Gender identity is a common topic of discussion among employers these days and the need to capture an employee’s preferred gender identity within the workplace has increased. So how can your organization ensure a balance of inclusion and compliance while maintaining your technology?
Many companies currently capture two or three classifications for gender—such as female, male, and non-binary—while other organizations are capturing more drilled-down data such as agender, transgender, and graygender, among others. As your organization determines its gender classifications, another need arises: how to store and share gender data effectively. This is not always an easy ask.
The HR technology market recognizes the need for more gender options within the workplace—still, storing non-binary gender data in an HRIS and then sending that data to carriers can be complicated to execute.
Our recommendation is to inquire with your service providers regarding what options for gender lie within your HCM or HRIS system coding. We have seen systems with up to nine different options for gender, and while that is impressive and attractive, recognizing the capabilities to use that data across systems becomes a new challenge.
Insurance carriers and vendors are perhaps the biggest obstacles non-binary gender identity encounters in technology. The ability to send a code for gender on an 834/EDI file is an ideal concept, but you should always check with your carriers and vendors to see if they can accept genders other than male and female before implementing specialized gender coding. If the carrier cannot accept specialized coding, there may be a need for additional file mapping.
Our HR Tech team has seen employers get very creative with capturing, storing, and sharing gender identity data – it can be done! Technology should support the way your organization works; it shouldn’t define it. Once the needs are identified for your organization, Henderson Brothers can help you develop a plan for your technology.
Please note that the information contained in this posting is designed to provide general awareness in regard to the subject matter covered. It is not provided as legal, medical, or tax advice, nor is it intended to address all concerns in your workplace or for public health. No representation is made as to the sufficiency for your specific company’s needs. This post should be reviewed by your legal counsel or tax consultant before use.
