Some 20% of LGBTQ+ employees complain of having been hindered in their progress within their company. This discrimination is recorded more among workers than among managers.
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Attacks and discrimination against LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) employees are on the rise. Even if in certain companies, signatories of a charter, the situation is much better. This is the third time in six years that the association L’Autre Cercle has scrutinized the situation of LGBT employees at work. And their situation is not improving. On the contrary. A third of them have been the victim of at least one attack in their organization. This is an increase of four points compared to 2020. Ditto for discrimination: they are a quarter to denounce discrimination on the part of their management. That is six points more than the last barometer. Career development is also affected: 20% of LGBTQ+ employees complain of having been slowed down in their progress. Again, the number is increasing. It is especially among workers, and less among executives, that this discrimination is recorded.
One out of two LGBTQ+ employees prefers to remain silent about their situation. An invisibility which however decreases when one progresses in the social ladder. Thus, 65% of higher intellectual professions are “visible” to their direct superiors, against only 42% among workers. In concrete terms, seven out of ten LGBTQ+ people living in a couple have already voluntarily omitted to refer to the sex of their spouse and four out of ten have given up participating in an event organized by colleagues or by their company.
Faced with this situation, L’Autre Cercle, at the origin of this investigation, is calling for sanctions. We need zero tolerance, says Catherine Tripon, spokesperson for the association, and we need to put in place truly effective alert, treatment and sanction systems in order to tackle this climate and this violence which is still too much often accepted and trivialized.
Moreover, some companies have made a commitment by signing the LGBT+ commitment charter proposed by L’Autre Cercle. In these companies, LGBT employees are less likely to be teased or insulted: five points less than the average. There are half as many insults and insults. And career development is less impeded. As a result, LGBTQ+ employees are more willing to talk about their situation with their colleagues and their hierarchy.