections for all LGBTQ+ employees, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an independent think tank.

• Major demographic surveys, such as the 2020 census, do not include questions about the sexual orientation and gender identity of individuals, leaving large gaps in public knowledge about LGBTQ+ people.

People who identify as LGBTQ+ have not been considered equal to people who identify as (or pass as) heteronormative and binary or cis gendered in the US. As a result, lives and livelihoods are impacted negatively.

Same-sex couples were, on average, living on smaller incomes than heterosexual couples before the pandemic, suggesting that job losses have hit harder. Now pandemic-related job losses are disproportionally hitting gay and lesbian couples:

• 17 percent of LGBTQ+ people had lost their jobs because of COVID-19, compared to 13 percent of the general population.

• LGBTQ+ people of color were disproportionately affected: 22 percent of them reported losing their job because of the pandemic, compared to 14 percent of white LGBTQ+ people surveyed.

• The report also found 42 percent of LGBTQ+ people said their financial situation was “somewhat or much worse off now than one year ago,” compared to 36 percent of non-LGBTQ+ people.

Although the pandemic has disproportionally hurt people who identify as LGBTQ+, it has also created new opportunities that didn’t exist before. Remote work has allowed people to seek out employers that are focused on an equitable experience for all employees. This is also great news for employers who are eager to hire from a larger and more diverse candidate pool.

We want to share our own experience of hiring a new employee specifically because we embraced permanent remote work.

interviewIA closed our Seed Round in April of this year and immediately hired a Project Coordinator from across the country, who couldn’t relocate. Jocqueline (or JJ as she likes to be called) had just moved from Washington, DC to Atlanta, GA, leaving a familiar place and a familiar industry. As a Black woman who is also LGBTQ+, she knows how difficult it can be to fit into a new community and to find meaningful work.

Because the pandemic triggered a widespread, permanent shift to remote work or a flexible work model, JJ immediately had more options available to her. Like many other companies, interviewIA shifted to fully remote work and immediately had access to an entire nation of candidates.

We used our own product, our interviewIA interview platform, to conduct a collaborative interview process between a hiring manager and remote teammates. We were able to make a confident decision to hire JJ. We value the perspective that JJ brings to our company, including her first-hand awareness of the systemic inequities in hiring.

What can organizations do to mitigate bias in their interview processes? How can executives and hiring managers grow into bias-aware interviewers? These are the questions that need to be asked and answered. interviewIA allows companies to gain both insight and oversight of the hiring process – no matter how many separate hiring managers are independently conducting interviews in different locations. interviewIA keeps remote interviews well-structured, including saving all notes, recommendations, and outcomes so that nothing is lost.

One last point about how to celebrate and honor months like PRIDE month: celebrations of diversity can help you start identifying what your employees care about and what matters to them in their personal lives. When your employees are supported and appreciated as whole humans (not just workers) they are more likely to stay and to promote your company as a great place to work.