LGBTQ inclusive workplaceclimate in China : A case study on the inclusion of LGBTQ groups in the workplace based on the organization’s LGBTQ support policy, policy implementation and employees’ understanding

LGBTQ inclusive

workplace

climate in China

BACHELOR DEGREE PROJECT

THESIS WITHIN: Business Administration NUMBER OF CREDITS: 15

PROGRAMME OF STUDY: Bachelor program International Management AUTHOR: Haoning Tang& Wanlu Yu

TUTOR: Michal Zawadzki

JÖNKÖPING May 2021

A case study on the inclusion of LGBTQ groups in the

workplace based on the organization’s LGBTQ support

policy, policy implementation and employees’

understanding

Acknowledgements

We, the authors, want to express our sincere appreciation to our tutor, Michal Zawadzki. Without his knowledge and guidance, it would be almost impossible for us to complete this research. We would also like to express appreciation to all the participants in this research for providing us with valuable experience which enabled us to fulfil the purpose of this thesis. Finally, we would like to thank our seminar team members and the opposite team. Your knowledge and feedbacks give us great support.

Thank you all very much.

Bachelor Degree Project in Business Administration

Title: LGBTQ inclusive workplace climate in China Authors: Haoning Tang and Wanlu Yu

Tutor: Michal Zawadzki Date: 2021-05-22

Key terms: Queer theory, Inclusive workplace, LGBT, Taste-based discrimination

Abstract

Working climate is an important subject in management research. The purpose of this

research is to study the characteristics of an LGBT-friendly working climate. This research is based on Queer theory and Taste-based Discrimination theory, and follows the qualitative analysis method of interpretivism. The results of the descriptive survey and interviews show that employees’ understanding of LGBTQ policies and identities is very important for building an inclusive working climate. Organizations can use these findings to better protect employees’ welfare and establish an equal workplace environment.

Table of Contents

... 1

1.

Introduction ... 1

Background ... 1

Queer theory ... 1

Taste-Based Discrimination theory ... 2

Problem statement ... 2

Aims and Purposes ... 4

Delimitation ... 5

1.4.1 Study scope ... 5

1.4.2 Selection bias and Self-reported data ... 5

2.

Literature Review ... 7

2.1 Theory development ... 7

2.1.1 Queer theory ... 7

Queering 8 2.1.2 Taste-based Discrimination Theory ... 8

The Effect of Diversity Management on LGBT Employees ... 9

2.2 LGBT inclusion in existing Literature ... 10

2.3 Workplace identity of LGBT employees and Gender expression in cultural context 11 2.3.1 Cultural context in China ... 11

2.4 Formal LGBT-supportive policies and practices ... 12

2.4.1 Measurement of LGBT-supportive policies and practices ... 13

2.5 Knowledge gap ... 14

3.

Methodology ... 15

4.

Method ... 16

4.1 describtive survey method ... 16

4.2 Interview ... 18

4.3 Secondary data ... 19

4.5 Quality of data ... 19

4.6 Ethical consideration ... 21

5.

Empirical Findings ... 21

5.1 basic information of interviewees ... 21

5.2The company's LGBT support policies and complaint channels ... 22

5.3Employees’ understanding of policies and the organization’s training for employees ... 24

5.4 Gender diversity and inclusion in the workplace in different industries ... 25

5.5 Based on industry and society-specific cultural biases ... 26

5.4 Other information obtained through the questionnaire ... 27

5.5 A brief summary of Empirical finding ... 29

6.

Analysis ... 30

6.1 Characteristics of an LGBT-friendly working climate. ... 30

7.

Conclusion and Future research directions ... 33

Theoretical contribution and Future study... 33

8.

Reference ... 35

9.

Appendix 1 Survey questions... 41

10.

Appendix 2 Participant Information Sheet ... 42

Informed Consent Form ... 45

11.

Appendix 3 guideline of Interview ... 45

12.

Appendix 4 GDPR Thesis Study Consent Form ... 46

Invitation paragraph ... 47

What is the purpose of the study collecting personal data? ... 47

Thank you for reading this information sheet and for considering whether to take part in this research study.’ ... 48

1. Introduction

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This chapter will introduce the current status of LGBT employees in the Chinese

workplace and the urgency of implementing supportive policies. It is mainly reflected in the risks and discrimination faced by these groups and the preparation of various organizations in response to this phenomenon.

It aims to describe the relevance and motivation of the research by introducing background information and queer theory and tasted-based discrimanation theory. After putting forward research questions, research purposes, and discussing research topics, the research delimitations are presented.

______________________________________________________________________

Background

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees comprise a significant portion of the workforce within worldwide. At the same time, due to the objectively existing stigma related to LGBT status, deciding whether to disclose at work is usually a challenging process, accompanied by fear and anxiety (Pichler, Ruggs, & Trau, 2017) .

In Chinese society, the visibility of sexual minorities is still extremely low. In schools, workplaces, or religious communities, only about 5% of sexual minorities choose to disclose their sexual orientation, gender identity or unique gender expression, more people come out to close family members, but even this group of people only accounts for 15% of the sexual minorities (UNDP, 2016). Excluding family and religion, the LGBT group is described as “one of the largest but least-researched minority groups in the workplace” (Grant et al., 2010), facing many problems and challenges that heterosexual employees do not have in the workplace.

These negative experiences of LGBT workers stem from stigma and a lack of implementation of LGBT-supportive policies that protect LGBT employees from harassment and discrimination. In fact, 91 % of the Fortune 500 firms have implemented policies against sexual orientation discrimination and 57 % have programs explicitly addressing gender identity (Fidas and Cooper 2015). While more than half of gays and lesbians have experienced bully or fired at work (Ragins, & Cornwell, 2001). Therefore, fighting for legitimate rights for LGBT groups is still a problem that every country or region needs to face.

Queer theory

Since its appearance in the early 1990s, queer theory has been mainly used to study non-normative gender and gender discourse composition and norms, especially those coded

as "homosexual", "lesbian", "bisexual", and "transgender" And “queer "(Edelman, 2004; Halberstam, 1998; Sedgwick, 1990; Warner, 1993, 1999).

This theory aims to unsettle the persistent and harmful binaries bias such as heterosexual/homosexual, male/female and masculine/feminine that are discursively reproduced within and through organizations. Queer theory has also made important contributions to management and organizational study (MOS), which are usually mobilized to analytically subvert the heterogeneous norms between gender, gender, and sexual behavior. In particular, MOS scholars have deployed queer theory to analyses and problematize heteronormativity, focusing on the discursive construction of ‘minority’ subjects.

