The new scientific discoveries regarding gender and sex and the expanding understanding of the science behind transgenderism have brought courage to several individuals to express themselves. However, workplaces maintain top positions among the most discriminatory places for transgender individuals.

But a workplace that respects science and its employees can come off as forward-thinking and earn employee and customer loyalty. As a progressive employer or administrator, you might want to create a gender-inclusive workplace for all your employees. So without further ado, let’s take a look at some steps that you can take to ensure a gender-inclusive workplace:

Implement the OSHA restroom guidelines for Transgender Employees

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued a guide for restroom access for transgender workers. As per this guide, transgender employees should be allowed to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

As an employer, you can simply allow transgender employees in your workplace to use restrooms that correspond with their gender identity. However, gender is not as black and white as we once believed. It is a spectrum that can become complicated for employees with non-binary gender identities. Employers can install gender-neutral single-occupancy restrooms or lockable single-occupancy units in large restrooms for these employees and all other employees.

Establish a Plan for Transitioning Employees at Workplace and Implement as Needed

A formal plan with information on who to approach and how to make formal changes to workplace records should be available to all employees at all times. As an employer, you don’t only have to consider the transitioned or transitioning employees but also cater to the possibility of employees transitioning in the future.

However, a formal plan can provide significant support to all transgender employees at different stages of transition. This plan should direct the employees to an administration or HR personnel to discuss their gender journey. However, this HR personnel should never ask any unnecessary questions and intrude on the employee’s privacy. They should only assist the employee with:

  • Changing their name, gender, and other information on formal record
  • Updating employee’s photo identification
  • Updating the transitioning employee’s preferred pronouns on formal records and re-introducing the employee with their preferred pronouns to the team members, if they wish

Make Room for the Employee’s Transitioning Journey

All medical procedures related to an employee’s transitioning should be treated as any other medical procedure. The transitioning employee should be allowed sick days and medical leaves for an easy transition without the added work stress.

If the transitioning employee asks their transitioning journey and medical records to be kept private, respect their privacy and don’t indulge other employees with details of their journey. Employers and administration can ask transitioning or transgender employees if they want the employer to inform the transgender employee’s team members and clients on their transition or if they wish to inform others by themselves.

Finally, showing the utmost respect to employees for their gender identity can also significantly help turn the workplace into a gender-inclusive workplace. Respect can be easily shown by not asking personal questions and using the transgender employee’s preferred name and pronouns.