Trans allies at work

[biddyboo]

Do you have these at your work? Their main remit seems to be to stalk our work social media and intranet, policing people for saying the "wrong" thing. They also regularly write self-congratulary blogs about how fantastic they are. They talk about, with no sense of self-awareness, how good they are at standing up to bullies. Apart from a little band of followers, most people seem to avoid engaging with them now as don't want to risk an onslaught. Apparently they are supported by HR 😕 Ironically, they are what peaked me 😄

I recognise this description only too well. The same people who police live meetings to the point where nobody wants to speak more than 10 words for fear of making an error.

Yes. In my organisation, the HR team set up and run 'ally groups' for race, disability and trans.

Each group meet every month to plan how they can be the best allies and promote wider allyship across the organisation. The focus has to be internal change (so no fund raising or promoting other 'support' organisations). Other than an initiative to have 100% of email signatures containing pronouns (which they will never achieve whilst I'm employed there), and emails about 'today is trans day of remembrance' etc, it's difficult to see what they achieve.

It strikes me as one of those DEI industry initiatives that has little impact beyond keeping DEI people in a role.

I do hope HR / managers realise what impact this will be having on the effectiveness of the meetings and therefore the effectiveness and efficiency of the organisation.

Those monthly meetings must be insufferable.

The cognitive dissonance is sufficient that they couldn't bring themselves to acknowledge this. Nor the knock-on effect for the workplace atmosphere where there's a sense that, "Bullying is wrong. But constant correction can never be equated to bullying when self-appointed monitors are On the Right Side of History."

Yes, I may have had somebody 'correct' my wrongthink use of woman when discussing treatment options for ovarian and breast cancer.

There is one ally, in particular, that can be really aggressive. But because he's on the 'right' side, he gets away with it. I find it astonishing.

I do hope HR / managers realise what impact this will be having on the effectiveness of the meetings and therefore the effectiveness and efficiency of the organisation.

I find HR teams are the worst culprits for wanting discussion stifled and policed. Sometimes, this seems to be from a risk averse position of wanting to avoid complaints about 'actual harm' and 'unsafe spaces' and other times from them having OD'd on the cool aid.

"Those monthly meetings must be insufferable."

Anyone with any sense would find out who is in the groups before joining. This would tell them all they need to know. They comprise of the usual suspects (blue hair brigade) plus others who want out of the 9-5 for a couple of hours a month, plus a few who ended up there by accident (usually being duped during their induction).

Effective people are too busy spending time doing stuff that makes a positive impact, so wouldn't sign up. These are often the best recruiters who have a high functioning, diverse teams where reasonable adjustments are in place for those team members who need them and make excellent contributions with them in place!

Soviet Britain

Perfectly put. There aren't any allies on my team, and we all manage to be respectful and mindful of each others' needs. On my previous team, their was a social justice warrior type, who seemed to spend most of her time going off to one meeting or another and doing as little of her actual day job as possible.

it was ever thus….

‘I'm one of the Whitehall warriors!
The whole of the tripe that I dictate
Has got to be typed in triplicate.
I'm one of the Whitehall warriors!
My orders I sprawl in a swivel chair
With a nonchalant air
I'm one of the Whitehall warriors!
I'm one of the red tape brigade.

I'm one of the Whitehall warriors!
I've answered the call, Whitehall!
You'll find I'm a handy kind of man

I reserve occupations
For all my relations
It's social position that tells;
And for those who are pally
There's always the ballet;
I send them to Sadlers Wells.
I'm one of the Whitehall warriors!’
I've answered the call, Whitehall!

" On my previous team, their was a social justice warrior type, who seemed to spend most of her time going off to one meeting or another and doing as little of her actual day job as possible."

Ultimately, I think it's this kind of thing that will lead to a revolution in DEI initiatives. When the desire to have a positive image/ to virtue signal reaches the point of negatively impacting on the bottom line, leaders will demand something different. What once seemed harmless will be viewed with more scepticism. The SJW's will have conniptions but no one will be listening any more. The melt downs will be big.

When the desire to have a positive image/ to virtue signal reaches the point of negatively impacting on the bottom line, leaders will demand something different. What once seemed harmless will be viewed with more scepticism.

In large organisations it takes longer for people to notice, become annoyed, then say something. However, there are some organisations who are recognising DEI is detrimental to the bottom line but I think this is a tanker making a turn in a narrow space and it will take time. The 'no debate' is the first thing to go and that has already happened in some areas. Bubble mentality though is alive and well in HR

Don't forget that DEI is nurtured through University and then vomits out into the world of work with no checks and balances.

put anonymous signs up on notice boards when nobody is looking calling them out

Yes we have these ally tupes and it does seem to have become their full time job. Theyre very much in closed bubble with HR though. Everyone else keeps their distance.

The really tragic thing about this is that women's rights (or even "men's rights") are getting lost amid the desperation to support "trans rights".

The world is the most unsafe of all spaces. 😆 What are they going to do about it?

No because I run my own business in an area which involves manual work, which means we all understand how the sexed human bodies function physically and we therefore have no time for this bullshit.

However, I've come across the type you mean. In my experience they are usually pretty crap at their jobs and they think that espousing the latest pro-minority position will prevent them from getting fired for being crap at their actual job.

Spoiler alert - it doesn't work

This all sounds ghastly.😂

I managed to get a comment that called people terfs deleted on our work intranet a few years ago after reporting it. The person later moaned on slack about being given advice on appropriate conduct hahaha.

The problem with DEI is when initiatives are done properly, they need to be well thought out, researched to ensure the outcomes are likely to be favourable and usually cost money. Things like good maternity, parental and adoption leave. Flexible working. Fair recruitment practices (name blind, objective scoring, advertising in places where under represented groups may see it etc). A strong anti-bullying and harassment culture. Well written policies and a competent HR dept. Accommodation for disabilities. Gender neutral facilities alongside single sex spaces.

That sort of stuff is hard though. Much easier to wang on in meetings about fuck all and deliver training that makes everyone feel like they are walking on eggshells. It gives DEI in general a terrible reputation which makes the good stuff even harder to do.

The women's network and pride network complained about my pro-women posts on the women's network teams chat and I asked me to remove them (they'd made someone feel "unsafe")

I refused and turned the whole thing round into a complaint about them and their ignorance of the Equality Act. Am awaiting a response.

I've never understood why these idiots think that "Your comments are making me feel unsafe" is some kind of gotcha.

Outside of an actual health & safety assessment (which is based on reality not feelings anyway), why the hell would I care that someone "feels" unsafe?

I managed to get a comment that called people terfs deleted on our work intranet a few years ago after reporting it. The person later moaned on slack about being given advice on appropriate conduct hahaha.

Well done 👏

‘DEI organisations’ and their disciples are making an absolute fortune out of this. 🤮

Control through fear. Classic.

Well done. We lost our women's network as it got rebranded to be more 'inclusive'. They claimed it was just a name change, but the focus was no longer on issues specific to women, and it seemed to become another version of the LGBT+ network. I left at that point.