Taste-Based Discrimination theory

Taste-Based Discrimination theoey(TBD) is an economic model of discrimination in the labor market. The model believes that employers’ prejudice or dislike of certain cultures and groups based on personal reasons have a negative impact on the employment of minority groups, which means that they can tend to discriminate.

The model also assumes that employers discriminate against minority applicants (such as transgender people) in order to avoid interaction with minorities, regardless of the applicant's productivity, and the employer is willing to bear financial losses for this.

Problem statement

Ideally, an inclusive workplace atmosphere will create an environment that encourages open-minded communication, stimulates innovation, and provides opportunities for all, employees to be creative in their work. When people conduct business, a diversified workforce and corporate culture play an influential role. Diversified teams promote more innovation and improve corporate performance, which in turn can motivate employees to be more dedicated.

In terms of personnel selection, inclusive policies enable organizations to obtain outstanding talents from different cultural backgrounds, religious beliefs, nationalities, gender orientations, and races. In the office environment, supportive policies will enable the organization to create a friendly and comfortable workplace for members, so that everyone can devote themselves to work.

However, the reality is that, as mentioned above, there is still a gap between anti-discriminatory policies, especially LGBT support policies, in terms of written formulation and actual implementation. On the one hand, serious gaps in perceptions make it difficult

for people to discuss the unequal treatment of LGBT in the workplace. In China, due to the lack of reliable research on the overall situation and specific issues of sexual and gender minorities, it is difficult for people from company policy makers to ordinary people to understand relevant facts comprehensively and objectively, so that they can act more reasonably.

On the one hand, cultural factors can also hinder the pursuit of equality in the workplace. In China, stereotypes about gender roles are rooted in people's hearts: heterosexuality is right, and homosexuality is a symbol of mental abnormality. As mentioned in the United Nations Development Program (2016) report, only 63% of workplace employees are willing to accept LGBT colleagues. 77% of employees believe that their LGBT colleagues should avoid mentioning their sexual orientation to ensure their careers. Many such subconscious biases still exist. Gender roles should not be a pretext to hinder the development of LGBT workplaces (UNDP, 2016).

The measures and methods taken by academia to improve workplace discrimination against LGBT are not uniform. In the existing literature that the researchers can find, the research on workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation mainly focuses on mapping the existing types of discrimination, as well as disclosure and external consequences (Muhr, & Sullivan, 2013; Ng, & Rumens, 2017; Parker, 2016). Although most research has focused on gay and lesbian employees, there has been an increasing interest in bisexual and transgender people in literature recently.

Please note that in this article, the researchers include the transgender people in the analysis because we believe that they face different patterns of workplace discrimination compared to gay, lesbian, and bisexual employees (Setia, Lindan, Jerajani, Kumta, Ekstrand, Mathur, et al., 2006). They will also benefit from an equal and inclusive workplace atmosphere.

The authors believe that highly supportive policies and practices could create an LGBT-friendly workplace that should include talents, perspectives, and problem-solving skills that LGBT people bring to an organization. However, if not managed those LGBT-supportive policies accordingly, it may also have several less than desirable outcomes for an organization, including occupational stress, lower levels of job satisfaction, and higher employee turnover. Therefore, with the development of today’s organizations into the global economy, workplaces have become more and more diverse. Establishing a good climate is essential, and LGBT employees may also have more chance for their best performance. Explore the comprehensive views and characteristics of these policies and practices, and use these as references to create an open environment that is essential for success at the organizational level.

The authors speculate that the sports and entertainment industries have a higher proportion of coming out in China, but these industries may not be more tolerant than

other industries. The workplace climate of the production industry, wholesale and retail, accommodation, and catering may not be inclusive of LGBT people. Instead, the researchers think that perhaps IT and fashion industries are more tolerant. In many cases, whether workers who come out can continue to stay in their organizations and avoid discrimination depends more on the company’s culture, which will be affected by the industry’s culture. Therefore, when we researching on how companies can build a good workplace climate, and will not provide general opinions for all organizations but specific analysis of specific industries.

Aims and Purposes

After combining the current LGBT topics and trends, the authors have decided on the context of this research. These are the company’s policies, practices and resources, the work climate, and the personal rights of employees. Additionally, two question have been formed that focus on the relationship between LGBT-inclusive workplace climate among different organizations in China.

Q1. How do employees understand LGBT policies in their organizations, and how does this understanding affect LGBTQ group workplace identity?

Q2. What are the behaviors of LGBTQ people in non-inclusive workplace situations, and how would they do if they were discriminated against?

The workplace climate study is an under-researched topic for underrepresented groups like LGBT people. Although there are some important studies on the workplace climate related to LGBT people, practical measures in Chinese context are still lacking. The reason why the researchers raise research question 1 is that we speculate that other heterosexual employees’ understanding of these policies may have a great impact on practice, and understanding may be a decisive factor for establishing a non-discriminatory work environment. We hope to find some evidence and use it to inspire organizations to promote these supporting policies better. Queer theory will help us explore this topic. By asking the sense of understanding LGBT policies in their organizations,, we may obtain practical measures for the LGBT group’s workplace identity.

In research question 2, the researchers believe that inclusive and supportive policies should not only stop at slogans and advertising, how companies should train their employees to understand these policies is a prerequisite for policy implementation. However, understanding and written policies cannot necessarily guarantee an inclusive working climate. Sometimes workplace discrimination comes from personal tastes rather than policies, a preference or "hobby" of the discriminator, discriminators who tend to discriminate in society would rather give up production efficiency, that is, the maximum output and profit must satisfy this preference . It may be determined by a particular culture or personal educational background. Nevertheless, It deepens the prejudice against

LGBTQ abilities and ideals, will force women to leave the workplace, destroy their careers, and even have a lasting negative impact on all aspects of their lives.

The research aims and purposes were presented and described below. (1) Study the characteristics of an LGBT-friendly working climate.

(2) Understand how a specific organization’s LGBTQ inclusive policy will affect individuals.

(3) Understand the contribution of queer theory and tastes-based discrimination theory, and to what extent they will influence the organization’s establishment of an inclusive and supportive working climate.

(4) Offer perspectives that nurture grounds for an inclusive and supportive working climate that have the potential to initiate or enhance a good workplace climate.

Terminology

LGBT&LGBTQ: These letters can be seen as the evolution of society towards

inclusiveness, and they are used to represent the expansion of the language of a different group commonly referred to as the "gay community." In this paper, LGBT and LGBTQ are essentially the same. However, They are used separately to comply with the interviewee’s wishes or academic conventions.

