Just start saying 'they' for everyone that's work related. No matter on LGBT status.
Makes it easier to not fuck up.
I already do this with because of how many people I know and work with that have names not exclusively used by men or women.
I work with enough foreigners that I almost HAVE to do this since I rarely see them face to face and have no real indicators aside from their name. If your name is 20 characters long and 18 of them are consonants, I'm gonna use "they" at work, just to avoid any undue offense. So far, if someone had a problem with me it was because of my employer, not my own words or behavior.
I assume op is English speaking, but just fyi this doesn't work in every language, would make things a lot simpler.
This they gets it.
you'd use something like "person" to replace "guy" since "guy" is not a pronoun like he/she/they.
Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to do something along the lines of stating upfront that "if anyone in the company does anything to offend you, please report it to the appropriate channels. You'll have our full support. We're here to get work done, not to make people feel bad"
You're not likely going to say by accident something they haven't heard before, or to offend them in a new and novel way, But establishing and occasionally reinforcing the fact that they don't have to tolerate it, that putting up with abuse is not part of their job, and that they have the boss's backing at the same level of the non-LGBTQ employees should they find themselves being abused or offended, would probably go a decent way in minimizing the risk of something actually bad happening.
"... and if I accidentally say or do something offensive, tell me and I'll try to learn better."
This whole thread is very good
please report it to the appropriate channels
Telling them that you personally will be there for them is really the only guarantee you can make without blindly relying on third parties to act with compassion. So telling them to come to you so that you can then together go through the rest of the process is imo the better idea. They can always choose to just ignore you, but making them go to some shitty HR office by themselves also sucks.
Well maybe only say this if it's true
You’re not likely going to say by accident something they haven’t heard before, or to offend them in a new and novel way
Not OP, but you underestimate my foot in mouth capacity.
20 years ago, my sister was dating a jock. Real body builder type. Probably a bigger musclehead than most pro-wrestlers.
What I was trying to convay is that we should make a superhero costume for him to wear, and make a comic book out of it.
What was percieved instead is that he should run around town and suck everybodys nuts in his mouth for their approval.
I DARE you to try to connect how that came out so wrongly worded.
Treat them like anyone else by default and make accommodations if you need to and it's reasonable.
You're asking with good intentions, but the best answer for any group will always be that. Shit, not even by groups. On a human by human basis just do that, there's a crazy amount of human variation and it's not always obvious.
This is not a comprehensive list, but you should probably avoid talking about your sex life.
good advice for any workplace
But I'm a hooker
In that case, you’re just talking shop
Yes.
But how can I impress people with my competitive qualities? I had fourteen sex last night, and before that I did four sets of three sex at a time.
I'm even the speedruns any% TAS WR holder at 3.19 seconds.
Do my colleagues not need to know about this???
You can mention it by asking about office etiquette on Lemmy.
Ah nice one cheers friend!
First of all, good for you for asking the question. I think many people are afraid to ask these things even if they want to be respectful and inclusive for fear of coming off as backward or ignorant, but I think asking questions in good faith shows that we're willing to listen and learn.
But most importantly, just treat them with the same respect you'd treat anyone else! Gender identity isn't really that big of a deal, and after you get to know some trans folks you'll come to that realization quickly that they're just regular people!
Im trans with over 10 years of experience in the industry
--
There's really not a lot to it. We just want a basic level of respect and empathy. Respect their chosen names and pronouns, and don't ask them random questions about being trans unless they're open to it. Trust them when/if they talk about their experiences, they know more about themselves than you do. Reassure them that their job is a safe space.
Happy to answer any questions.
Edit: if you slip up on name/pronouns, simply apologize, correct yourself, and move on. We know people aren't always trying to be malicious. Hell, my dad still slips up on my pronouns.
Im trans with over 10 years of experience in the industry
The... trans industry? How much does it pay?
And in what currency?
If you wanna go the extra mile, skimming an ally guide for 10 minutes, looking up some terminology and concepts, would reduce awkwardness by a fair bit. I certainly would have avoided a half dozen missteps if I did some reading.
This is super helpful, thank you!
Im curious what could come off as a joke to you but would offend a trans person but not offend other (similarly aged) people.
If your joke might be offensive to anyone, its probably best to save it for outside of the workplace if you share it at all.
Not saying dont make any jokes, just that your jokes shouldn't be referencing someones gender or appearance or at the expense of someone else in general.
Its impossible to know if your joke might be offensive to others when you live different lifestyles.
