Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Employers And The Transgender Worker

Last week there was an article in CNN Money about a friend who transitioned at work here in Connecticut. You read all the stories employers firing transgender employees when they come out at work, but it doesn’t have to be that way. This story shows that companies can profit from having a diverse workforce.

When a staffer switches genders
Coping with major changes can flummox a workplace, but you can protect your bottom line and your employees by promoting tolerance and respect.
By Malika Zouhali-Worrall
Last Updated: April 29, 2009: 1:33 PM ET
(Fortune Small Business) -- Tony Ferraiolo will never forget his first day back at work after surgery. The 46-year-old supervisor's knees trembled as he entered the windowless headquarters of Madison Co., a switch and sensor manufacturer in Branford, Conn.

Under the curious gaze of his colleagues, Ferraiolo crossed the plant floor and settled into his office. A few minutes later, Madison owner and president Steve Schickler walked in and sat down. "So you're a 'he' now, right?" Schickler asked. Ferraiolo nodded. "Good enough," Schickler said briskly. "I'll let the managers know."

For Schickler, 50, there was no question about what would happen next. Ferraiolo would continue to supervise more than half of the plant's 50 employees. Life would go on as before, with one small difference: Ferraiolo would no longer use the ladies' room.

Schickler describes his decision to support the transgender employee formerly known as Ann Ferraiolo through the transition as a no-brainer.

"If you start limiting your choices in staff based on this kind of thing, you're cutting yourself off from a lot of good people," he says. "We could have lost a valuable manufacturing supervisor - it was as simple as that."

Most employers will never have to deal with a transgender worker: Estimates of the transsexual population in the U.S. are vague but relatively low, ranging from less than 50,000 to 600,000 (not including those who choose not to undergo sex reassignment surgery). Nonetheless, gender identity has become the latest battleground in workplace discrimination law, which no business owner can afford to ignore. And given that few small businesses boast dedicated HR teams, it's particularly important for management to set a tone of workplace tolerance and respect.



"I never knew a female could become a male," says Ferraiolo, who had identified as a lesbian for years but always felt painfully uncomfortable in his female body. "When I saw that video, I realized that was what I wanted and who I was." Within a week Ferraiolo had asked friends outside of work to address him as "he." But at work he was still regarded as a woman even though he had already changed his legal name to Tony.

Then Ferraiolo decided to undergo chest-reconstruction surgery, an elective procedure that he paid for out of his own pocket. He would need three weeks off from work. With some trepidation he told Dotson and Schickler, but neither was as shocked as he'd expected. "Tony was Tony," Dotson explains. "He was never all that feminine, so it didn't faze us too much."

From the get-go, Schickler and Dotson made it clear that they expected the entire staff to treat Ferraiolo with respect. Schickler met with Madison's five senior managers, who made sure that everyone got the message. "I think that anyone who might have had a problem with Tony's decision looked around and saw that the culture was going to be supportive," Schickler says. "That set the tone."

When Ferraiolo returned to work in March 2005, he had a man's chest and boasted an impressive goatee, grown without resorting to hormones. But becoming a man posed a thorny question that hadn't been discussed before surgery: Which restroom should he use?

For the first two weeks, Ferraiolo trekked to the bathroom at the gas station down the street. "I'm not the type to walk straight into the men's room," he says. "I'd supervised these guys for six years, and I didn't want to be rude." Eventually Ferraiolo and Dotson agreed that he would use the single-cubicle men's toilet in the front office.

It may seem trivial, but the restroom question can easily flummox managers who must balance a transgender employee's needs against those of the rest of the staff. Many specialists advise against asking a transgender person to use a segregated bathroom beyond an initial adjustment period, simply because it won't help reintegrate the employee. "If a person is presenting as a woman, we recommend she be treated as a woman, which includes using the women's restroom," says Janis Walworth, a consultant on transgender issues.

What if the employee hasn't had gender reassignment surgery and lacks the "right parts"? Walworth advises against anatomical requirements for restroom access, given that most gender reassignment candidates are required to live in their desired gender for a year before an operation. Moreover, many transgender people do not undergo surgery. "What's between your legs is irrelevant to doing the job," Walworth says. "Surgery is private medical information and shouldn't be anybody else's business."

The biggest adjustment for everyone at Madison was undoubtedly the change of pronoun that accompanied Ferraiolo's transition. "That was one of the most difficult things to do," Dotson says. " 'She' would flow out of your mouth before you could think about it." One colleague told Ferraiolo that it was against her religion to accept his new identity. She came around after some discussion, Ferraiolo says. But she calls him only Tony, avoiding pronouns altogether. Others still address him in the feminine.

"I think some people are just limited," says Ferraiolo. "Even if they knew how much it hurt my soul when they use the wrong pronoun, I'm not sure they would stop."

Ferraiolo has become a better manager since he changed genders. Before the transition, Schickler would often coach Ferraiolo on improving his people skills. "Tony was very aggressive before," he says.

Ferraiolo agrees. He remembers feeling angry all the time, and he would often shout at the workers he supervised. "I wouldn't have wanted to work for me," he admits. "Now I'm more relaxed, so I have better relationships with the employees."



The lesson? Tolerance can be good business as well as good karma. "An employee with a visibly different lifestyle choice from the employer sends a message that this is an accepting business environment," says Phillips, the workplace discrimination attorney. "That often leads to more customer loyalty and better business."

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