MOS: Organizations and Management study. It is to study how individuals and groups

interact within an organization, and how companies interact with each other.

TBD: Taste based discrimination theory.

Ordinary Employee: all the Employees of the Company other than Senior Officers. One of the interviewees called herself that. This term does not refer to the any so-called normal or abnormal employee in this paper.

Delimitation

1.4.1 Study scope

LGBT issues have a wide range of topics for discussion. However, due to time and space constraints, This research was delimited to the scope of human resources and leadership.

1.4.2 Selection bias and Self-reported data

The researchers have found that self-reported data is accurate when individuals understand the problem and a strong sense of anonymity and little fear of retaliation. But based on the cultural background of the interviewees, they tend to have social desirability bias, which is one of the most important factors affecting the investigation and measurement of this research. Because the researcher's selection of individuals, groups,

or data for analysis is not random, selection bias will occur. It is envisaged that the target population in this study is all employees in various industries in China. Merely using samples from the new media industry is not representative because workers in the new media industry are generally younger and more likely to be open-minded than the general public.

2. Literature Review

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The purpose of this chapter is to provide the theoretical background to the topic of Queer theory and Taste-based Discrimination Theory. In addition, a systematic literature review is used to evaluate and summarize the existing literature. The knowledge gap is presented at the end of this chapter.

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2.1 Theory development

2.1.1 Queer theory

Queer theory is a cultural theory formed in the early 1990s. First, it critically studies the physiological sex determination system, that is, people whose biological sex is male are inherently rational, strong, and active, that is, "masculinity"; people whose biological sex is female are inherently emotional , Fragile, passive and other characteristics, that is, "feminine temperament" or "femininity" (Halberstam, 1998; Sedgwick, 1990; Warner, 1993, 1999). This theory holds that gender identity and sexual orientation are not "natural", but are formed through social and cultural processes. Queer theory also challenges the status of heteronormativity, that is, "the basic form of human communication, the model of gender relations, the indivisible foundation of all communities, and the way of reproduction that would not exist without society" (Warner, 1993). Therefore, it is widely regarded as a theoretical model that resolutely opposes norms because it questions and seeks to change social norms and power relations (Wiegman & Wilson, 2015)

In this process, the concept of queer is constantly being redefined to expand its meaning and expand the population it contains. But precisely because of the unclear and arbitrary definition of this concept, it has also been criticized by various groups (Ford, & Learmonth, 2011; Lee, Learmonth, & Harding, 2008). In the field of MOS, a small number of MOS researchers followed Gibson-Graham's (1996) point of view, using the non-normative features of queer theory, and proposing a broader methodological assertion that it has the ability to undermine the composition of "management", "leadership". "Other organizational systems (Harding, Lee, Ford, & Learmonth, 2011; Lee, Learmonth, & Harding, 2008;).

Some scholars even have almost severed the relationship between this theory and sex, gender, identity and sexual politics (Parker, 2002, 2002, 2016). Instead, they use the energy of queer theory and call it anything that contradicts normal, legal, and dominant (Halperin, 1995). One reason may be that queer theory is often used to conceptualize the

negative connection between heterosexuality and heterosexuality (Beasley, Holmes, & Brook, 2015). As it should be, MOS scholars have good reasons to do so. After all, MOS research has always shown that heterosexual norms restrict how LGBT people can maintain a meaningful presence in the workplace, which constitutes a heterosexual majority identity, which in turn squeezes the workplace living space of a minority (Bowring & Brewis, 2009; Ozturk & Rumens , 2014).

Queering

Although queer theory often associates heterosexuality with heterosexual relationships (Warner, 1993, 1999), the two terms are sometimes confused in queer analysis (Beasley, 2015; Beasley et al, 2015). At this point, it is important to return to Warner's (1993) research on the opposite sex to remind people that heterosexuality and gender are interrelated. This definition provides clues about the roots of heteronormatives. These heterogeneities are derived from the concept of "coercive heterosexuality" by Adrienne Rich (1980) and the article "Thinking sex" by Gayle Rubin (1984).

Rich (1980) regards heterosexuality as a social system and women must be forced to join the organization, which challenges any view that heterosexuality is a natural tendency. Crucially, she advocates linking mandatory heterosexuality with male domination. She believes that women are forced to become heterosexual, and that the system of mandatory heterosexuality reproduces the values and relationships of patriarchy. In a broader context, Rubin emphasized what new scholarships were at the time, including Foucault's ([1976] 1979) Volume One of the History of Sex.

2.1.2 Taste-based Discrimination Theory

Becker (1957) in his seminal book The Economics of Discrimination, explores the economics of discrimination. Becker pointed out (1957) that "taste-based discrimination" is the most important direct cause of actual discrimination. This type of discrimination occurs because people like (or dislike) members of certain groups and show a value (or cost) behavior in their interactions (Becker, 1957). This means that individuals will give up benefits such as monetary gains to avoid interacting with people they hate (Lang, 1993).

This theory regards discrimination as a preference or "hobby" of discriminators. Discriminators who tend to discriminate in society would rather give up production efficiency, that is, the maximum output and profit must satisfy this preference. These people are willing to pay the price or opportunity cost for discrimination. The theory believes that the prejudice of this kind of discrimination comes from three aspects:

The employer’s personal bias: Employers have discriminatory prejudices. In order to achieve the purpose of keeping a distance from some people, they would rather pay fees or give up some kind of income. Although economic research shows that, from a

long-term perspective, companies with weak discriminatory preferences and large profits will expand outward, and companies with strong discriminatory preferences that result in low profits will occupy a smaller and smaller market share due to higher costs. , These companies may be squeezed out of this industry. However, in fact, the process of automatically eliminating discrimination through market mechanisms is extremely slow, and market mechanisms cannot eliminate employers’ prejudices.

Employee's bias: Prejudice from employees is another important cause of discrimination. In addition to the competitive factors in the job position, there may also be fear and disgust from contact with the discriminated group at work. Economists believe that in order to retain these discriminatory employees, non-discriminatory employers may be forced to adopt a segregation policy to satisfy these employees' inclination. Therefore, employees' discriminatory attitude and behaviour will cause non-discriminatory employers to pay higher costs for hiring the discriminated group. If this pressure is large enough, employers will be forced to reduce the labor demand of the discriminated person and lower their wages.