It's like telling people not to serve food that might be prohibited by the religion of one of their dinner guests when they have never interacted with the religion before.
What OP does here is trying to educate himself, which is the right move, in my opinion.
Generally, keep humor work related, and it'll be fine no matter who it is. Well, there's always that asshole that thinks you have to be a robot at work, but with that sort, it doesn't matter anyway.
Beyond that, either stay neutral with pronouns, or use those that a person introduces.
I promise you, just those two things are going to go a long way in establishing respect and camaraderie.
Humor is the big one. I would start thinking about the jokes that co-workers make, and if everybody would think they're funny. Not just trans folks, but any kind of joke that has a butt of the joke or a stereotype might be good to start getting away from.
If you struggle with pronouns, apologize casually when the pronouns come up.
As a fellow old, the kids don't seem to necessarily get it that my brain is wired pretty hard not to change pronouns, but they do seem to appreciate the effort and the discussion that it's a challenge rather than just fucking it up with no explanation.
Otherwise, be mindful that they take a lot of shit for parts of themselves that are background attributes for the rest of us. They can get pretty tired of it. A friendly person who regards them as just people may be the best thing they can get from anyone.
Since there already are a lot of good answers, do it like in Full Metal Jacket "I don’t look down on you if you’re x, y, z or something - you’re all equally worthless"
Your job is to train them. They're people. You're a person. Just go with that
I think if you love as a person them you'll be good.
That's what I do and it's worked out pretty great!
Just treat them with respect like anyone else. There are 3 topics to avoid in any work place for anyone: religion, politics, and sex life. That's just a good general rule for all forced mixed company situations.
Avoiding politics might be wise on some level, but by all means do talk about unionizing.
Treat them like any other person. Their gender/identity should have absolutely zero impact on the ability to do their job. So you don't even need to ask this question. If you feel like you're walking on eggshells and scared of bringing up an offensive topic, then that's an issue with you, not with them. There's nothing that you say that should be offending them since it's absolutely irrelevant to work.
Regardless of who your coworkers are, topics like gender identity or politics should NEVER be discussed in the workplace. If you simply avoid engaging in those types of topics then you will be safe. Talking about those things at work is an absolute horrendous idea, regardless of who the coworkers are. Those convos don't belong in the workplace.
I think some politics is healthy to talk about in certain work situations. Definitely not the red vs blue tribal nonsense, but discussing and understanding material conditions
The only politics that should be discussed at work are policies that directly impact the business. For example, my company has many conversations and meetings around impacts from Trump's tariffs. No one gives an opinion on what their politics are. Not a single one. We discuss the impact on the business and how we can mitigate them. It ends there.
I think many workplaces function better when workers are able to develop camaraderie by talking and joking about things that aren't strictly related to work
There are plenty of other things to joke around and talk about, aside from politics.
When someone starts complaining about what bathroom everyone is using, you can't just ignore it and hope it goes away. It's your job as their superior to address these issues.
Similarly,
Their gender/identity should have absolutely zero impact on the ability to do their job.
Making this stance clear requires talking about gender identity and politics.
You're not a dick for getting someone's pronouns wrong... You're a dick if you intentionally and continuously misgender them on purpose.
Well, I think it's of upmost importance to hire a private security firm to guard the bathrooms. Anyone entering or exiting those bathrooms will now be required to submit to a genital confirmation. We'll have tighter security on those bathrooms than TSA guarding the airports from unauthorized water bottles, and 2 inch pocket knifes.
Because as we all know, urinating into a toilet, surrounded by makeshift stall walls, can be the most offensive thing in the world if you don't share the same set of genitals as everyone else in the world! Especially since those stslls intentionally leave a gap, so we can spy on others as their peeing. That's how important these genitals in bathrooms are! Gotta follow all the correct protocol for emptying your bladder!
I say all this to say that yesterday I peed on a tree outside, and nobody gives a shit.
As for your coworkers? Just make a concentrated effort to remember what they prefer as their gender so you don't say "she" instead of "he".
The only one that confuses me is "they", but it's still refering to just one person. Luckily I don't know anyone like that, because that one I'm sure I'd constantly accidently fuck up.
No Stupid Questions
No such thing. Ask away!
!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.
The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:
Rules (interactive)
Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.
All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.
Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.
Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.
Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.
Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.
Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.
That's it.
Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.
Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.
Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.
Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.
On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.
If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.
Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.
If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.
Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.
Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.
Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.
Let everyone have their own content.
Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here. This includes using AI responses and summaries.
Credits
Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!
The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!