Comfort levels at work by age, role type and ethnicity

The average comfort of respondents about being open or "out" increases with age. This potentially indicates that as you get older you become more comfortable, however the average of comfort does drop for those over the age of 65. We would expect this as until the mid-1980s homosexuality was criminalised, intersex people were all but invisible and there was little understanding of gender that did not align to a person’s anatomy.

This differs from the ease of being yourself at work. Those in the youngest age group ‘15 – 24 years’ found it, on average, the easiest to be themselves. In this chart, higher ratings mean higher levels of ease or comfort.

‘Managers’ and ‘legal, human resources and finance professionals’ have the highest average comfort ratings. Respondents from the ‘other occupations – non-professionals’ group had the lowest average ratings of comfort being out at work and with colleagues. Contact centre workers reported having the lowest level of comfort with managers/leaders. They also reported having the second lowest average of comfort being out with their colleagues.

In this chart, higher ratings mean higher levels of ease or comfort.

Comfort being out at work

European and Māori respondents felt the most comfortable at work and reported the least amount of discomfort at being ‘out’ or open at work. Asian and MELAA (Middle Eastern/Latin American/African) respondents felt the most uncomfortable at work.

Being out can indicate a sense of belonging. Comfort at work by ethnicity can parallel a person’s lived experience of inclusion within their own ethnic group’s attitudes to sexuality and gender identity.

Ease of being yourself

Data for ease of being yourself was similar across ethnic groups, except for Pacific respondents who were more likely to report finding it sometimes easy, sometimes hard. The MELAA (Middle Eastern/Latin American/African) and Asian ethnicity groups have the highest proportion that found it very easy or easy to be themselves despite the previous findings that they felt the most uncomfortable being out at work.

It’s important to recognise that many people find it easy to be themselves, however doing so doesn’t always imply that it is a comfortable situation. The two indicators have subtle, but significant differences.