58% of surveyed professionals from the LGBT community said they felt Irish employers should do more to support LGBT staff, LinkedIn survey reveals.

Source: Canvas

According to a search commissioned by LinkedIn, just under one in five Irish adults believe that Irish workplaces offer equal opportunities for LGBT workers.





Despite significant social advancement achieved in Ireland since the 2015 marriage equality referendum, LinkedIn’s recent research highlights the plight that LGBT professionals continue to face at workplace.





Some of the main findings from the research, which surveyed 1,000 adults nationally, include:

Approximately 20% of LGBT professionals sometimes feel uncomfortable in the workplace due to their sexuality;

Just three in 10 Irish adults agree that LGBT professionals should only be open about their sexuality in the workplace;

Similarly, only one-third of the LGBT community are fully open with everyone in their workplace about their sexuality, including their direct manager;

Around 10% Irish professionals said that they had seen an LGBT colleague discriminated against or treated differently to straight colleagues.

Over 25% who witnessed discrimination saw an LGBT colleague(s) being made to feel as though they weren’t part of the team.

Source: Unsplash

Although Corporate Ireland had a high profile at the recent Pride Parade, the research study shows that many members of the Irish LGBT community still experience discomfort at work.

Further, the survey also underlines the fact that much more needs to be done to foster a truly inclusive workplace.





Some of the excluding behaviour include not inviting an LGBT colleague on a night out, and leaving them out of a workplace sports team.





“Change starts by accepting that there is a problem. Then it’s a question of identifying the causes of the problem and putting solutions in place to help address it. To create an inclusive workplace environment, employers need to put support programmes in place and get everyone to work together to tackle discrimination,” said Lisa Finnegan, LinkedIn Senior HR Director EMEA & LATAM.





In more positive findings, two in three straight professionals consider themselves to be an LGBT ally in the workplace and would intervene in active discrimination against an LGBT colleague. Almost half of Irish professionals have seen an increase in the number of LGBT allies in the workplace since the marriage equality referendum.



