Feature
Maxine Kwiatkowksi thought about transitioning in 2015. She decided against it.
“I kind of convinced myself it would be bad for my career,” she explained. Ultimately, her journey as a transgender woman began closer to 2019, when she lost her job and was forced to reevaluate a number of things about her life. However, without the stability of a job, she struggled for another two years before finally beginning treatment in 2021.
At this point, Maxine has worked a number of jobs both in the closet and out, remote and in person. While her experience is unique, the challenges — and progress – she’s made as a trans person in the workforce — aligns with what others in the community are going through.
For many trans employees, remote work offered the ability to begin or continue transitioning without as much scrutiny from colleagues and supervisors. Yet, at a moment when anti-trans rhetoric is rising and the community still faces systemic barriers, is it on employers to do more?
A Fever Pitch
The current political landscape is particularly dire for trans individuals. According to the Human Rights Campaign, there have been more than 500 pieces of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in US state legislatures, almost half of which target the trans community specifically. This includes laws restricting public bathroom usage by trans or nonbinary individuals and bans on gender affirming care for trans minors and adults alike.
Beyond these legal issues, trans employees continue to face significant challenges in the workplace. A 2021 report from McKinsey found that more than half of trans employees say they are not comfortable being out at work, and two-thirds remain in the closet in professional interactions outside their own companies. Trans employees also reported feeling far less supported in the workplace than their cisgender colleagues.
Maxine, who didn’t begin working remotely until 2022, had to begin her transition while working in person, first in Illinois and then in Columbus, Ohio. One of the hardest parts, she explained, was dealing with customers on the phone.
“I found it just very maddening at times. I introduced myself as Maxine (a girl’s name), and it felt like it went in one ear and out the other,” Maxine said. “But there were also just the slurs and general rudeness from people.” She also had to deal with a manager who seemingly befriended her but that she later learned would misgender her in private.
Applying for new roles wasn’t any easier, due to her voice not passing as female.
“I have a very impressive resume and I would eventually get interviews,” she said. “They would see me and be totally fine with my appearance. But then suddenly, when I would speak, you would just see this person's excitement deflate.”
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A Safer Place
Since beginning her current position, which is remote, Maxine is not only in a company that is more supportive of the LGBTQ+ community, but was able to relocate back from Columbus, Ohio to Chicago, where she feels much safer as a trans person.
She’s not alone. According to recent research, between 130,000 to 260,000 trans people have fled US states with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation on the books or being considered.
While Maxine feels there still may be colleagues who have a problem with her, she doesn’t have to deal with them as much.
“There’s still that element of fear but it’s muted to the point where I don't necessarily dread logging in versus going into the office,” she said. “I was dreading every day of that old job.”
Maxine also expressed relief that she no longer had to worry about harassment over which bathroom she chose to use in the office, or spend as much time on her everyday appearance to pass as sufficiently feminine in front of colleagues.
Again, there’s research to back her up: according to a study about the “grooming gap,” women spend 55 extra minutes trying to adhere to grooming standards, and those who don’t conform are likely to be paid less. Maxine noted that trans women also face an even higher standard than cisgender women.
Tara Robertson, a leadership coach and DEIB consultant, said remote work has been a welcome change of pace for trans people as well as women of color and other marginalized groups.
“For [these groups of people], having to put in the time to make our appearance professional which is coded for fitting white, gender normative standards, takes a lot of work.”
A Better Way
All of this isn’t to say remote work is a complete solution to the issues trans individuals face.
While Maxine is still remote, a report from BBC found that many employees who transitioned during the pandemic are now facing both the social pressures of being back around colleagues and a lack of trans-inclusive policies.
Robertson, who has worked both in-house and as a consultant developing trans-inclusive policies, says that this is the moment for companies to take a stand.
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“They can ensure that their staff have safe and inclusive working environments and their staff, spouses and families have inclusive benefits,” Robertson explained. “Overall, things in society are worse, and I think companies have a more important role to play because things are worse.”
Robertson said companies can start by building a safe and inclusive culture within their workplace. Some basic actions include simply ensuring colleagues identify each other with their preferred names and pronouns.
In addition, companies should proactively consider relocating conferences and other work obligations away from states or other areas that could be dangerous to trans employees, and always give them the agency to decide whether to attend.
“It can be career limiting if someone else is deciding what’s safe for you,” Robertson explained.
Related Article: Embrace Diversity and Inclusion for an Improved Employee Experience
The Digital Space
However, with workplaces now blurring the lines between physical and digital, ensuring employees’ psychological safety is a multi-faceted initiative.
When working in-house, Robertson said she worked across departments to audit everywhere names and gender came up in their various employee systems, and determined what the process for changing these would look like.
“I’ve had people say, ‘the first thing I have to do at work is put in my dead name or old username and I'm not feeling good about it,’” she explained. “That’s unnecessary friction.”
Ultimately, the company developed a process in which different departments could take the steps needed to update these fields without a trans employee having to do any extra work. In the future, she thinks these types of systems can be built to be more inclusive by design.
Maxine herself said she still struggles making phone calls as a part of her job, even working remotely.
“I have to admit, I get scared when I have to hop on the phone,” she explained. “I’m thinking, Is this person going to completely invalidate my existence over the phone and I can't say anything about it?”
Robertson said that it should never be on employees to have to feel like they’re dealing with this kind of behavior on their own.
“You want a manager who is happy to support them,” she said. “You should be able to have a conversation where the manager might step in and say, ‘How can I support you? Do you want to brainstorm together?’”
Some companies are putting systems in place to deal with harassment: they range from as simple as one restaurant’s color-coded system for flagging concerning patrons to new technology like TallPoppy, which aims to safeguard employees from online harassment and hacking. Maxine said she’d love to see companies rethink their reliance on certain forms of communication or otherwise allow trans employees the option to opt out of them.
Robertson concluded that with a much larger portion of the young workforce identifying as LGBTQ+, the right culture is a business imperative.
“It’s not a nice-to-have anymore. Trans people have been and will always be here,” she said. “If you’re not responsive or inclusive, it will hurt your business. You're not going to have a great employee experience and that will go through to your customer experience.”
