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LGB Londoners Needed For Employment Survey

A online research study is taking place which aims to explore barriers to employment, skills and training experienced by LGB people in Greater London.

Commissioned by the London Development Agency, in partnership with The Consortium of LGBT Voluntary and Community Organisations, Race on the Agenda and Urban Inclusion, the aim is to give better support to LGB workers in relation to jobs and training.

The study, hosted by Question Pro, takes 10-15 minutes to complete and asks about workplace experiences.

Anyone 16 and over who identifies as lesbian, gay or bisexual and lives, works or studies in Greater London is eligible to participate.

Kim Donahue from Urban Inclusion explains why the results of the survey will be of use to the LGBT community and London as a whole.

"We've got some really important pieces of legislation that have come through in the last few years making it illegal to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation in the work place and in good and services. So people need to understand what their rights are to be able to take advantage of them," she said

It is also a landmark for the LDA as it is the first time the government body has commissioned research into sexual orientation in the work place.

The researchers are keen to ensure that survey samples reflect the diversity that is Greater London and are particularly encouraging participation from all ethnic and social groups with the LGB community.

To complete the survey click here.

Urban Inclusion are also conducting a number of focus groups and interviews around the study. Kim says the preliminary results are very interesting.

"[There's seems to be] a link to people's experiences in school. People have experienced bullying and harassment around sexual orientation and gender identity in school, which can then lead to higher drop out rates and bad experiences, which can have an impact on employment," Kim says.

Conducting the research also highlights a several lack of official statistics about the community.

"There's such a lack of information and monitoring around sexual orientation, that we don't know very much about our community, particularly around employment issues."

"The census doesn't ask people whether they are gay, lesbian or bisexual so we don't actually know basic pieces of information that we know about other equality strands, say around ethnicity," says Kim.

"We can't say how many people there are in the LGBT community in London and we can't what that represents economically."

The researchers are also looking for employers to be interviewed as part of the survey.

The survey will be taking place until the end of March, with a preliminary report being presented to the LGA in early April. The final report will be produced at the end of June after consultation with the LGBT community.

Anyone interested in taking part in the focus groups and any employers interested in being interviewed should contact Kim Donahue by email: kim.Donahue@urbaninclusion.co.uk

Author: Joanne Oatts

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