COMPANIES COME OUT IN SUPPORT OF LGBT COMMUNITY(LESBIAN,GAY,BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER)

BY RATNA BHUSHAN PRACHI VERMA, ET BUREAU | UPDATED: APR 21, 2017, 01.08 

NEW DELHI: If last month's incident of American transgender judge Victoria Kolakowski being denied an Indian visa created its fair share of ripples on social media, India Inc seems to have been more than making up for it in recent times. 

While Kolakowski, who was supposed to speak on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues through a two-week tour of India couldn't make it, corporate houses across sectors have been stepping up proactive hiring, zero-tolerance and sexual harassment policies for the LGBT community. 

On February 14 this year, IBM India started a 'first-of-its-kind' consortium of over 30 companies with Interweave Consulting to discuss LGBT inclusion and launched an initiative for transgender empowerment.

"We cannot name the companies but these are a mix of MNCs and Indian companies from technology, retail and FMCG domain," Ajay Dua, executive sponsor, LGBT at tech firm IBM India, said. "We are visibly LGBT-inclusive in the external marketplace to remain an employer of choice for this talent pool. Our hiring practices are inclusive," Dua explained. IBM now has a 'diversity indicator' available to employees to voluntarily disclose their LGBT status confidentially. 

Global consultancy firm Bain & Company started the Indian chapter of its Bain LGBT association for diversity last year for recruitment and retention of colleagues. 

"The association provides a unified diversity message throughout the recruiting process, an open communication channel with leadership to advise them on relevant policies, ensure a supportive work environment, and overall awareness of LGBT issues," said Parijat Ghosh, partner at Bain. 

At least four multinationals ET spoke to said they follow clear diversity hiring guidelines in home markets in the US and Europe but they were hesitant to come on record because of the absence of law and to also protect their employees. 

"Firms across tourism, fashion design, advertising, ecommerce, consumer goods, IT services and consulting are probably the most non-intrusive for LGBT professionals. It's also because of their ability to understand customer perception better.However, only after the largest employer of India — the government — promotes inclusivity, will we have full LGBT-compliant workplaces," said Rahul Nene, director at executive search firm Witthaus Management Consulting. 

"We have two LGBT employees and it is disclosed to management at the time of hiring but we would want their identities protected, mainly because of legal reasons," said an official at the leading Gurgaon-based consumer goods firm, requesting not to be identified. 

Real estate group Godrej has gone to lengths to create an inclusive culture to accept its LGBT colleagues. Godrej India Culture Lab head Parmesh Shahani said the company is now providing equal opportunity policies to all and does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. "Our anti-harassment policies are gender neutral. We also have equal benefits to same-sex partners of employees, fully paid three month adoption leave (which is also gender neutral) and a medical benefit scheme which includes the spouse/domestic partner, parents and/or children of an employee," Shahani said. 

Management consulting firm McKinsey said it has global networks of women and LGBT consultants, besides regional affinity networks to support the issue. 

An outcome of the LGBT inclusion consortium initiated by IBM India is Project Vayati, aimed at hiring members from the marginalised transgender community. 

Godrej, on its part, said it is supporting the LGBT community in ‘multiple ways’, such as sponsoring the Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival 2017, the biggest LGBT film festival in South Asia. "We have collaborated with the UN Free and Equal team from New York for a summit at which we urged other Indian companies to do more to support LGBT issues," said Shahani. 

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/58288344.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst