News release

From: Adelaide University

New research from Adelaide University has found customers can be an overlooked source of workplace discrimination, leaving gay and bisexual men feeling they must choose between being authentic or protecting themselves from prejudice.

“Despite progress in LGBTQIA+ workplace inclusion, many gay workers still experience discrimination and anticipate prejudice from their customers, clients and patrons,” said research lead Dr David Matthews from Adelaide University’s College of Business and Law.

“Workers find themselves in an impossible situation: be themselves with customers and risk being discriminated against, or hide their sexuality and suppress who they really are.

“We found that both pathways have negative impacts on workers’ wellbeing, which can also have unintended consequences for organisational performance.”

Dr Matthews is joined in the research team by Associate Professor Sally Rao Hill from Adelaide University’s College of Business and Law and Alastair Tombs from University of Queensland.

The researchers say organisations have made significant progress in addressing discrimination from employers and co-workers, but customers remain an often-overlooked source of psychosocial risk that can affect employee wellbeing and workplace health and safety.

Published in the Journal of Services Marketing, the study involved in-depth interviews with 13 young gay and bisexual men working in frontline service roles across Australia and New Zealand. Participants had experience across hospitality, retail, banking and finance, trades, consultancy and the not-for-profit sector.

While previous research has largely focused on discrimination from employers and colleagues, this study highlights customers as a significant source of prejudice. Researchers also found workers often adjusted how openly they expressed their sexuality depending on who they were assisting.

“Workers are more likely to anticipate discrimination, and therefore hide their sexuality, when interacting with customers who are men or customers who are older than them, but often find comfort in customers who are women,” Associate Professor Hill said.

“Likewise, certain industries make workers feel less able to present themselves authentically to customers. Workers were much more likely to hide their sexuality in traditionally masculinised industries, such as the trades, and in white-collar sectors, like banking and finance.”

Dr Matthews said the findings point to practical steps organisations can take to better protect workers and meet their workplace health and safety obligations.

“Organisations need to establish a clear line in the sand about what is and is not acceptable behaviour from customers,” Dr Matthews said.

“They can do this through simple strategies such as displaying signage that sets expectations for appropriate interactions with workers, similar to what we saw in supermarkets and fast-food restaurants during COVID-19. Longer-term strategies will require challenging the long-held belief that the customer is always right.

“Turning a blind eye to prejudice may seem like a practical way to avoid conflict and satisfy customers in the moment, but the costs accumulate over time through poorer employee wellbeing, reduced service performance and higher staff turnover.

“Providing service managers with training to create and uphold supportive workplaces for sexually diverse workers is essential.”