Amazon issues guidelines to support UK transgender employees

Amazon has issued new guidelines to support transgender employees in the UK in the latest move by a company to adapt management policies to reflect changing social attitudes.

The guidance from the Seattle-based technology group includes advice for employees and managers on issues ranging from access to bathrooms and dress codes to communicating about employees transitioning in the workplace.

Amazon launched similar policies in the US last year and planned to extend them to other markets, the company said. It also provides benefits including support and mental health services for employees who are transitioning and their dependants.

“Diversity and inclusion is good for our business and our customers, and transgender employees are an important part of our team,” said Simon Johnson, Amazon UK’s director of media.

Amazon, however, has not been immune to criticism of how its workers are treated on a range of issues. The company was sued last year by a transgender woman and her husband who alleged they were subjected to harassment and threats while working at a warehouse in Kentucky.

The company has also come under scrutiny over its working conditions. Ambulances were called to its 14 UK warehouses 600 times in the past three years, according to an investigation by the GMB union.

The latest move reflects growing awareness of transgender identities — thanks in part to social media and high-profile celebrities such as Caitlyn Jenner — businesses have come under pressure to address discrimination in the workplace and the communities in which they operate.

Half of transgender employees in the UK have been so afraid of discrimination at work they have hidden the fact that they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender while one in eight has been physically attacked by colleagues or customers, according to a survey by Stonewall, the British advocacy group for LGBT people.

Michael, an Amazon UK employee, who is transitioning from male to female, said the new guidance was “invaluable to myself, my team and my wider colleagues”.

He said: “It provides comprehensive resources to answer some of the more common questions around names, pronouns and policies without my colleagues needing to worry about whether or not they were allowed to ask particular questions.”

In the US, Amazon and other corporations have pushed back against so-called bathroom bills that would require transgender people to use public toilets that match the gender on their birth certificates.

North Carolina repealed such a law last year after companies including Deutsche Bank and PayPal pulled business and cancelled events in the state. A similar bill was scrapped in Texas following opposition from Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google.

Amazon is considering local rights for and acceptance of LGBT people as part of its decision about where to put its second US headquarters, according to the Washington Post.