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How one bank is trying to make their workplaces more LGBT-friendly

How one bank is trying to make their workplaces more LGBT-friendly

On Monday, Yahoo Finance Canada looked at how companies are adapting to a more visible LGBTQ client base and workforce. Today, we take a deeper dive into one of the companies known for its LGBTQ-friendly policies.

Tim Thompson has worked at TD Bank for nearly three decades.

But it wasn’t until 2007, 17 years into his tenure, that he felt “safe enough” to come out at work.

What changed is that Thompson, current COO of TD Asset Management, received a promotion and started working closely with the company’s executives, including the CEO at the time, Ed Clark.

Clark was at the helm two years earlier when the TD became the first major financial institution to sponsor Toronto’s Pride festival and established its LGBTA Working Group in Canada. A year later, it also launched its LGTA Employee Pride Network.

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“That’s when I learned that when Ed Clark talked about this stuff he wasn’t just reading something someone handed to him, Ed Clark from his heart he meant what he was talking about,” said Thompson.

“(And) when you have executives standing up and declaring things -- that makes a difference."

Now, Thompson, who is also the executive chair of TD’s LGBTA diversity committee, is hoping to continue to make the company’s workplaces safer for queer employees as well as be able to offer them the same opportunities as their peers.

Earlier this year, TD was named one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers. The competition named the country’s top 100 workplaces based on their diversity and inclusiveness programs in a variety of areas, including: women, people with disabilities, visible minorities, indigenous people and LGBT. Accenture Canada, Dentons Canada LLP, Deloitte LLP and Telus were also recognized by Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for their LGBTA networking and leadership groups.

TD was recognized for its 21 LGBTA employee resource groups, as well as its LGBTA Pride Network, which has roughly 3,000 members across North America.  

‘Turning point’

Thompson said that although TD was an early adopter of LGBTA initiatives, citing its decision to become the first North American bank to offer spousal benefits for same-sex couples in 1994, it was still a reflection “of society and other businesses.”

He said when Clark was appointed CEO in 2002 he “reenergized” efforts at the bank.

Thompson said Clark had an epiphany that TD “must be running a homophobic organization” when he saw statistics showing that very few employees, including Thompson, weren’t taking advantage of the spousal benefits.

“’People aren't comfortable coming out, they’re worried that someone’s going to find out and these benefits that are being provided, aren’t being used,’” said Thompson, recalling Clark’s thought process.

Thompson said that marked a “turning point” and the company has since developed five pillars of inclusion that take into consideration the needs of LGBT employees.

“What we learned is to ensure our employees understood we were serious about that meant that we had to make external demonstrations of our commitment,” he said.

That’s why TD current supports 42 Pride festivals across North America and is also involved with 100 LGBTA organizations.

Members of TD's Pride Network are seen here.
Members of TD's Pride Network are seen here.

But a large part its efforts have taken place internally.

In the past, Thompson said messages about diversity and inclusion would get “hung up” in middle management, so many lower-level employees weren’t aware of pride events and other initiatives.

But it now employs strategies designed from the top-down strategy, as well as those targeted at the “grassroots.”

Forging a ‘common bond’

Thompson said the employee resource groups, which organize through a company social network, help provide a “framework for discussion” between LGBT employees and their allies and allows them to build a “common bond” during cocktail parties, lunch-and-learn events, as well as developing mentoring relationships.

“People just saying the words – lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender beyond just the letters, actually makes a difference because many people have never had a conversation where they’ve actually used (them), and that’s part of the journey towards acceptance and understanding,” said Thompson.

Thompson said getting LGBT employees and their allies in the same room, or online, is vital to creating a positive organizational culture.

“All of the progress on diversity inclusion actually has to come from the allies,” he said.

“If you’re the marginalized group you need your allies to help make change happen.”

TD also tries to bring LGBT employees together with their allies at Pride receptions and networking events.

Thompson, who has three young daughters with his partner, said he was a panelist at an event that focused on the modern family, where he spoke about the process and challenges involved with surrogacy.

Even though Thompson has reached an upper-management position that so many of his peers aspire to attain, he said he gets the most satisfaction from his role as head of TD’s diversity LGBTA diversity committee. In fact, he keeps a folder of all the positive feedback that he has received.

“People have come out at work before they come out to their families,” he said.

“We’re actually changing how the world works, which when you reflect on that you go, ‘This is great and important work.’”

More than 100 TD Bank Group employees alongside the company's float at Vancouver Pride, Aug.4, 2013.
More than 100 TD Bank Group employees alongside the company's float at Vancouver Pride, Aug.4, 2013.

Room for improvement

One area that Thompson admitted that TD and other employers can continue to make strides is in getting more LGBT employees in boardrooms and senior management positions.

“As you move up that hierarchy, you tend to get less diversity – that’s the general problem,” he said.

“In Canada and the U.S. it tends to be more Caucasian, more male, more straight – if you will – as you move up in seniority.”

Thompson said the solution is to get rid of barriers to upwards mobility and to make sure the company’s hiring process is diverse.

To attract LGBT workers, TD already participates in programs such as SAGEWorks in the U.S., which offers workshops, training and coaching to help older LGBTA adults expand their skills.

It also actively recruits young, diverse talent on campuses across North America.

Along those same lines, the Toronto chapter of Telus’ Spectrum LGBTQA forum recently offered mentoring to help prep LGBTQ students for post-university life.

However, Thompson said TD’s attempts to tackle unconscious bias in the hiring and promoting workers to upper management positions is “still a work in progress."

Its mentorship opportunities and sponsorship (personal recommendations) through its LGBT resource group are other tactics to get LGBT employees in the higher ranks.

He added that the bank has introduced training on the subject and has internal conversations, but there’s no “magic” solution. Thompson hopes that eventually Canadian businesses will give everyone a fair shot at the “big job.”

He said that Canada needs its own Tim Cook, the CEO of tech giant Apple, who came out publicly in an Oct. 30, 2014 editorial for Bloomberg Business.

TD is also focusing on several other areas of improvement for its LGBT workers.

In particular, it said its internal surveys have shown that women who identify as lesbian are less engaged and were having worse workplace experiences than gay men and their heterosexual peers.

TD has since launched efforts to try to understand their unique challenges and opportunities. 

Thompson also mentioned transgender issues as an area where TD is looking to progress.

The bank introduced gender transition guidelines to help the managers and colleagues of employees who are transitioning gain an understanding of the process and familiarizing themselves with the acceptable terminology.

TD offers sex-reassignment surgery benefits in Canada, where it is not covered by provincial health care plans.

It also opened a branch in Montreal’s Gay Village that has general-use bathrooms. This comes at a time when North Carolina is forcing transgender people to use public bathrooms that correspond with their “biological sex.”

“Canada still seems to be going on, the economy hasn’t ground to halt, nobody has died,” said Thompson.

But in the end, Thompson’s hope for TD is simple: He wants LGBT employees to be able to bring their “whole self” to work and share in regular activities, without shame or judgment, that their straight peers likely take for granted.

“If people of all backgrounds can come into work on a Monday morning, and they can just feel great about talking everything they did on the weekend, without worrying about what someone might think about them, (it honestly) doesn’t get any better than that,” he said.