Improving the wellbeing of LGBTQ+ employees: Do workplace diversity training and ally networks make a difference?

Abstract

Despite growing recognition that lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and other minority (LGBTQ+) employees have lower levels of workplace wellbeing than cis-gender heterosexual employees, few studies have examined how different workplace interventions may mitigate these disparities. This study provides first-time evidence of associations between LGBTQ+ employee wellbeing and two types of initiatives that have received substantial public attention and employer uptake: workplace gender and sexuality diversity training and ally (or employee) networks. To accomplish this, the analyses leverage Australian data from a unique, national employer-employee survey of workplace inclusion (2020 Australian Workplace Equality Index Employee Survey; n = 31,277). These data were used to derive individual- as well as organizational-level measures of diversity training and ally behaviors, and to estimate their associations with a multidimensional index of LGBTQ+ employee wellbeing using fully adjusted random-intercept multilevel regression models. The results indicated that all individual- and organizational-level measures of workplace diversity training and ally behaviors exhibited positive, large, and statistically significant associations with the LGBTQ+ employee wellbeing index, controlling for an extensive set of confounds and organization-specific random effects. These findings have significant implications for health policy and practice. Specifically, they indicate that diversity training and ally networks may improve wellbeing amongst LGBTQ+ employees. This suggests that employer investments in diversity training and ally networks are effective interventions to enhance workplace culture, employee productivity and intergroup relations.