Help needed - managing stonewall in workplace

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hi - I run a medium size business and have a meeting tomorrow with our LGBT champion. He’s just sent me a note with what he wants to talk about and one of the items is about paying for corporate membership of stonewall so we get access to policies to make our business trans inclusive. I don’t have a problem with trans inclusivity but I have been following the recent issues with Simon fanshawe and I have a problem with paying money to an organisation that even its founder says has lost its way and is not supporting women.

My question; how do I dodge this issue without having to run fully into a trans rights conversation? I am very happy to be supportive of trans people in our workplace but I don’t believe the stonewall approach is one I can support.

Basically don't challenge his beliefs (this will get you into trouble), instead, insist on putting them in context and focussing on all the protected characteristics.

Look for solutions that help genuinely gender non-conforming people like having a gender neutral toilet, rather than turning the women's loos into unisex ones. Basically "how can I give this guy enough flannel to cover my arse while protecting my female workforce's right to privacy and dignity?"

@MrGsFancyNewVagina there isn’t anyone higher up (except for shareholders who couldn’t give a toss).

Barbara great advice - thanks

Here's how a restaurant (?in Aus) has tackled it. Probably not going to go down well with some customers....

twitter.com/wnttgra/status/1192455092139630593?s=21

If I were you I'd chanel my inner Sir Humphrey, enthuse about how important all diversity is, say you want to be sure all protected characteristics are covered - race, disability, sex, gender reassignment - and you're going to look into getting ACAS in to run some courses.

Love this, and hopefully it WILL make the workplace better for everyone.

Good luck - I don’t envy your having to negotiate this. I’m with you on Stonewall.

Great advice on this thread though

Lots of good advice here but, as a manager, I would keep it focussed on very pragmatic money questions. How much does it cost? What benefits does it bring (that couldn't be achieved by looking at ACAS guidance for instance)? If you sign up to corporate membership with Stonewall, should you also do the same for all other protected characteristics (where comparable organisations exist)? Are you also corporate members of Working Families, Carers UK, Business Disability Forum, Business in the Community etc?
I think I would argue that we can't start doing it for just one protected characteristic - especially when the organisation in question is mired in controversy - and it's a big undertaking to sign up to all of these organisations. Possibly a board level decision? And a job of work to map out all the different organisations and do a bit of due diligence about who they are and whether there are reputational risks in being aligned with them?

My workplace has recently signed up as Stonewall Champions. I'm keeping my head down for the time being.

I would remind him that the presumption that everyone should share pronouns will disadvantage anyone who is trans and not ready to be out.

ACAS aren't that good on gender issues IMO, they have posted a PDF online which they did not write and don't accept responsibility for, and which includes the usual gems such as making all toilets mixed sex.

The link I posted upthread includes useful info such as GDPR and how to use and interpret The Equality Act.

We just had a questionnaire at work about Stonewall stuff. They want to get in stonewall's business index thing I think. :(

I'd love to know what stonewall member ship costs though. I'd check the website but I'm not giving them the click traffic.

Thank you for pointing that out, Inebriati.

On the plus side the guy from ACAS did say the bulk of their work was still handling sex discrimination pay/unfair dismissal claims, followed by race, followed by disability. Sad to hear they've dropped the ball on toilets.

I'd want to focus on the business case as well. Even if they were an organisation that was on the ball, I'd want to know what my money was really paying for. "Policy" sounds wonky to me, you don't need to join an organisation to have good policies.

Thank you all.

Stonewall membership £5k apparently.

I’ve had the meeting and just said a flat no to stonewall membership. No reasons given. It wasn’t received well but I didn’t invite discussion on the topic.

We are going to review all our policies against equality act principles for all protected characteristics for our staff. Clinicians will lead the work and prioritisation of any changes that impact the clinics. Think that’s a reasonable outcome!

Stonewall membership £5k apparently.

Wow, I can't easily see what they could offer that would be worth that!

Stonewall membership £5k apparently.

Wow. Is that the annual fee?

The words gravy and train spring to mind.

Seconding WhereAreWeNow's suggestions if you are looking to avoid the discussion on content. Corporate executive here.

Speaking as someone who's known for a love of facts, figures and due diligence, I'd go a step further and ask to be presented with a business case, taking into consideration the points mentioned (e.g. which other corporate sponsorships would you have to engage in to avoid inappropriate focus on one type of minority over another (even more relevant if, e.g. you confirmedly have employees who are disabled but none known to be trans, ...)? Are there alternative organisations that offer similar services for less of a fee? Andsoon ...

If you want to have the conversation: great! If not: bureaucracy is your best friend!

Ah ... late to the party, I see. Plain "no" is also always good. Use it all the time.

Having said that: to the posters gasping at 5k, that's actually kind of a bargain as far as corporate sponsorship fees go. I've paid 25k to place a speaker at a single event before (and, yes, there was a net positive business case involved).

Excellent outcome OP!

It's easy to see why Stonewall is so keen on this scheme. Even if £5k is modest in corporate sponsorship terms, 800 members all signed up with a nice annual rolling membership fee, which no doubt doesn't include conferences or training programmes, is a nice little earner.

And any business wanting to terminate membership and publicly drop the logo from all its marketing would have to be prepared to defend its decision pretty robustly.

Disclaimer. Not a corporate executive so have no idea about this stuff but finding it very interesting to hear views from the inside.

Good result OP

Yes well done for not being pressured into it.