Pronouns in work signatures- how do I stop it?

[SloppyThePoodle]

My employer has just mentioned they want people to start putting pronouns in email signatures. They have said it isn't mandatory. My question is, should I contact management to explain why this isn't a good idea, and if so, what sources can I provide?
Thanks all
(Hope i posted this in the right place)

I'd probably start by asking why do they want to ask their employees to declare allegiance to an ideology that sterialises children and seeks to erradicate womens rights?

See how they answer, then ask more questions like:
Why are they looking to enforce this belief system onto their employees?

What makes them think they have the right to do this?
Are they also seeking you to declare a belief in God or Allah too?

If so which one will they insist upon?

Will you also be asked to declare your star sign?
What other belief systems will they be asking you to get involved with?

On what basis to they feel they have the right to compel employees beliefs?
Are they aware we all have freedom of belief/freedome of lack of belief?

Make them do the work in justifying this.

I believe Sex Matters might have some more sensible guidance though.

If they have said it isn't mandatory I just wouldn't do it.
If anyone asks, or attempts to encourage, a big smile with a "no thank you" would be my response.

I would be a bit vague initially - say it was a nice thought when it started, but it’s all got a bit contentious and it may be safer to steer clear. That it’s a real problem for some people who don’t want to declare an identity that isn’t ‘standard’, and for women who research shows tend to be disadvantaged by anything drawing attention to their sex.

Line up resources in case you need them, but start small in the hope they don’t bother.

It isn’t mandatory where I work. I would say about 10% do it

Sex Matters has a good briefing on this - including that it can put people considering transition under pressure to declare (paraphrasing from memory), so stops the “be kind” stuff.

I asked if HR had risk-assessed for impact on silently gender questioning people. Would encouraging staff to use pronouns be a constructive forced outing of the gender questioning. Could someone claim they were bullied if they didn't adopt pronouns, not because they didn't want to, but because they didn't feel comfortable sharing their inner soul at with random customers.

I didn't kill it but the rollout was an invisibly soft launch a la "you can do this if you want but we're in no way forcing you, not forcing you at all, and definitely don't do it if it would make your soul sad". In the end, only the HR manager, since left, adopted them. My workplace apparently has a 100% contingent of gender questioning people who could not possibly commit to a set of pronouns in emails.

Some great responses here OP and @RobinEllacotStrike nails it. What else do they want you to add to your email signature? Why pronouns? They’re asking you to declare a protected characteristic.

If you really want to fuck with them, say you’re uncomfortable adding them as you’re still figuring it out yourself and any talk of it makes you uncomfortable.

Tell them it could make people who are still exploring their gender identity uncomfortable as well as those who want to keep theirs private or who are not yet ready to share theirs.

Some great responses here which I fully agree with. As an aside, I am female with a clearly female name and appearance but am wondering if I put (he(him) after my email signature would anyone even notice or give a shit? Would they say anything ? Intrigued as to whether anyone has tested their HR department by doing this !

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

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

Bet hardly anyone does it!

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.

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.

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.

Thanks everyone. I am 100% expecting nobody to do it except maybe some jobsworth HR people. My workplace is overwhelmingly middle aged women, and we work in an area where clients don't have the resources to be worried about things like flags and pronouns, without going into too much detail.

I will of course not do it. The point was put across very much as though "you can do it if you want but please do not feel forced and it isn't mandatory" so i don't feel I am being pushed or anything. I just wondered if I could send something to HR that would point out why this could be problematic so they can really think on their decision. I am genuinely surprised that since we've gone this long without buying into it, why suddenly its being suggested when that ship is very much sinking.

I will have a look at Sex Matters and see if I can find anything on there.

I also cannot afford to lose my job and would struggle to get another due to disability, so don't want to rock the boat at all.

What a silly situation all around, and utterly pointless. I have an extremely feminine name that would never be used for a man. And anyway, why would it matter? Madness.

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’?

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.

Because you can't change sex
Because its a slippery slope to gender ideology and we work with some very vulnerable clients
Because I don't believe its appropriate to declare your religious beliefs in the workplace
Because I don't want bullying to ensue and inferences to be made about people who do or do not include their pronouns on their emails
And mostly because it doesn't mean anything.

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.

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.

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".

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

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.

But it's not mandatory ...

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.