Consumer bias: Discrimination in the labor market may also be caused by consumers. For example, some consumers only like the services provided by men, while on other occasions they only like the services provided by women or other characteristic groups. Within the occupational scope of these social services, occupational segregation of discriminated groups will occur. Although the prejudice of consumers means that they have to pay more than if there is no prejudice.

The Effect of Diversity Management on LGBT Employees

Over the past two decades, many organizations have adopted workplace policies that support LGBT. For example, as mentioned earlier, 91% of the Fortune 500 companies have implemented policies against discrimination based on sexual orientation, while 57% have clearly formulated plans to address gender identity (Fidas and Cooper 2015).

However, no legal provisions against discrimination in the workplace are based on the sexual orientation of many countries: only 61 countries in the world explicitly prohibit discrimination against LGBT employees (Itaborahy and Zhu, 2014; Catalyst 2015).

The scope of LGBT support policies implemented by companies may be very different, and there is no correct example of LGBT support policies. For example, Ozeren (2014) noted that political policies range from clear written regulations to prevention of gender discrimination through diversified training programs that emphasize LGBT's attention to the benefits of domestic partners provided by companies. Felix, Mello, and Borell (2016) believe that regardless of the content of the policy, Employee voice mechanisms – such as LGBT employee networks are the key to preventing gender discrimination.

Despite these trends, on average, diversity management for LGBT employees in wards is still low compared to other groups such as women or ethnic minorities, which was the primary goal of diversity management from the 1980s to the most recent (Badgett et al. People, 2013; Society of Human Resource Management, 2009). Raeburns (2004) studied the background of companies adopting LGBT support policies in the United States, external and internal pressures, such as current or former employee lawsuits, the enthusiasm of LGBT employees within the company, union pressure, and union

resistance. The public, this is an important factor in adopting LGBT support policies. However, many companies actually choose to implement such policies voluntarily and often argue that diversity is good for companies.

2.2 LGBT inclusion in existing Literature

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) workers lack protection against employment discrimination in many countries, and even face widespread discrimination in countries with anti-discrimination policies (for example, Cossman, 2002). The human rights of people of all ages and all regions have been severely violated throughout the world" (United Nations, 2016).

Many studies in the management literature focus on the business case for adopting LGBT support policies and the relationship between these policies. LGBT employees’ policies and individual-level results. This policy of scholars plays an important role in building an inclusive workplace atmosphere.

Studies of cases that support this view indicate that LGBT-supported policies are related to work attitudes (Law et al., 2013; Ragins and Cornwell, 2001; Trau, 2015), and discrimination is considered not only from heterosexual employees. Discrimination also exists among LGBT workers (Ruggs et al., 2015). A growing body of research also shows that supportive policies may bring competitive advantages (Day and Greene, 2008; King and Cortina, 2010), including company performance and positive stock market reactions (Li and Nagar, 2013; Wang and Schwarz, 2010).

Supportive policies related to LGBT workers provide many benefits, such as increased employee recruitment (Metcalf and Rolle, 2011), reduced employee turnover (Metcalf and Rolle, 2011), and less work pressure (Ragins and Cornwell, 2001).

2.3 Workplace identity of LGBT employees and Gender expression in cultural context

The authors think that LGBT employees are strangers in the organization: a person who is in the workplace (close in space) but is related due to their sexual behavior and stays away from the (heterogeneous) "group". This is not a completely novel comparison. McGhee (2001) applies this concept to gay refugees.

The concept of strangers originated from a short essay published by Georg Simmel (1908). The basic concept may seem self-contradictory at first glance: there can be a group of people who are both close and far away. Simmel studied the duality of proximity in space. In other words, someone who is close but far away; someone who becomes an outsider due to lack of membership in the group, or a "stranger. Although Simmel uses immigrants as an example, this concept has been extended to people with certain personality types (Levine, 1977), and McLemore (1970) believes that these are marginalized people, not people who are new to groups (such as immigrants). , Which best illustrates the figure of "strangers".

2.3.1 Cultural context in China

To date, lesbian, gay, and bisexual (sometimes referred to as, tongzhi, meaning "same purpose or will"). China is one of the most populous countries globally, with an estimated population of 1.4 billion (Department of Population of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2017). Xinhua News Agency, the official media of mainland China, estimates that China's LGBT population is about 30 million (Liu, 2013; United Nations Development Program [UNDP] China, 2016). Due to differences in government supervision and inspection systems, the research and experience of Chinese gays, bisexuals, and transgender people is easier to obtain from Hong Kong and Taiwan(greater china) , rather than mainland China. However, gay, bisexual and transgender people in China consistently report that they encounter major legal, social and economic obstacles in society (Burki, 2017; UNDP China, 2016).

The stigma rooted in the power structure is affected by specific cultural expressions, and it is inappropriate to apply Western stigma theory to traditional cultural backgrounds such as China (Yang, 2007). Because Western theory concentrates the process within the individual, while ignoring the greater influence of the family and social structure. And when we regard the experience of stigma as the essence of history, society, interpretation, and morality, the researchers can better evaluate its impact on inequality in a particular culture (Yang et al., 2007). Although in China, stigma theory is mainly developed in the context of mental illness, many of the same social and cultural considerations are also closely related to the lives of other marginalized groups in China (Phillips, Pearson, Li, Xu, & Yang, 2002; Yang & Kleinman, 2008 Years), which includes LGBT people. Today's China has a relationship based on Confucian values and a culture of collectivism

(Huang, Bedford, & Zhang, 2017; Sundararajan, 2015; Yang, 1995). Confucian values gave rise to the concept of "five relationships" (wu-lun), which are the principles governing the individual's self, sense of responsibility and sense of responsibility. The five relationships are defined as: the relationship between the government and citizens, parents and children, husband and wife, brothers and sisters, and friends. The integration of these major relationships has shaped and continues to influence the order of today's Chinese society, the organization of social institutions, and the agreements surrounding human interaction ("relationships"). Therefore, homosexuals, bisexuals and transgenders in China also often consider the consequences of relationships in the workplace through cultural values such as family responsibilities, filial piety and shame.

LGBT rights continue to change within China, oscillating between certain acceptances and convictions in the political and public spheres. According to a national sexual orientation survey conducted by the United Nations, Gender Identity and Gender Expression by the United Nations (2016) found that compared with the elderly, young Chinese have significantly fewer views on the pathology of homosexuality and are more likely to complete the survey Sex is also significantly higher and reveals the status of gender or gender minorities. This difference in age may reflect changes in the Chinese environment, ranging from a lack of awareness of fear of retaliation to changes in acceptance (Zhang, Thomson, Mitchell, & Zhang, 2013).

