Survey at work

That is a really interesting angle @SpringBadger

OP read the organisation maternity policy. If the word mother has been replaced repeatedly by the phrase 'birthing partner' then that's a cast iron guarantee you've been stonewalled.

Clearly as a pressure group they are very successful. What I don't understand is why they have been so successful. How come the Fawcett Society isn't listened to, when they represent half the entire population.

Hi definitely not academia. Wonder if it's stonewall recommended language. My company is definitely stonewalled

How are they planning to analyse the results? "Black homosexuals work better from home but non-binary Christians with a history of trans prefer to come to the office'?

😂😂😂

Sounds suspiciously similar to a survey I did at my work.
Either we work for for same company. Or the HR departments have been infiltrated and brainwashed/ briefed on what to put in these questionnaires.

I think the young women working in HR genuinely think they are being nice and kind with all this.

Engage your brain though and you see through the utter bullshit.

"Identify as", the more I think about it, is a strange turn of phrase. Perhaps I am stating the obvious, but historically "identity" has meant more about how a person is recognised by others. "He's the tall blonde one on reception; she's the lady at number 38; he's called John Smith; she belongs to the same religion as us; the burglar's identity is unknown". It feels like the meaning has been inverted to mean the way a person would like to see themselves, whether or not anyone else sees it or needs to know it. "Without identity, you're just a corpse", if you will.

Why not "I see myself as"? That way people can express themselves without the implication that this should override the perceptions of others or objective facts.

Anyway, to answer the actual question, those questions do all feel like overkill. If your company has no plan for how they will use the data (beyond just mulling it over), they are on thin ice really, since there is special category data in there which could be linked to an individual even when summarised (e.g. the black lesbian who only WFH on Thursdays).

A better question on disabilities would be: do you consider yourself to have a disability according to the disability discrimination act?

I am hard-of-hearing. I don't "identify as disabled", but I my disability does fall under the DDA, so I would answer "yes" to that question. It can be followed by a question about the disability, if someone wants to answer.

People with disability/disabilities are always entitled to workplace accommodations for their disability/disabilities. They don’t have to identify themselves as being “disabled” to be entitled.

People with disability/disabilities may also be entitled to certain disability benefits, depending on how the disability/disabilities affect their day to day living. They dont have to identify as “disabled” to be entitled.

Do you think that people who do identify as disabled but aren't should get benefits for disabled people? Benefits are linked to how the persons disability/disabilities affect their day to day living. They aren’t linked to whether or not they consider themself to be disabled.

Should companies be forced to ake adjustments for healthy-bodied people as if they had the disability that they claim to have? There’s no adjustment for an abled person that identifies themselves as “disabled” because adjustments are linked to disabilities. If a person claims to have a disability, once they have been referred by a GP for assessment at that point they are entitled to adjustments even if they do not yet have an official diagnosis.

Are people who are disabled but refuse to see themselves as disabled still entitled to benefits for disabled people or adjustments at work for disabled people?

Do you think that people who do identify as disabled but aren't should get benefits for disabled people? Should companies be forced to ake adjustments for healthy-bodied people as if they had the disability that they claim to have?

The “identify as disabled” is standard.
Its because not everyone with a disability or disabilities views themselves as disabled. The predominant view is you are disabled if you cannot work and live on disability benefits. Around half of people with diagnosed disabilities can and do work, and most of them do not view themselves as disabled.

"Having a trans history" is the Trojan horse in the Census, for example.
Someone who is male and thinks they are a woman can say "I'm a woman, I'm female, my sex is female, look at my legal fiction birth certificate, oh by the way I have a trans history".
It's the ultimate in gaslighting.

I totally agree. It should just be factual and I wouldn't want to compromise given the choice.

History or trans eh… I’d be tempted to use the free text box to explain the history of the steam powered train. I often misread things.

Apologies forgot the screenshot

It is OUTRAGEOUS that any questionaire assumes that you have a gender identity... but as I say, seen much worse. My professional regulation organisation thinks intersex, male and female are gender identities.

Surely also utterly pointless as well. Sexual orientation is defined in relation to what sex you are attracted to. By definition you can be attracted to men, or women, or both. There can be no other way that your attraction is orientated.

Anything else is a preference. Saying you are pansexual says nothing - other than you like more than one sex therefore are bisexual with a trans rights activist mindset.

Why gay and lesbian? Surely if the question says same sex attracted then you know whether they are a gay man or a lesbian from the sex question?

I'd love to know how pansexual differs from bisexual given that there are only two sexes.

I don't believe that asexual is an orientation - it is either a lack of sex drive within an orientation, or it is a lack of orientation.

I'm with you.... but I have seen a lot worse!

Sexual orientation in the Equality Act www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/12

As a kindness they could as to self describe, but pointless because not protected!

Also disability has a clear definition which should be used in my opinion.
Do you have a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.

www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010

Why these people make up their own questions when the equality act specifies them I'll never know.

The question on trans should reflect gender reassignment of the Equality Act.
Something like are you under going, have undergone or proposing to undergo gender reassignment.
Perhaps they should list all the protected characteristic questions first, as listed in the Equality Act, followed by additional questions (caring, gender identity etc). That's what I would do and refer to the PC in the introduction. Makes it clear why they are being asked.
I wouldn't expect them to ask questions on the PCs of maternity/pregnancy or civil/marriage as apparently these are managed differently under the act.