South African companies are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of creating a healthy and safe environment for LGBTQ professionals, a new survey suggests. 

This emerges from the South African LGBT+ Management Forum’s annual South African Workplace Equality Index 2019 (SAWEI 2019). 

The LGBT+ Forum is a non-profit company that seeks to create a safe and equitable workplace environment for all professionals regardless of sexual orientation. Its annual SAWEI Index measures the performance of participating companies in South Africa in creating an inclusive environment for LGBTQ employees. 

The latest survey covers 27 companies in eight sectors – consumer goods and services; engineering, construction and infrastructure; financial services; healthcare and life sciences; law; mining, manufacturing and industrials; advertising and PR, technology and telecoms – which employ 143 834 people. 

Key findings are that:  

  • Most participating companies (21 out of 27) have policies prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, along with other elements such as race, language and gender;

  • Seven of the participating companies have policies that explicitly protect LGBTQ employees when travelling for work purposes in hostile countries or regions; 

  • Most participating companies (23 out of 27) have a member of staff working on diversity and inclusion; 

  • The majority of participating companies (22 out of 27) have some form of LGBTQ employee network, nine of which have a distinct budget to support network activities; and  

  • The majority of participating companies (23 out of 27) have awareness-raising days or events, particularly in relation to International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, LGBT history month and Pride March events.    

The SAWEI Index shows that all participating companies managed to improve their scores from the previous year. 

Having an inclusive working environment free from discrimination and abuse will benefit a company as a whole.  A study done by the Human Rights Campaign determined that LGBTQ professionals who feel welcomed and supported are 20% to 30% more productive.

IRR analysts note that, although the sample is small, the SAWEI Index results demonstrate that South African companies are becoming increasingly aware of how important it is to create a healthy and safe environment for LGBTQ professionals. 

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