One exception is the timely and innovative research from Hong Kong, documenting the experiences of local elderly gay men (Kong, 2004, 2012, 2017). Kong, (2004, 2012, 2017) combines homosexual stories born before 1950 with narrative work, combines the influence of British colonization and the conviction of homosexuality on Hong Kong’s LGBT community, and elaborates on the history of homosexual resistance there. Sexual and current sexual ways to resist homophobia and heterosexuality. Unlike the LGBT liberation movement in the West, which is deeply rooted in political movements and demonstrations, Kong (2004) described the non-confrontational nature of Hong Kong’s resistance as avoiding political activism. The researchers believe that this phenomenon is largely formed by national politics and Chinese values. Therefore, when analyzing data, cultural factors will be an aspect that we cannot ignore.

2.4 Formal LGBT-supportive policies and practices

Although expressions of anti-gay and transphobic attitudes have decreased over the past decade, these negative attitudes are not uncommon in industrialized societies (King and Cortina, 2010; Laythe et al., 2002). Employment protections for LGBT workers vary regionally and are reflective of local attitudes toward gays and lesbians (Tilscik, 2011). In fact, all workers can benefit from working in supportive work contexts, contextual support is especially important for employees with LGBT identities (Huffman, Watrous-Rodriguez, & King, 2008). Many questionnaires and studies have proved that sexual minorities are most worried about being discriminated against or unfairly treated when they come out in the workplace, and a formal LGBT-supportive policy will significantly

reduce the negative emotions of these employees (Mowbray, Wilkinson, & Tse, 2015, Wilkinson et al., 2015).

These formal LGBT-supported policies and practices are designed to indicate the types of behaviors acceptable and expected throughout the organization. However, the existence of these policies and practices do not fully reflect the information that workers have learned from the system or the attitudes of the majority of employees (Dwertmann, Nishii and van Knippenberg, 2016). "Empty promises" often happen, especially when policies are not consistently implemented or enforced (Clair, Beatty, & MacLean, 2005).

As mentioned earlier, the work climate represents the expression of these values, beliefs, and behaviours perceived by the organization's employees. On the other hand, formal policies and practices can indicate a series of values and beliefs supporting and stipulating acceptable behaviours. (McKay, Avery and Morris, 2009). The author believes that this is necessary to protect LGBT employees.

2.4.1 Measurement of LGBT-supportive policies and practices

The researchers evaluated a series of formal LGBT support policies and practices. As research on LGBT employees is still rather new, this range of mea sures provides researchers with options to choose existing measures that best fit their research

questions. In terms of policy and practice, some measures rely on one project, focusing on whether the organization’s non-discrimination policy includes sexual orientation (for example, Day & Schoenrade, 2000; Tejeda, 2006), while other measures use multiple policy and practice projects. Representative among them are the research on Workplace Policies and Practices by Ragins and Cornwell's (2001) and Button's (2001), which Cornwell's (2001) evaluated six indicators and Button's (2001) evaluated nine. These studies aggregated items to create an index of the overall prevalence of policies and practices that support LGBT. When using these types of indicators to measure, some researchers believe that the impact of each policy and practice and the total effect of each policy should be examined (Griffith & Hebl, 2002; Ragins & Cornwell, 2001).

As for employee’s relationship and inclusive workplace climate, an often cited study on LGBT workplace support (Day & Schoenrade, 2000) believes that the climate of an inclusive workplace should consist of a project involving support from "senior managers". Similarly, Griffith and Hebl (2002) used a comprehensive approach that included support from various types of colleagues (supervisors, subordinates, and peers).

Finally, although there is no such symbolization for colleagues in the organization, Subramony, (2009) tested psychosocial guidance measures for human resources, which can be interpreted as how human resources managers in the organization can support a person.

Therefore, researchers may be able to use measures that can be used to study specific sources of support and adopt comprehensive support measures from these sources. We also noticed that almost all research focuses on emotional support, rather than other forms identified in the broader literature, namely the invention of actual policies and tangible support (Beehr & McGrath, 1992; House, 1981).

2.5 Knowledge gap

Through the existing literature, researchers have learned about the various dimensions and practices of LGBTQ inclusive workplaces. Based on TBD theory and Queer theory, the researchers found that discrimination is a complex phenomenon contained in an organization’s culture, social background, and personal prejudice. In the sense of workplace discrimination, the political meaning of homosexuality and heterosexuality in queer theory is different from the expression of queer theory in the academic field. For example, the researchers have seen MOS researchers draw on other political

theories, such as critical racial studies, disability studies, and feminist studies, to explore more radical diversity and inclusion, or the dynamic relationship between

heterosexuality and homosexuality.As the researchers imagined, this will include

exploring the lives of people whose gender and sexual orientation themes are influenced by race, age, social class, etc. And these can be absorbed by queer theory to some extent. TBD theory further explains the generation and impact of discrimination on a broad level.Although there are several important studies on the workplace climate related to LGBT people, many of which have been conducted in the past 30 years, many studies only focus on theories, rather than using powerful theoretical methods to point out which are practical Measures. These theories have indeed improved the climate of LGBT individuals and have also inspired researchers who are interested in the

workplace environment, including LGBT, to concentrate on further research on what measures can be taken at work to accommodate and support LGBT people.

However, the author believes that researchers interested in the workplace climate related to the LGBTQ people should concentrate on determining which policies and practices in specific industries can help make the LGBT work experience safe and supportive. This is also the unexplored part of such research. Therefore, the expression of personal subjective emotions and in-depth interviews are needed. The researchers think that interviews with representative sexual minorities in this way may help MOS scholars find space for similar topics, such as the resistance and pressure of LGBT workers in academic research. This will contribute to the development of queer theory and TBD theory.

3. Methodology

3.1 Research Philosophy

Research paradigm is a philosophical framework that guides how to conduct scientific research. This research attempts to understand the inclusiveness of LGBTQ employees from a human perspective. Hence, the nature of this research is subjective, so the interpretivist paradigm is applied.

Interpretivism is a paradigm that rests on the assumption that social reality is our minds and is subjective and multiple. For example, in understanding the research topics, namely LGBT inclusive workplace, tastes-based discrimination theory and queer theory, these social phenomena and theories are constantly being modified. As research attempts to determine the factors and results of inclusion in the LGBT workplace on individuals, both a systematic literature review and scientific case study methods are needed.

