Pronouns in work signatures- how do I stop it?

Then can't you just put Mr X / Ms X if you need /want to?

Pretending pronoun declaration isn't just virtue signalling at this point is ridiculous.

It's an obvious political statement and should be put firmly in the bin.

I am a massive fan of pronouns. They really to tell me a lot about a person.

Some names aren't obvious if they are male or female, so pronouns can save time for others to know how to address them without needing to ask.

I was asked at my work if we wanted a lanyard to show support my reply was no thank you, I treat all my patients with the same respect no matter who it is. Never asked me again.

I do think people pointing out it's not mandatory as a way of minimising the issue is disingenuous. I

Who said I was minimising ? Mandatory isn't a spectrum. It either is. Or it isn't.

Believe you me, the best thing to do - and which was always the best thing - is to studiously ignore all of this bollocks. If you choose to froth about it, you merely give it a legitimacy it really doesn't deserve.

I sometimes wonder how I managed to grow up without this burning urge to fill in every box on every form that was waved before me. Yet even now, in 2025, I read post after post of people agonising over what they should put in an optional field on an optional form.

How about live and let live?

It's not compulsory, if you don't want to don't do it (I wouldn't either), but what does it matter what someone chooses to be called?

I am staunchly against men in women's spaces, or women's sport and a man absolutely can't choose to be a woman, but I think anyone is free to live, look, dress and be called as they choose.

Fair enough - vast majority of people I know don’t care one way or the other so it always confuses me when I come across people who do, on either side of the coin. Whatever makes you happy though, if that’s taking the good fight to HR or whatever, more power to you.

Isn't it fading away now and becoming a bit old hat.

I agree with PP that I would just completely ignore the message and do nothing.

I do think people pointing out it's not mandatory as a way of minimising the issue is disingenuous. If it's optional - truly optional, with no risk of reputational harm or judgement for refusing - then it makes no sense for the employer to even suggest or request that people add their pronouns in the first place. Why would the employer even bring it up? There's presumably been no previous "ban" on adding pronouns. And if there's now no expectation to add them, nothing has changed and no memo is required.

I think if it's not mandatory/ pressured its okay. i work with a girl called Kieron, people were constantly assuming she was male on email threads, I think the option to include pronouns in her signature has been very welcomed by her for different reasons! We do have a lot of non-traditional English names in our large Company (London). I find it useful for colleagues I'm not meeting in person tbh.

Point out that it’s unlawful and could ‘out’ people who don’t want to be outed.

But it's not mandatory ...

Has anyone ever gone back to HR after one of these pronoun requests and asked if people could also include their sex in their signatures?

Point out that it’s unlawful and could ‘out’ people who don’t want to be outed. This has some really good info following the Forstator judgement and covers pronoun use in emails. Peter Daly is one of the country’s top employment lawyers https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/forstater-judgment-what-next-peter-daly

If it’s not mandatory, then what’s the issue?

I think we are all grown up enough to know some "not mandatory" suggestions are anything but.

I always feel there is a faint nuance between "optional" and "not mandatory".

If it isn’t mandatory don’t do it
I’ve just started a new job where everyone signs of as she/her but I’m not going to. If asked I’ll say none of the male workers do this and that I will respect others choice of pronouns but I don’t need to specify my own.

With the supreme court ruling, employers are now required to provide services based on sex, rather than gender ID. What's more, the SC ruling pointed out the legal incoherence of gender ID as a category. So, you employer is asking its employees to volunteer their gender, while at the same time it may not be legal for them to honor that gender. Theoretically it could even lead to a situation where an employee declared one gender, but uses the facilities of the opposite sex, as required by law, and causes one of their colleagues to complain out of confusion.

Indeed, a key complaint being made by TRA is that the SC ruling outs them, and makes it impossible to keep their sex (and gender reassignment status) private. Pronouns could have the unintended consequence of outing either or both characteristics, putting them at odds with GCs (of course they don't care about that!), but also transgender people too. It doesn't seem that declared pronouns would be a good idea irrespective of which side of the debate they fall on.

I'm not going to push for this, but I think we're almost at the point where ignoring it will do the most damage to it. Starve it oxygen of attention.
If some HR loon pumps out this policy to earn brownie points and no one pays the blindest bit of attention, it probably withers and dies on the vine.
If someone makes an objection no matter how well put, it gives the HR loon something to sink their teeth into.
Let them shout into the empty void to their heart's content and hear nothing back.

If it’s not mandatory, then what’s the issue? It’s not mandatory at my place of work, I don’t put them in my own signature but for people who do want to, it’s there. Why do you want to ‘stop it’?

They have said it isn't mandatory.

Personally I'd just not do it and move on. Their problem. No drama.

Well unless (or until) it gets queried. Then it would be both barrels, rather along the lines RobinEllacotStrike suggested.

If it's not compulsory just don't do it. Maybe speak to others and see what they think and maybe all agree not to. That way management will plainly see people are not buying into that side of things.

My work is totally captured so I just didn’t do it and kept my head down. One person mentioned it in passing and I stole a comment from here and said I’d rather we all put our preferred adjectives and mine were “sexy, hilarious and cool”.

Despite it being a wasp nest of woke at my workplace I would say less than 50% of my colleagues have put their pronouns on their email signature anyway.

I would just not do it and if questioned just tell them "I don't want to".

Bet hardly anyone does it!

Unless it is mandatory, I doubt many will do it.