In support of their transgender employees and workers who may be transitioning between genders, Mozilla, creator of the Firefox browser, publicly announced new human resources policies at the end of 2018. The move has the potential to make waves across technological and other industries as it acknowledges the need to rethink dated guidelines, processes, and procedures. It also opens the door to more inclusivity in the workplace, a topic of concern for LGBTQ advocates.
Mozilla’s push to adopt new language regarding transgender employees and proactively meet their unique needs stemmed from the technology giant’s desire to drastically update their human resources policies and procedures. Specifically, Mozilla’s leadership wanted to ensure that transgender workers understood their rights as welcome members of the company. Currently, the organization has more than 1,000 people on its payroll.
Use of Names
The new transgender guidelines discuss the use of pronouns, preferred names, legal names, and nicknames. Many people who transition from one gender to another have difficulties because of name changes. In fact, those challenges may extend beyond their expectations, especially on the job. For example, if a transgender employee is sent overseas on an assignment, the employee’s passport may not match the name the employee normally goes by, causing issues that might prevent the employee from fulfilling a responsibility or role. Mozilla hopes to stay ahead of these concerns.
Other Guidelines Included
Other subjects covered by the updated diversity and inclusion policy include how managers can better support workers who transition, what is acceptable terminology in the LGBTQ community, and which benefits will make the transition easier; the latter pertaining to those who contemplate sex reassignment in the organization’s North American offices. Mozilla has noted that it wants other corporations to use its publicly viewable policies as a springboard for their own initiatives.
In addition to the policy that was released in 2018, Mozilla has since spearheaded related webinars available to its employees. More than one-third of those working at Mozilla have watched the webinars, and about half of the company’s workers have participated in diversity training related to LGBTQ issues.
Philadelphia LGBTQ Discrimination Lawyers at Sidney L. Gold & Associates, P.C. Work with Transgender Employees to Ensure Fair Treatment in the Workplace
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