Interpretivism considers differences such as cultures, circumstances, and times leading to the development of different social realities. Different concepts, ideas, and the language of the study will affect the author's understanding of the research topics, namely LGBT workplace identity, inclusive workplace, and queer theory. By following the interpretive paradigm, the research will adopt several typical qualities, which can be summarized as follows:

Firstly, experience is basically integrated in the subject and object. Research will focus on the identity of the entire employee and the inclusive experience of the workplace, rather than considering some parts of it. Researchers aim to further explore the depth of personal experience through formal discussions and interviews.

Secondly, through the use of qualitative design and methods to deeply explore human experience, this will make the use of experience an extremely important aspect and contribute to supporting scientific research.

Thirdly, researchers should conduct further research in their personal experience, rather than considering broad measures or expectations like the positivist paradigm.

3.2 Research Approach

Inductive research is the two main methods. Inductive research is to develop theories from empirical observations (Collis & Hussey, 2014). And abductive research is used as

an "explanation" as background knowledge to explain why the observations happen. The inductive method in this article will be related to the collection of qualitative data to build an understanding of different viewpoints, thereby supplementing the theories mentioned earlier. And abductive studies the causality of people's mental activities. Including the analysis of internal and external causes, direct causes and indirect causes. This research was influenced by two methods. The reason for the inductive impact is that the research was initiated from the existing knowledge system in the field of work climate, and the knowledge obtained from the literature review constitutes the

theoretical framework that guides the follow-up interviews. However, the focus of this research is on data collected through case studies, which are used as the main data source for drawing conclusions.

Therefore, the author believes that the dominant method is induction. According to the inductive method (Collis and Hussey, 2014), the qualitative nature of the data collected through interviews does not use and test any hypotheses, thus taking advantage of this. Sanders et al. (2016) Acknowledges that induction is correct for many studies and believes that it is beneficial to the research results. For complex phenomena, attribution can provide important reasoning functions, and the functions of induction and abduction are complementary, and there is no contradiction between each other.

3.3 Research design

In order to conduct research to answer the stated research questions, the research method is qualitative, and the qualitative data is described as data in the form of interviews (Collis & Hussey, 2014: Saunders et al., 2016;). The reason is that qualitative research methods are related to the purpose of exploratory research to investigate potential problems in the field. There are multiple ways of conducting an exploratory study, where interviews are one of the most commonly used tools to collect data (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2016). The selection of interviewees is not random but is selected through the evaluation of the descriptive survey. Because the researchers believe that the selection of interviewees will add value to the exploratory method because it will provide participants’ ideas and knowledge (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe & Jackson, 2015)

4. Method

4.1 describtive survey method

Traditionally, surveys are associated with positivist, but this method can still be used in interpretivist paradigm. Questions in the survey are designed to be unstructured or structured. In most questions, this questionnaire has reserved space for answering in their own language, but these questions also require participants to choose an answer from a given set of options. Participants' answers to questions on a open structured survey may be added up to a comprehensive indicator for insight analysis. When

designing the questionnaire, the questions should be read and understood by the subjects so that they can answer the questions effectively. Therefore, the questionnaire survey method may not be applicable to certain groups of people, such as those with low education background. As an interpretertist, it is not necessary to select a large enough sample, because this research is to obtain in-depth insights from cases in sample rather than genralize from the sample to the population. But through the answers of the participants, the researcher can quickly analyze Respondents' awareness of workplace, policies and practices in order to get a overview attitude of employees and

organizations, and obtain opinions on LGBT groups based on social background and cultural concepts.

Most questionnaires tend to use self-filled email survey methods. Using this method, the researcher mails a questionnaire with the same content to a large number of potential subjects and invites them to fill it out at their convenience. The subjects can easily send the completed questionnaire back to the researcher. E-mail surveys have non-offensive advantages, and the administration cost of this law is very low. Nevertheless, the

recovery rate of email surveys may be very low, because most people will ignore survey requests or be automatically put into the trash can by the mail system. In addition, the delay for participants to fill out and return the questionnaires may be longer (months), or they may forget these questionnaires. Therefore, the researcher must constantly monitor the questionnaires that have been returned, and keep track of the questionnaires that have not been returned and send reminders, such as sending two or three reminder letters, with an interval of ten days each time. The online survey method is also used at the same time. These surveys can be managed using interactive forms on the Internet. The researcher can send an e-mail to the subjects inviting them to participate in the survey, and attach the link to the questionnaire website for the online survey in the e-mail. The management cost of these survey methods is very low, and the survey results can be recorded in the online database immediately, so the survey questionnaire can be easily modified when needed. Nevertheless, if the survey website does not use password protection or multiple submission restrictions, the quality of the returned questionnaire will be greatly reduced. In addition, sampling bias will be a major problem with the law, because the survey cannot be delivered to people who do not have Internet access, making the response sample biased towards young people who have a lot of time online and are able to complete these surveys. If the survey is posted on a discussion group or bulletin board rather than directly emailed to the target subjects, the calculation of the questionnaire response rate will also be a problem. For these reasons, the authors prefer to adopt the dual-media survey method. That is, both email surveys and online surveys are used at the same time, so that the subjects can choose their preferred response method.

The answers obtained in the survey are easily affected by the question format, and shoddy or unclear questions will likely lead to worthless answers. Therefore, under the premise that the capacity of the questionnaire is limited, each question in the

questionnaire should be closely focused on the purpose of the survey. Creative design questions can be abstracted into concreteness. For example, a question () is designed in a questionnaire,which can be a good test for people's stereotypes of gender. In addition, the questions are not biased and cannot induce the respondent to answer; similar

questions are arranged together, and the order of the questions is based on the principle of easy first and then difficult; open questions as much as possible behind has become the basic principle of designing questionnaires.

Questionnaire surveys are not suitable for research situations that require detailed clarification and detailed answers from the subjects. The longitudinal design can be used for surveys of the same group of subjects at different points in time, but from one point in time survey to the next point in time, the questionnaire recovery rate will drop sharply. To this end, an in-depth supplementary interview have prepared to get more details.

4.2 Interview

The insights drawn from the questionnaire are useful starting points for further

investigation and represent some of the key aspects of our research institutions’ policies and practices that need to be explored in depth in the final recommended strategies. Based on the survey results in the questionnaire, the researchers conducted several in-depth interviews on individual cases to better understand the status of LGBT people in the workplace and the reasons for the success or failure of organizational policies. Compared with questionnaires, interviews are a more personalized data collection method.

