Breaking the Rainbow Ceiling: How LGBTQ+ people can thrive and succeed at work

Layla McCay, author, myGwork member and Director of Policy for the NHS Confederation, shares how LGBTQ+ professionals can shatter the rainbow ceiling and succeed at work.

Hi Layla, can you share a bit about yourself?

I started my career as an NHS psychiatrist before moving into health policy leadership. I’ve worked at the British government’s Department of Health, the World Health Organisation, the World Bank, and several international development NGOs. I have held various university roles and set up a small think tank, The Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health. I’m currently Director of Policy for the NHS Confederation. In terms of LGBTQ+ work, I’m Executive Lead of the national Health and Care LGBTQ+ Leaders Network and was recognized on the Outstanding 100 LGBTQ+ Executives Role Model List as a global role model driving LGBTQ+ inclusion in business.

You’ve just written a new book, Breaking the Rainbow Ceiling: How LGBTQ+ people can thrive and succeed at work. What’s it about?

It’s about why LGBTQ+ people are less likely to reach the upper echelons of our profession, and what to do about it. I combined the data and research with interviews with more than forty LGBTQ+ leaders in senior roles in different sectors and locations, from CEOs and board chairs to Ambassadors and senior government officials. Putting the data alongside their personal stories is really fascinating. It helps us understand why and how being LGBTQ+ affects us at work, what holds us back, and what helps us succeed.

Who should read this book?

It's relevant for LGBTQ+ people at every step of their career. It’s also for managers, employers and chairs of boards. who are seeking insight on this topic and want to know how to support their staff to thrive. It's ideal for anyone else who wants to understand the experiences of LGBTQ+ people at work.

What inspired you to write the book?

I had always been aware that prejudice and discrimination can theoretically affect LGBTQ+ people’s careers. But it became real for me one day with a lunch companion who happened to have been on an interview panel where I was a candidate. He mentioned that someone on that panel had argued against selecting me because I’m a lesbian. I was really taken aback by this fact, calmly delivered over dessert. I started thinking about other interviews in which I hadn’t been successful. Applications where I hadn’t been shortlisted. Promotions for which I hadn’t been put forward. Did being LGBTQ+ play a part? Was this a genuine career barrier – a glass ceiling, or more aptly, a ‘rainbow ceiling’, and if so, how did it work? I became very interested in this question, even more so when I discussed it with friends who described similar experiences and far worse during recruitment and in the course of their work life. I wanted to read a book on the topic, and when I couldn’t find one, I decided to write it.

Why were you determined to include so many insights from current LGBTQ+ leaders?

Two main reasons. First, so many books and courses that focus on career development, or equality, diversity, and inclusion tend to not be very specific about the LGBTQ+ experience. Asking people about their personal experiences was uniquely helpful in identifying the commonalities so we can understand what really matters, and how to take practical actions that address the root causes of our particular inequalities. The second reason is that having visible role models empowers us and raises our confidence and aspirations. I was very conscious that when I was young, I had no LGBTQ+ role models to look up to… and in fact, I still don’t have as many as I’d like. I’ve often been the only LGBTQ+ person around a management table, or the most senior LGBTQ+ person on a team. Lots of people in the book described the same experience, at all stages of their careers. It’s not a surprise: the data tells us that LGBTQ+ people are underrepresented in senior roles. I want this book to give readers access to a brilliant range of potential role models to inspire and guide us.

What did you find surprising during the interviews for the book?

I heard some shocking stories of people being very overtly discriminated against. But I was perhaps more surprised by how many LGBTQ+ leaders did not initially consider that being LGBTQ+ had played a significant role in their careers. Then when we started delving, they were suddenly linking their experiences coming out in their youth to decisions made at work; recounting stories of their managers telling them to behave ‘a little less gay’ and eroding their confidence, describing the stress of feeling obliged to disguise their sexual orientation or gender identity, perhaps even invent a fictional spouse, because they had missed a good moment to come out at work, or on business trips to locations less safe for LGBTQ+ people, or because they worried about the response of certain clients. But I was also struck by the number of people who described being LGBTQ+ as a superpower in terms of benefits at work from innovation to resilience. This is ultimately an uplifting book.

What’s your favorite part of the book?

I really like the coming out chapter, because it gives such an interesting range of experiences and thoughts about what helps people come out at any stage of their career. And I was fascinated by some of the data around hiring and promotion and wage gaps. But I do have a soft spot for the final few pages, which is a ‘letter to our younger self’ – and to future generations of LGBTQ+ people with career ambitions. It’s made up of a sentence from each of the leaders I interviewed for the book and it’s full of so much wisdom and support and optimism. I’ve never managed to read that letter without shedding a tear. In a good way!

ERADICATING THE RAINBOW WAGE GAP

Layla McCay, Director of Policy for the NHS Confederation and author of Breaking the Rainbow Ceiling: How LGBTQ+ People can thrive and succeed at work, is also a speaker at this year’s WorkPride Panel: Eradicating the Rainbow Wage Gap: Equal Pay for Equal Work, on June 19 (12pm BST). Click here to register for free, and here to find out more about WorkPride 2024.

Breaking the Rainbow Ceiling: How LGBTQ+ people can thrive and succeed at work (published by Bloomsbury) is available from all good bookshops. myGwork is offering members and WorkPride attendees a 20% discount code when buying direct from Bloomsbury through this link, using the code: mygwork20.