Apple, Google, and Twitter are just some of the major tech companies known for offering benefits that support gay and transgender employees, but they’re hardly the only ones. At a time when workplace diversity, inclusion and fairness are subjects of national focus, 80% of tech workers say their companies are supportive of LGBTQ employees. This data snapshot provides a snapshot of how more than 21,000 tech employees responded to the following questions:
— Is your company supportive of LGBTQ employees?
— Does your Company encourage open discussion of workplace issues related to gender & diversity?
— Do the political views of your coworkers affect your working relationship with them?
Most people say their employers are supportive of LGBTQ employees
Top-line view: 80% of employees at tech companies say the companies they work for are supportive of LGBTQ employees. The rates are slightly lower at non-tech companies (76%).
Men vs. women: Men were more likely to say their employer supports LGBTQ individuals (83% vs. 77% of women.)
By ethnicity: Asians/Pacific Islanders and Caucasians had the highest rates of saying their employers are LGBTQ-friendly (84% and 83%); African Americans had the lowest (68%).
By age: 71% of workers aged 18 to 25 say their employers support LGBTQ employees. That was the lowest among any age group. The rate increased from there, reaching a high of 85% among workers aged 51 to 55.
By city: 91% of employees in San Francisco and Seattle say their employers are LGBTQ-friendly. Atlanta is on the other end of the spectrum: just 70% of employees there say their employers are LGBTQ-friendly.
60% of people say their employers encourage open discussion of workplace issues related to gender and diversity
Top-line view: 60% of people at tech companies say their employers encourage open discussion of workplace issues related to gender and diversity; 40% say their employers do not. The rates were similar at non-tech companies (56% of people say their workplaces encourage open discussion; 44% say they do not.)
Men vs. women: Men were slightly more likely than women to say their employer supports LGBTQ individuals (62% vs. 58% of women.)
By ethnicity: While employees of all ethnicities weren’t significantly different in their responses, Asian/Pacific Islanders and Hispanic/Latinos showed the highest rates of saying their employers encourage open discussion of workplace issues related to gender and diversity. Workers who identified as “other” and African American showed the lowest rates of saying the same.
By age: Results were similar across age groups, though people aged 30 were most likely to say their employers support open discussion of these issues (63%).
By city: 68% of respondents in both Seattle and Denver said their workplaces support open discussion of these workplace topics – the highest percentages in any city. New York, Boston, Chicago, and Minneapolis were close behind (at 64% each). San Diego was the city with the lowest rate of people who said their workplaces support open discussion of these topics (50%), followed next by Atlanta (54%) and Houston).
1 in 3 people says their coworkers’ political views affect their working relationships
Top-line view: 31% of workers at tech companies say their coworkers’ political views affect their working relationships. The rate was slightly lower at non-tech companies (24%).
Men vs. women: The rate is slightly higher among women (32% vs. 30% of men).
By ethnicity: African Americans were most likely to say that their coworkers’ political views impact their working relationships (40%), followed next by Hispanics and Latinos (35%), and Asian/Pacific Islanders (33%). Caucasians were least likely to say the same (27%).
By age: The percentage of workers who say their co-workers’ political views affect them is highest among those 18 to 25 and generally declines with age, hitting a low of 24% among workers aged 51 to 55.
By city: Houston had the greatest percentage of employees who said their co-workers’ political views affect them (38%), followed next by New York (35%) and Atlanta (33%). Phoenix was the city that had the slimmest percentage of people who said their co-workers’ political views affect them (18%), followed next by Minneapolis (19%).
Methodology
Questions were in Yes/No and multiple-choice format.
Results are based on more than 21,000 responses from employees predominantly across the technology sector.
Employees hail from small, mid-size, and large tech companies (VC-funded, privately-held, and public) to household brands like Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, Uber, etc.
Data was collected between March 30, 2016 and November 20, 2017.
About Comparably
Comparably is one of the fastest growing compensation, culture, and career monitoring sites in the U.S. With the most comprehensive and uniquely structured data — segmented by gender, ethnicity, age, location, tenure, company size, equity, title/department, and education — the platform gives employees a more accurate picture of their worth and allows them to anonymously rate their workplace experiences and match with their dream jobs. Since its launch in 2016, Comparably has accumulated more than 3 million ratings from employees across 30,000 U.S. businesses and over 5,000 companies who use its employer branding and jobs tools. For more information on Comparably, go to www.comparably.com. For highly-cited workplace culture and compensation studies, including Comparably’s annual Best Places to Work and Best CEOs lists, log onto www.comparably.com/blog.