In order to achieve the purpose of the research, different perspectives are required to deepen the understanding of which factors help employees participate in workplace climate construction and why these factors are considered important. The researcher selected two representative ones from the six-point interview for analysis and induction. One of them is an employee in the traditional chemical production and transportation industry, and another employee in the new media industry. This is not to compare the two perspectives, but to understand how and whether their organization helps and supports LGBTQ inclusion, and how people working in the company perceive these phenomena.

Both interviewees have at least two things in common. First of all, all individuals invited to participate have been working for more than one year and have reference value for the responses to the previous questionnaire. The organizations that these interviewees work for are Chinese organizations, and are multinational companies with operations all over the world.

Based on the influence of social environment and cultural background, respondents often participate in the survey because of the motivation of the interviewer. Therefore,

the interviewer must consider the problem from the interviewee's perspective, and eliminate the interviewee's worries and worries to satisfy them. In addition, the

interviewer should ask the interviewee some digressive questions when necessary, even though these questions are not on the interview script.

4.3 Secondary data

The first stage of the literature review in this article is to draw up possible answers and keywords to the research questions. In order to evaluate and identify the relevant academic literature regarding the concept of LGBT working climate, the authors have applied a systematic approach to the literature review in order to be methodological and objective. Utilizing the online database Google Scholar, the authors have established a synthesis of extant literature regarding LGBT concepts using the key terms " values-led company” “anti-discriminatory policy” “inclusive workplace” and “SDG” to search and select relevant academic literature from the generated 112,000 results. The criteria for selecting relevant articles on Google Scholar and Primo was based on relevancy, selecting the articles in the first page of results with titles that seem relevant to the search. However, it was apparent after analyzing four articles from the search results that the search criteria needed to be refined as the articles were of little relevance to the LGBT context. In order to find more relevant articles, we searched the reference list of an article pertaining to LGBT-friendly brand using key terms " LGBT-inclusive ", " LGBT-supportive ", and " sexual minorities ".

Through literature search to collect relevant research, after understanding the

representative literature and research directions and findings, the second stage of the literature review in this article is to systematically summarize the queer theory and Tsates bansed discrimination theory. From this secondary search, the researchers identified around 117 articles relevant to our topic. The researchers reviewed 32 academic articles in total identifying two themes and, in the literature review we have included 13 of the 32creviewed publications.

Researchers use endnote to manage and classify documents. A significant advantage of this tool is that it can automatically insert references in word, and can select reference standards, which is convenient for us to organize the references of articles.

4.5 Quality of data

Considering the analysis of the collected data, performing credible explanatory research is a challenge. In order to assess and ensure the quality of data analysis, research needs to be systematic, rigorous analysis methods, and familiar with the data to draw reliable conclusions (Collis & Hussey, 2014).

Researchers discuss how to ensure the quality of data in the following aspects: credibility, transferability, reliability and confirmability (Collis & Hussey, 2014;).

Credibility

Credibility refers to the correctness of identification and description analysis in research investigations (Collis & Hussey, 2014). Therefore, high reputation requires immersive authors to have a deep understanding of research. This research was held with the affirmative support of all participants and verified the objective and reliable analysis process.

In addition, during the entire research process, peer colleagues and designated mentors continued to implement supervision and opposition, which refers to academic guidance (Anney, 2014; Lincoln and Guba, 1985). The feedback and guidance received improved the quality and credibility of the research.

Transferability

In the case of qualitative research, analysis aims to create value for readers who should then be able to transfer the results to practice or future research (Collis & Hussey, 2014). By maintaining a clear structure throughout the report, the study improves Transferability, which is related to the generalization of the findings. First, the author described the method, sampling method and analysis in detail to improve transferability. Second, the results of the research can be used to organize, manage and build climate-supporting practices. They will be able to have a deeper understanding of the process and impact of the implementation of inclusive policies, which can promote the development of an inclusive workplace climate.

Reliability

Validity consists of Face validity, Criterion-related validity, and Content validity. The quotation of Queer theory and TBD theory provides theoretical guidance for the

research. The rigorously designed questionnaires and interview questions ensure that the collected data are in line with and applicable to the research questions and research purposes that they are going to examine and put forward.

Confirmability

Research with a high degree of Confirmability contains an obvious and well-described process in which findings are clearly derived and analyzed from the data (Collis & Hussey, 2014). This shows that the data collected from the interview comes from the participants and not the author.

In order to establish confirmability, the author quoted abundant quotation marks among the participants to clearly show that the data is not affected by the author’s bias.

4.6 Ethical consideration

For research involving individuals and organizations, it is very important to pay attention to ethical considerations during and after the research (Saunders et al., 2012).

Therefore, the researchers promised confidentiality and anonymity to all participants in order to reduce possible risks, and at the same time, to a certain extent, reduce the participants’ attempts to avoid others’ negative opinions and embarrassing evaluations of themselves, their employers, families or friends. This reduces the research bias caused by social praise.

In addition, all participants have been clearly informed that the study can only be published after they approve the content in the final version. The GDPR contract and notice in the appendix have been sent to all participants before the interview. The interview started after the participants signed and confirmed these documents.

In addition, in order to ensure the comfort of the interviewees, they were told at the beginning of each interview that they could end the interview at any time. They can also choose whether to record the interview. All interviewees agreed to the recording, and then ensured that the recordings and transcripts were only reviewed by relevant personnel, and that the audiovisual materials were destroyed after the paper was completed.

5. Empirical Findings

5.1 basic information of interviewees

The qualitative data findings include four interviews with LGBTQ personnel working in China. An open question interview method was adopted.

Each interview lasted 70 to 102 minutes, which is empirical data collected through the interview. The original quotes used in this section are not in English. If required, 9 voice recordings totaling 3.27 hours can be provided upon request.

The guide outline for the interview was written in English, but was translated into Chinese during the interview. The guidance is therefore shown in English and can be found in appendices 9.1 to 9.2. It is important to emphasize that the researcher adjusted

the question template according to the way the respondent answered the question, in order to obtain as much information as possible.

Among the four supplementary interviews, we selected the two with the most research significance. The basic information is as follows.

Interviewee A: Assistant manager, working in the chemical production and

transportation industry. Interviewee A has been working in the industry for more than two years. The company Interviewee A works for has about 2,600 employees and is a joint venture. The organization has business development in China and Europe.

Interviewee B: Ordinary employee. Working in the new media industry, currently in

charge of advertising-related business. The organization has approximately 200-300 employees and is private enterprise.

During the interview, the interviewee shared some views and opinions. They also have different views on certain situations and problems. We think this depends on the role and experience of the participants in the company, and the industry of the organization may influence the answer. However, what all interviewees have in common is that they have made a lot of reference opinions on how to implement LGBT inclusive policies and establish an inclusive workplace environment to a certain extent.

