“Being authentic is simply not the reality for someone who is terrified that they don’t fit a certain mould”
Travers Smith’s Head of HR, Carly Hubbard opens up about her experience being out at work, the importance of role models and gives advice for anybody looking for a truly inclusive work environment.
My name's Carly Hubbard and I am Head of HR at Travers Smith, a law firm that places great emphasis on attributing success to its unique culture, which means that contributing to success from an HR perspective is incredibly satisfying.
As a result, I have a lot of involvement in diversity priorities and initiatives. The scope of my role often finds me “in the trenches” working with my team of seven and reporting and dealing directly with queries and urgent situations on a daily basis. It is truly fast-paced work.
Being out at work is also incredibly important. In fact, in my mind it goes beyond “important” – it is fundamental.
People need to feel comfortable in themselves, it creates a better team dynamic where trust can be formed. Diversity naturally brings about a healthy mixture of viewpoints and skill-sets that are an advantage to any business.
Being somewhere every day where you do not feel that you can be open about who you really is extremely draining and has the potential to greatly impact on one’s happiness and wellbeing.
I recall practising my “coming out line" that I'd plan to deliver to new colleagues each time I changed jobs when I was younger. It was so forced and awkward that I cringe now at the thought of one of my earlier lines, “My partner, Mel, who is a woman…”
The problem was, that I felt the need to explain myself and that is where I was going wrong. This planned approach came about as a result of me attempting to avoid a recurring experience in a fixed-term contract role. I started a job where I thought it would be easier not to come out given the set, six month time period. I decided that I would describe my then partner as a flat mate so that I didn’t have to tell them that I was gay.
I found myself trying to carefully navigate around awkward offers of being set up on "blind dates" with friends of these new colleagues. It made me clam up and I look back now and see it is the only job I've had where I really haven't remained in contact with anyone after leaving. After having tied myself up in knots with lies, I found I couldn’t revert back to the truth… (I was offered the job on a permanent basis but ran a mile!)
One factor that motivated my move into HR relates to the involvement I'm able to have in creating platforms for change that will not only involve policy to support people in this position and to help educate managers, but also communicating those policies and raising awareness in a very public way.
At Travers Smith, we have recently reviewed all of our HR policies and staff benefits to ensure they are as trans inclusive as possible.
This has involved introducing a new dress code policy as well as gender neutral toilets. These may seem like modest changes, but we know they make a huge difference to people who identify as trans, non binary and gender nonconforming.
I believe that all of the letters of LGBTQ+ community are underrepresented at Travers Smith – a position that reflects the situation across the legal industry – however, we do have an LGBTQ+ network, made up of amazing champions and allies from across the firm. Removing my “Head of HR hat” and putting on my “employee hat”, I feel lucky to have some very visible, out role models at work who I'm lucky enough to have access to every day.
For me, a role model in the workplace is simple – it's someone who can be seen to demonstrate values and behaviours that inspire others and provide a benchmark for aspiration, regardless of their position or level of seniority. As I have progressed through my career I have become increasingly aware of this concept.
The added demands of making decisions and delivering in a highly pressured environment mean that I have found myself looking for individuals I can learn from, those who, in my view have “gone about it the right way”. I often find myself consciously emulating my role models who project behaviours or working practices that I see and respect.
Do I consider myself to be a role model? I like to have that as a personal objective. As a manager of a team, I really have to work and behave in a way that could make that objective a reality. I think people select role models for very different reasons and it would be safe to say that it is incredibly important to me to think that I could be one.
As a gay woman, as well as a manager of people, I am very alive to what I see as a doubly important responsibility to encourage people to feel as though they can be themselves at work. Having fun at work is paramount to job satisfaction, as well as high performance – being authentic is simply not the reality for someone who is terrified that they don’t fit a certain mould.
I hate the word “journey” but it often feels like it has been a long journey to get to the point where I felt completely comfortable being who I really am, inside and outside of work. So if there is one thing I can role model, that is it.
If an opportunity arises to come out during an interview process or early on in a new job, clearly you could go one of two ways – be open about yourself, or put it off. In that position I urge you to push yourself to be open as early as possible, if you're able to be.
The one thing that I have learnt over time is how comfortable people have become when I have come out to them. I now make reference to my wife if I am discussing plans for the weekend or my holidays, and when someone sees my wedding ring and asks what my husband does, I simply correct them by telling them I have a wife.
I would also recommend enquiring about any LGBTQ+ networks at the interview stage. For me, the LBGT+ groups I have been involved with at work have provided great comfort and also great friends!
In my experience, LGBTQ+ networks instill a feeling that an employer doesn’t just pay lip service to being inclusive, they appreciate the benefits of communities, support and a platform for “education”.
We have also partnered with an excellent organisation called “myGwork” to support us in our aims to recruit talent from as diverse backgrounds as possible, including from within the LGBTQ+ community.
Creating a fully inclusive workplace, where everyone can be themselves and reach their full potential won’t be easy, but we are more than up for the challenge!
Travers Smithis a corporate partner of myGwork.
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