Employee using pronouns. Help!

As others have said, send out a template for all staff to follow. Have a quiet word about it not being professional to state your sexual preferences in business correspondence and that "cis" promotes gender stereotyping which is not helpful in gaining equal opportunities for women in the workplace.

If this was the other way round, and someone was being asked to use a company template including pronouns against their will, would you so freely be advocating dismissal for non-compliance?

I think the company would have difficulty enforcing such a policy because of

1. right to privacy
2. negative impact on women

Should we also add our race to our signatures to be inclusive to ethnic minorities?

And maybe also our sexuality (heterosexual/bisexual/homosexual/pan sexual etc) to be inclusive ?

If not, why not?

Because you don't generally refer to people by their race or sexuality.

You'd say: 'Miss Smith called, did you send the invoice to her yesterday?'
You wouldn't say: 'Miss Smith called, did you send the invoice to the lesbian yesterday?'
You wouldn't say: 'Miss Smith called, did you send the invoice to the black woman yesterday?'

I think the fact that pronouns is viewed as an inclusive of transwomen fascinating.

Should we also add our race to our signatures to be inclusive to ethnic minorities?

And maybe also our sexuality (heterosexual/bisexual/homosexual/pan sexual etc) to be inclusive ?

If not, why not?

I worked with a woman I had never met with a unisex name, we only ever used email or IM - it was quite a while before I found out she was female if she had her pronouns listed I would have known straight away how to refer to her when referring to her in her absence.

Why do you need to know someone's sex in a professional capacity?

It's been proven to go against women too.

As long as they can do the job it's no-one's business what sex someone is.

If it's not obvious or relevant I use 'they' and if I'm wrong so what, it just doesn't matter.

As a client, I wouldn’t do business with a company who contacted me with pronouns in their signature because I consider it a political statement.

I wouldn’t deal with someone who put their chromosomes in their signature like some GC feminists do on Twitter either.

Sex and gender politics is a contentious political issue and I don’t want to know your position on it from a professional communication.

I'd tell the new recruit that it's company policy not to have any political or ideological statements in work email signatures. I regard adding pronouns as completely unprofessional. It's as inappropriate as putting your position on Brexit or lockdowns or vaccination at the end of your signature. Unnecessary and provocative

I've never worked for a company that didn't have a template and guidance for email signatures, mail shots or letters (like block, arial 10 or whatever). It was part of the induction when I worked in HR, explaining what the corporate style was and how to use or where to find the guidance.

There was usually someone in the place that would police it and would advise people who were doing advertising or marketing drops where the logo could go, what colour it could be. In one bank we used to have a list of colours our logo could change to for advertising literature if it clashed with the predominant colours used in the direct mail shot and woe betide you deviated from that.

It just makes for a branded look. I run my own little on line business and I wouldn't allow an advertiser to change my colours - that's my brand.

I'm surprised companies don't have that policy - saves a lot of grief to be able to say your signature should be title (if necessary), first name, last name, department or whatever the company deems necessary.

'why would he want her to stop'

Weeeellll, displaying political aliegiences is generally frowned on at work.
If he alienates his customers he will lose money
Gender Idology is massivly misognyistic (and homophobic) so there's that too.

Why would he want her to stop? 🤷‍♀️

Show her the company email format. If she fails to use it let her and her pronouns go during/at the end of her probation period.

[quote yeahbutnaw]@merrymouse

It's not inclusive to force someone to remove pronouns from their signature.

It just indicates a belief that it's bad to be accepting of trans people.

Good god get a grip girl.[/quote]
Do you normally call grown adults "girl"? Do you call men "boy" as well?

If no to "boy" do you realise how misogynistic you're being.?

Your friend shouldn't be trying to impose his GC beliefs on someone over whom he's in a position of power.

He's the boss. He is in a position of power when it comes to his business. And if he doesn't want someone to demonstrate their gender ideology credentials in his work place he's more than entitled to do that. That's not forcing his beliefs on anyone. Merely informing the employee that he doesn't want their gender ideology beliefs forced on others within the time he's paying for.

[quote yeahbutnaw]@merrymouse

It's not inclusive to force someone to remove pronouns from their signature.

It just indicates a belief that it's bad to be accepting of trans people.

Good god get a grip girl.[/quote]
Only because pronouns have become a visible badge of allyship. So it’s not about the pronouns really, it’s about making public obsequience to one particular and very rigid form of gender ideology.

A much better way to support trans people, female people and frankly just people in general would be to encourage everyone to use gender neutral pronouns, not as a statement that “I am neither woman nor man”, but as a statement that “my sex/gender isn’t relevant”.

If she's Ms/Miss/Mrs, then she/her is redundant.

I worked at a small company that grew. The company decided the style of signature, and we all followed the format. That included me deleting my qualifications from my signature.
I still had my qualifications, and if anyone asked I could tell them, or in fact offer the info if relevant, but they weren’t included in every email because my employer said the company style was X, which excluded them letters. This is the same.

Your friend shouldn't be trying to impose his GC beliefs on someone over whom he's in a position of power.

Personal expressions of beliefs should not be included in your work email signature.

Putting your pronouns in your email signoff is like hanging English flags from all your windows.
Technically its not racist at all, but your political statement it still going to make poc uncomfortable.

I think its quite well acknowledged now even by proponents of gender idology that its a mens sex rights movement, and that is going to make a lot of women uncomfortable.

He should be honest with her. It sounds like she's been instructed that this is what she should be doing by someone she has trusted, someone should explain to her that out in the world many people care about womens and childrens rights and aligning herself this way could harm her proffessionally.

if her title is 'Dr' you do have a problem, though

No you don't! It's an advantage rather than the opposite. It attracts a greater level of professional response.

Best not to have a reminder of your sex offered up to the sexists out there.

I think it's as bad to force people to remove their pronouns as it is to compel them to include them.

Your friend shouldn't be trying to impose his GC beliefs on someone over whom he's in a position of power.

Woman and trans woman. Totally understandable terms with no ambiguity. Why does woman need a word in front of it when describing an adult female?

To exclude trans men. In genderist ideology it’s not enough to have a word to group all the people who “feel like a woman*” together, it must also become impossible to group all the adult human females together under any one word.

An easier way would be to write (Ms) or (Mr) after your name is you wanted to let them know. That has the added advantage of giving them a title for correspondence.

This is what I'd suggest as a compromise. The recipients of her emails can then address her with her preferred title if they wish to be formal in their reply. A female title also indicates that she/her would be appropriate without indicating that the company supports gender ideology.

(If she likes to sign herself as 'Mx' (she/her) or if her title is 'Dr' you do have a problem, though.)