Like many gay people working in the UK energy sector, I’ve been able to be honest about my true self with colleagues in the workplace, without fear. This is no accident; I owe a debt of gratitude to brave social campaigners over many decades, to those who secured legal protections for LGBTQIA+ people at work, and to enlightened employers.

But this is not everyone’s experience and others tell a very different story. And sadly, it’s this that we see each year when reviewing what respondents to the Pride in Energy survey tell us. This year is particularly concerning.

Lived experiences 
More than four in 10 completing our survey have experienced or witnessed some form of discrimination during the past five years, with almost half of those saying this has happened in the last year alone. This can take many forms. We hear of casual homophobic jokes, overt name-calling, microaggressions and deliberate misgendering. There are derogatory and abusive responses to LGBTQIA+-related posts on intranets and social media, and homophobic graffiti in staff toilets. Some feel intimidated in socially conservative and male-dominated environments; others observe pervasive unconscious bias affecting progression and promotion.

This should be a matter of serious concern for employers who have a duty of care to their employees. So too should be wider perceptions of the sector. While more than two thirds of respondents consider their own employer to be very inclusive, barely a quarter say the same about the UK energy sector overall. Judging by comments we also received from straight respondents, who make up a quarter of our survey population, it’s clear this sort of environment is uncomfortable for a great many others too – which is a serious concern for a sector facing major talent recruitment and retention challenges.

Casualties of the ‘culture war’
These findings aren’t new; in fact, over the five years we’ve been running the survey we’ve repeatedly raised these same red flags. What is new this year is the context, and specifically the rising temperature of the so-called ‘culture war’. With criticisms of equity, diversity and inclusion intensifying during and following elections in the US, the UK and elsewhere, many hard-won rights and protections are under fresh assault.

Our survey finds this spilling over into workplaces. Seven in 10 respondents are very concerned about the impact of this public rhetoric on progress within our sector. This is particularly the case as regards protections for trans colleagues; indeed, the same proportion of our respondents are also very concerned about the impact of the UK Supreme Court ruling in April on the definition of sex in the Equalities Act.

With criticisms of equity, diversity and inclusion intensifying during and following elections in the US, the UK and elsewhere, many hard-won rights and protections are under fresh assault. 

Many respondents fear a double impact of these developments. First is in relation to how their employers have reacted. The best have stepped up, sending a clear signal to staff and stakeholders that their values and programmes remain unchanged. Others have not, instead going quiet on earlier inclusivity commitments. There is particular concern around those with interests in the US. As one respondent puts it: ‘The lack of meaningful engagement from the highest level makes previous support seem like tokenistic, “fair-weather” allyship.’ 

The second impact is on wider behaviours in the workplace. The use by public figures of pejorative phrases such as ‘diversity hires’ and ‘woke ideology’ normalises such language and risks making it acceptable in a professional context. One respondent puts it succinctly: ‘Politicians “saying the quiet thing” about equity, diversity and inclusion opens the gates to prejudiced individuals in everyday life – for instance in energy workplaces.’ And another: ‘It is emboldening people who seek to erase us.’

Inclusion is no accident
These malign forces, left unchecked, threaten the wellbeing of LGBTQIA+ people in our workplaces, and risk further diminishing perceptions of our sector as a whole, which would harm its ability to attract and retain the best talent.

The Pride in Energy survey is clear on where the primary answer to this challenge has to sit. When asked how best to address the poor perception of our sector, greater top-down visibility and advocacy from senior leaders is the number one measure, by far, exceeding all others this year. (The same has been true every year since we started the survey.)

There’s an abundance of brave, visionary, values-driven leadership in our sector. It’s the foundation of the inclusive cultures that make many of our workplaces safe and welcoming. But as our survey shows, this doesn’t happen everywhere, and it doesn’t happen by accident. Sadly, the charged social and political context around inclusion is not going away quickly. It reinforces the need for all of us – in particular those at the top – to redraw lines in the sand, and to be loud and proud in defending inclusion.

The Energy Institute is a supporting partner of Pride in Energy.

• Further reading: ‘Our sector needs diversity, not discrimination’. The number one thing we can do to build inclusion in the energy industry is to have more support from senior leaders and more openly ‘out’ role models, writes Louise Bailey, OVO Belonging Lead and a board member of Pride in Energy.
• Pride in Energy 2023 LGBTQI+ survey results express importance of industry role models and dissatisfaction with corporate ‘pinkwashing’.