Straight Allies

LINE MANAGERS
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4CHAPTER
Straight allies with line management responsibilities play an essential
role in driving gay equality at work and the primary motivation,
again, is often personal.
From my point of view it’s about sleeping at night – being
comfortable with how you’ve managed a situation and dealt
with it. You owe individuals that, but you also owe it to
yourself. Elaine Prescott, Team Leader, UK Border Agency
I’ve seen friends hiding away because they didn’t know what
reaction people would have to their sexual orientation. It must
be really difficult and for people who’ve had the courage to
come out it’s like a weight lifted off their shoulders. So I’ve
always tried to encourage that in staff I manage who I feel
have tried to put a protective coating around who they are.
Pam Hoey, Sales Manager, Lloyds Banking Group
Line managers have seen first-hand that an equal working
environment is a good way to get the best from people.
How can we possibly, as an organisation, encourage our staff to
give us all that they’ve got, without creating the right
environment in which they can do that? We know that people
perform better when they can be themselves – so how can you
have an authentic relationship with colleagues if you don’t feel
that you can be yourself when you’re at work?
Lucy Malarkey, Head of Neighbourhoods, Gentoo Sunderland