Disaggregating the Experiences of Sexual Minority Workers

Abstract

Since approximately 4.5% of the U.S. population self-identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) with 88% employed, understanding issues related to their working experiences is valuable for scholars and organization leaders alike. Overlooking these workers can disadvantage organizations that need high-quality talent and leave the workers themselves out in the cold. Further, ignoring the heterogeneity of the sexual minority (SM) population has been an error made by both researchers and practitioners, despite evidence showing that work realities are distinctly different for subgroups. Consequently, the nuanced experiences of various subgroups are not well understood, creating a knowledge gap in our understanding of this critical segment of the workforce. In this chapter, we utilize social cognition and minority stress approaches to explore extant studies and explain how a lack of understanding of differences among SM subgroups may lead to negative outcomes for SM individuals and their organizations. We offer several avenues for further discovery, especially related to social cognitions about these minority workers, their workplace experiences, and disclosure. We highlight how organizational leaders and human resource professionals can better pinpoint the unique needs of all SM workers and create appropriate solutions for meeting them more effectively. Our overarching goal is to encourage organizational scholars to more closely examine the forgotten diversity within the sexual minority.