Take PRIDE in your Healthcare: Support for your LGBTQ+ Employees 

Included is proud to announce we have now partnered with 21 enterprise clients to bring more inclusive benefits to their LGBTQ+ employees and families - many being EHIR members. Thank you to those EHIR members who have already committed to partnering with us and investing in more inclusive benefits - we’re excited to celebrate PRIDE with you and your employees this month.. And to those we have more recently matched with, we can’t wait to continue the conversation!

June marks a month of PRIDE celebrations all around the world - in major cities, small towns, and in the workplace as well. Many employers will transform their logos with rainbow colors, sponsor parades, and spotlight the incredible work of LGBTQ+ employees. But what else is missing? Inclusive benefits. Inclusive policies. And an inclusive workplace culture that enables all LGBTQ+ employees - not just the out and loud - to be their true authentic selves at work.  This year - invest beyond June and show sustained, heightened support for your LGBTQ+ employees when the PRIDE parades have subsided for 2021. 

Employers’ benefits decisions impact all employees, but have an even greater impact on underserved populations, like the LGBTQ+ community. Culture, internal policies, and things like job descriptions with gender binary language immediately send signals to prospective and current employees. And the visibility (or lack of) of PRIDE Employee Resource Groups is another impactful interaction between employees and employers. Read on to understand how you can take steps today to drive more inclusivity across your organization and further your journey as an inclusive employer - this month and beyond. 

• Review benefits offerings with an eye toward inclusivity: 

  • Go beyond confirming benefits are in place to understand the stickier access issues for employees. What challenges are your LGBTQ+ employees facing in accessing the coverage, care, or support they need? 

    • Can they search their health plan directory for affirming and competent healthcare providers that meet their needs?

    • Do Transgender and gender non-conforming employees have equal access to quality care?

    • Is there a mental health benefit with inclusive providers?

    • Do they have equal fertility and family building opportunities?

    • Do they have a safe space to ask benefits questions? 

  • On transgender benefits coverage, take a closer look too. What is vs isn’t covered? Are your plan coverages sending the right message? Those non-covered items that aren’t deemed ‘medically necessary’ might just be the life-saving care your employees need to be able to continue thriving at work. Explore additional coverage options (either through benefits configuration or heightened financial assistance, for example) to ensure transgender employees also have equitable access to inclusive benefits. 

• Audit Organizational Policies and Tools Employees must use to do their jobs. 

  • Set up time to review company policies, and revise documents with gendered language. He/him, she/her, women and men, ladies and gentlemen. These binary terms - pervasive in thousands of employee touch points - from job descriptions, onboarding packets, opening remarks in big company meetings, document templates, dress codes, bathroom signs and more are exhausting for employees who do not identify with binary gender. Have standard employee email signatures? Add pronouns and normalize saying your pronouns with your name in introductions. 

  • Conduct an enterprise wide analysis of tools and platforms employees use day to day to understand where there is opportunity to be more gender expansive. Do the platforms and software tools your employees use on a daily basis allow for gender identity beyond Male and Female? Are there ways your technology can be adapted to more overtly show that the workplace is inclusive to individuals within the LGBTQ+ community? At Included Health, for example, we’ve all added pronouns to our email account names at the account settings level (check in out in the next email you receive from me - Colin Quinn (he/him) - right in your inbox! 

• Lastly, understand what your PRIDE ERG is doing today, and what they need from you to be even more impactful. 

  • Don’t have Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) yet? Create them! 

  • Have a thriving ERG? Join them and recognize the hard work they do! We highly encourage our benefits leaders to participate in your company ERG’s. It’s a great way to show your support (allyship) and understand what’s important to that cohort of employees. We encourage companies to foster time for important ERG-related work, compensate employees for ERG-driven work, support ERGs with material budgets, and recognize the dedication and commitment employees put in 365 days a year to drive more inclusivity and community in the workplace. 

Have questions? Reach out to contact@includedhealth.com to take the next steps on your inclusive benefits journey.