Supporting Transgender and Gender-Diverse People in the Workplace

At Envato, we’re continually working to better support transgender employees and community members. We take every opportunity to celebrate diversity and champion the amazing trans and gender-diverse people in our workplaces and communities through ongoing diversity and inclusion initiatives – such as [email protected] and our new Gender Affirmation Guide. Here’s how Envato is striving to better support and empower trans people in the workplace.

At Envato, Diversity and Inclusion is one of our core values. LGBTQIA+ people are integral to our organizational DNA and vital contributors to our business, making us a stronger, happier, richer workplace. We constantly strive to listen and learn from our LGBTQIA+ community and make better decisions to ensure our workplace is as safe and welcoming as possible. 

“A core value of Envato is that we are a diverse and inclusive place to work. Part of that is championing trans rights generally via observing things like Trans Awareness Week, creating a supportive environment internally with groups like [email protected], and ensuring individuals are supported by having frameworks in place for gender affirmation and related concerns,” says Lally, Senior Engineer at Envato. 

Envato already has many year-round initiatives to support our LGBTQIA+ community, including: 

To further support our trans community, Envato has recently produced a new guide aimed at helping managers better support employees through the gender affirmation process. 

Envato’s Gender Affirmation Guide empowers managers to support transitioning employees. It provides documentation about the gender affirmation process, helpful resources, and information on how to find help at Envato. More broadly, it cements inclusion as part of the Envato DNA, letting employees know that they are accepted and supported by their managers and organization.

“As with any guideline or policy, the aim of our Gender Affirmation guideline and supporting documentation is to help our employees to navigate a process or situation,” says Senior People Experience Manager, Claire March. “For the managers and coworkers of a transitioning team member, this would most likely be an unfamiliar situation, and they’ll want to know how best to support their coworker. We want to make it as stress-free and smooth as possible for everyone involved – which is why having a clear guideline is so important.” 

The document is aimed at three audiences: the individual, their manager, and their colleagues. It’s primarily focused on giving managers a series of considerations to help guide the necessary conversations and administrative steps. 

“All of our employees work hard and contribute to the success of our organization,” says Claire. “In return, they deserve to feel included and respected and have the right to be themselves. Trans and LGBTQIA+ people enrich our culture, and a diverse workplace is a thriving workplace. In fact, diversity in business is proven to correlate with improved workforce performance and retention. Everyone thrives if we champion diversity and inclusion across all levels of the business.” 

We know that the work doesn’t stop after Trans Awareness Week. Envato is continually striving to be a more inclusive workplace and is committed to better supporting its gender-diverse employees every day of the year – not just on commemorative calendar dates. As such, we are always looking for new ways to turn our words into meaningful actions. 

“In the future, we would love to offer a paid leave option for our employees who are transitioning, which would alleviate the need for them to use personal, annual, and unpaid leave,” says Claire. “I also encourage everyone to learn how to be a good ally. Do what you can to call out discrimination, fight for equality and try to make the world a better place for anyone who identifies as LGBTQIA+.” 

For more information on Trans Awareness Week, check out this great Trans communication guide by Minus 18, or learn more about Envato’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.