The reason why the other two interviewees were not selected was based on three considerations. First, a lot of invalid data was generated in the remaining two

interviews, although the researchers tried their best to allow the interviewees to make comments on the basis of their knowledge and understanding of the facts. Second, the researchers found that the experiences of interviewees A and B formed a strong comparison, which can get more significant results than comparing the four interviewees A,B,C,D at the same time. Finally, the length of the paper is limited.

5.2The company's LGBT support policies and complaint channels

Question “Does your company have written non-discriminatory principles?"

Interviewees emphasized the implementation of non-discriminatory workplaces and the different intentions of these policies that they think. The most frequently mentioned situation is that the company’s institutional progress is still limited. More than Respondent A said that despite the company’s Large scale or no responsibility How to target LGBT gender-friendly measures.

"No, because the shortcoming of this company is that there is no humanistic care. I think it is at least in a very preliminary stage."

Respondent B believes that the intention of these policies is to win over the

organization's consumers and the market. It aims to deepen the knowledge of subculture and customer base, because this knowledge constitutes the target market of respondent B's organization. Through these policies, organizations have the opportunity to

experience word-of-mouth on social media and realize their intention to understand multiple aspects of the target market in order to have a broader understanding of consumers and their value.

"Yes, our company has about 100 pages of documents on the principle of

non-discriminatory homosexuality, but I think it is very unreasonable. As a lesbian, when I read this, I feel like a straight man wrote to a straight girl."

Question： "I want to ask you, if you encounter this kind of human resource

problem, do you have a formal complaint channel? It is not limited to discrimination against homosexuals and discrimination against women, but also for any personnel issues. Do you have a complaint channel?"

interviewee A

"There are complaint channels. As far as I know, because I have not complained to others. Our organization is divided into sections, such as the knowledge section, and then the business section. Each section seems to have a different complaint email address. Contact directly Relevant leaders are also okay."

interviewee A then continues

"This is a real-name complaint, and I think especially if the type of organization is a private company, I think if you really experience some discrimination, or inequality, for example, their leaders may hate you and delay the payment of wages, or give you a low evaluation, I think (justice in this situation) cannot be upheld."

And interviewee A passed a real event to prove this point of view

“We have one thing before because we are in the transportation chemicals industry, and many employees are drivers, you know? The kind of driver who drives a truck. They may speak more directly, and then they will be more excited. Then I heard a few drivers, I heard that because of some salary reasons, they complained in the large discussion group of our entire company, and then they were kicked out. . So I think fair treatment cannot be guaranteed.”

In contrast, interviewee B has a different experience.

“Abuse@xxxxx.com is our organization’s complaint email address, which accepts emails from external networks, that is, you can complain anonymously. Wait a minute, let me open my homepage to see the specific situation.”

The document states that "After the complaint is registered, a complaint officer will

contact you, and follow-up will regularly report the progress of the case to you. For complaints with clear facts and simple disputes, the results will be completed and notified to the complainant within 15 days from the date of receipt of the complaint. If the situation is complicated, it can be extended to 30 days. If the situation is particularly complicated or there are other special reasons, it may be extended for another 30 days after approval by the senior management of the head office and notification to the complainant. "

5.3Employees’ understanding of policies and the organization’s training for employees

Question for Interviewee A: “This is a bit beyond my expectation. I may think that your working climate may have some problems. Then this may also limit people's courage to come out to some extent, because maybe there is a very serious stereotype in it.”

Interviewee A

“It’s not what you think, I think this is a characteristic of domestic (Chinese) private companies. As long as the founder and boss are Chinese and mainlanders, I think organizations that grow from small companies have such a problem. In contrast, the Internet and foreign companies are better.

Moreover, if you talk about the working climate and stereotypes, in fact, those of my colleagues are still very open-minded and get along with them more comfortably. To give an example, there is a colleague in our department. She is a female. She is over 40 years old, but she is not married and has no partner. Of course, when I heard it for the first time, I thought it didn't matter, and then everyone supported her. Everyone thinks that if you want to get married, you get married. Maybe in the city of Shanghai, I think their level of inclusiveness is still higher than the second and third line.”

Interviewees have completely different attitudes towards gay and gender-friendly courses, lectures or educational training. Interviewee A thinks this will increase the probability of being discriminated against to some extent, while Interviewee B thinks that the training organized by the organization has helped other colleagues to become cool.

Question:” Do you want your company to organize training such as gay and gender-friendly courses? We assume this kind of training can help heterosexual employees in companies understand the meaning of an inclusive workplace and gain support for LGBT.”

Interviewee A

“Are you talking about this company? I don't expect that if it is organized, I guess no

one will dare to go. I think going there is equivalent to self-exposure. I don't want to expose myself in this environment. Because if the company itself is similar to what they call the "Wolf Warriors culture", it makes employees tired and collapses, everyone may only think of the basic daily food, rest and sleep. Thoughts are totally unconcerned.”

Interviewee B

“My department often has such activities. I think these trainings make our identity recognition more flexible. To put it jokingly, many of my heterosexual colleagues even started to "flirt" with colleagues of the same gender after these courses. Because the so-called policy of our company is actually more like a kind of popular science. They greatly promote the employees' understanding of these phenomena.At least I think it makes our organization cooler”

5.4 Gender diversity and inclusion in the workplace in different industries

Question ”Let's suppose, if you come out to a colleague or upper-level in the company, do you think you will still get a promotion? Do you think it will affect your interpersonal relationships in the workplace?”

In this question, the researchers hope to understand the psychological state of the interviewee at work. Interviewees will talk about whether they are facing pressure from various aspects such as realistic atmosphere conditions, historical prejudices, industry conditions, and wages.

Interviewee A

”No, no. It will definitely affect me. Because if I choose to tell you, it must mean that, at least in my opinion, the relationship between me and you has reached a state of

intimacy. But in these companies, you and your leader are very traditional. The Chinese people are kind to the leader when they meet the manager, and they must be very polite, and it is basically impossible to treat them as real friends around you. For the same level, the same is true for the same level. Maybe everyone at the same level can be polite. We may order milk tea in the afternoon, but I really can’t talk about topics that are too profound. I feel unimaginable, because my relationship with them has not reached a very intimate state.”

This company is also an imperfect choice for me, because I didn't have autumn recruits before. Just as you said, I was discriminated against, so I lost the autumn recruits offer and slipped away from me.

Researchers