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Supporting Your Transgendered Employee

One day you are sitting at your desk pondering your latest departmental results and one of your best performers knocks on the door and asks if it is a bad time to have a chat.  You are thinking, "Not another raise request.  The economy is not good."  Still you decide to hear him out.  You have known each other for ages and supported one another through thick and thin.  If there is anyone you can trust it is him.

You are definitely taken aback with the disclosures; perhaps even shocked.  You had no idea.  Within a few sentences your relationship is shattered and your trust destroyed.

Now for the reality check.  The person in front of you is still the same person as five minutes before they walked through your door; closing it behind them.  Their experience and competency hasn't changed, nor has their loyalty.  In fact from their perspective telling you as their boss has taken a huge leap of faith and trust.  That is loyalty you cant buy.  Now they are asking for your help.  They aren't looking for special treatment other than your visible support for a valuable employee.

You have years of experience and tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in training invested here.  Yes the performance may have slipped a little over the past year but everyone goes through cycles you remind yourself.  Now you know why the performance has slipped.  It isn't competency at question here, it is a medical condition.  You listen to the end of the story and you wonder how to respond.  What do you say to this person.

You think you need time to evaluate this and your options right?  You really have two options.  It is that simple.  You either support this employee by recognizing their past, current and future worth to the company or you dont.  As a manager do you let all that money in experience slip from your grasp or do you make the decision to support them and your company with future potential?  It should be a no brainer but too many managers make the wrong choices and for the wrong reasons.

That you and your employee will face obstacles; some of them huge, is an understatement.  How you approach this will be what makes the difference for both of you.  Here are some suggestions.

• Diversity Training. -  Hire a qualified diversity trainer/consultant to assist you in meeting the challenges ahead.  Hold at least one meeting with yourself, the trainer and your employee to fact find and identify the challenges.  Put an acceptable plan in place that everyone can live with.  Do not make the mistake of excluding the employee or letting the trainer set the agenda.

• H.R.  -  Ensure the Human Relations Department are fully on board and remove any barriers that are attempted to be thrown up.  Be aware of the minimum requirements of law and have your facts regarding the value of the employee in front of you.  Anticipate any arguments and prepare to counter them.

• Facilities. - It always seems to come down to which washroom to use.  It really is that simple.  You must ensure the employee's safety and well being.  If it means creating a separate facility then do so.  This should only be a last resort and prompted by concerns of personal safety.  (Some blue collar sites can be less than kind)  Your employee should be using the facilities to which s/he gender identifies.

• Educate. - Educate yourself and the rest of your employees, particularly those in close contact with your transitioning employee.  Create a safe environment for them.  Any dissention should be dealt with promptly and with finality. 

• Zero Tolerance. -  A zero tolerance policy of discrimination should be strictly enforced.  Reinforce the point that this is a place of work.  Covert discrimination will be dealt with harshly.

• Offer any support you can toward their successful transition.  Think about the cost of the transition and the contribution of the employee in the long term.  Which is cheaper?  If you offer to pay for it, will you have a long term loyalty you wouldn't get from anyone else?  To be sure, the loyalty of the employee will be even greater.  Give them the time off needed for surgical and other medical procedures.  Show a true interest.  You have a vested financial interest, so your personal interest in their well being should come without qualification or condition.

• Negotiate. - If the employee's transition could adversely impact your business, negotiate a change of job responsibility without any change in remuneration.  Make sure the employee understands the reason and accepts it willingly.  If they do not, find out what will be acceptable then work towards a jointly acceptable resolution.

• Timing. - Find out the plan for the employee's transition and coordinate the workplace transition to be congruent.

The other option of course is to build a case and let them go.  Are you prepared to accept the cost of human failure?  Are you prepared to accept the potential costs of a legal defense?  Are you prepared to accept the damage to yours and your company's reputation?

The choices are yours.  The right way is hard but very rewarding.  The wrong way is easy and potentially very costly.  If money is your motivation alone, then be careful how you spend it.  The price tag could be very high; much higher than full support.