Facing her colleagues one Monday morning at a road construction site was not just another day at work for Christina Hankey CA, who now works as a senior investment adviser at the New Zealand Ministry of Justice and is a member of the CA Pride Committee.

Over the weekend, she had made the decision to speak a life-altering truth out loud for the first time. While it both elated and terrified her, she knew it was the only path to living authentically.

“I had a moment of revelation, and I finally admitted to myself that I am a woman,” she says.

“On Monday, I was heading to work where I had only been for a few weeks and I thought, ‘I am coming into this group of people and I’m going to be telling them that actually I’m not a boy, I’m a girl, and I always was one’.”

While the moment brought relief and joy, it also came with fear and vulnerability, though she says her colleagues responded with support.

“I was really quite nervous. I worked on a road construction project, with all of the masculinity that is built into that stereotype, but they were fantastic. They had training for managers specifically focused on the rainbow community and supporting people who are coming out, including how to navigate that process in the workplace. It made a huge difference to the response I received,” she says.

Hankey’s experience is not unique. Despite perceived progress, research shows it remains challenging for many LGBTQIA+ people to be their authentic selves at work, says Martin King, founder and director of Pride Pledge in New Zealand.

“In Australia, less than 40% of LGBTQ+ employees are out to everyone in their workplace and many continue to face uncertainty about how they will be treated because of their gender identity or sexual orientation every day,” he says.

In New Zealand, the figure appears to be much higher, with a 2019 study finding 73% of LGB employees are out to their managers and 78% are out at work.

Even when people feel comfortable being open about their identity, concerns about discrimination, bullying and career progression remain significant. Research from Diversity Council Australia (DCA) reveals nearly half (46%) of LGBTIQ+ people experienced discrimination and/or harassment in the past year.

DCA’s 2025–2026 Inclusion@Work Index also shows that discrimination and harassment against LGBTIQ+ workers have increased since the index was released in 2024, when 39% of LGBTIQ+ workers reported experiencing this type of exclusion.

Small actions that build safety

King says inclusive workplaces are built through consistent, everyday behaviours that signal belonging.

“Adding pronouns to your email signature, attending Pride events, marching as an ally, using gender-neutral language or asking about someone’s ‘partner’ rather than assuming husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend are all things that contribute to creating a safer environment,” he says.

Visible signals such as rainbow lanyards, participation in awareness training and employee-led inclusion networks also play an important role.

King says senior allies are particularly important in reducing the burden on LGBTQIA+ employees to advocate for themselves.

“Often a senior ally can take an issue forward, ask questions at the executive level or help get something approved,” he says. “That means the burden isn’t always falling back on the community itself.”

Many organisations are also running training to help people become more confident with language and more aware of unconscious bias.

“Some of the largest groups in our rainbow communities are bisexual, pansexual and asexual people, and our trans and non-binary communities are also growing,” he says. “So, when people say, ‘You don’t look gay’ or ‘You don’t look lesbian’, it really highlights how outdated those assumptions are.

“Our training helps people challenge stereotypes and become more comfortable with inclusive language,” he says. “It creates space for those assumptions to be questioned rather than reinforced.”

King says organisations that engage with this work often see a noticeable shift in culture.

“It opens up rich conversations, and over time you can see people becoming more confident and more respectful in how they interact with others.”

When policy meets lived experience

Gerard O’Hare-Riley CA, group financial controller at Demi International Beauty Academy and member of the CA Pride Committee, says inclusion cannot rely on informal culture alone.

“People need visible evidence that support exists before they feel safe enough to access it,” he says. “The main issue I always encounter is the assumption that because it wasn’t seen as a problem, it wasn’t a problem at all.”

He says the most effective policies are those shaped with input from the people they affect.

“Nine times out of 10, if you ask people what needs to change, it isn’t major. It’s often simply the acknowledgement that those experiences existed and that alone can mean the world to the person impacted.

“It might not mean anything to you personally – you may never need it,” he adds. “But policies around parental leave or transition leave show whether an organisation has actually thought about people in those situations.”

Bathrooms are a good example, with many organisations moving towards gender-neutral or unisex facilities, particularly in airports, public institutions and large corporations.

Hankey’s own experience reflects how complex the issue can be in practice. She recalls spending a week unsure about how to navigate bathroom access at work, feeling fundamentally wrong whenever she needed to use the male facilities to start with. Eventually, she suggested to the company that she just use the accessible toilet.

“After about a year I eventually said, ‘I’d actually like to go to the ladies’ toilet, not the disabled one, because I don’t have a disability.”

She says she even drafted an email to all employees explaining her situation, basically saying: ‘This is how you’ve known me over the past year and I’d like permission to use the ladies’ toilets.’

“I also said I’d spoken to two people and they were happy to support me in that request. If anyone felt uncomfortable talking directly to me about it, they could speak to them privately and in total confidence,” she says.

Hankey never sent the email. She had learned that a small number of people had felt uncomfortable with her transition and she chose not to pursue it further at the time. However, a female colleague later intervened in a way she describes as pivotal.

“She came up to me and said there was a little basket of supplies in the bathroom and that I was welcome to use it anytime. I told her I wasn’t really permitted to use the ladies’ toilets and she went ballistic,” she recalls.

“She said, ‘Who the hell has told you that? That’s wrong – you’re a woman. You are entitled to be in that bathroom’. That reaction meant so much to me.”

It’s a good example of how support from leadership can make a real difference, adds O’Hare-Riley.

“Bathrooms are a hot-button issue,” he says. “Support from the top table really matters in situations like this because it signals inclusion is leadership-driven, and ways to make people feel comfortable and reduce their anxiety are not just coming from those it affects.”

Pride in the profession

The CA Pride Member Panel was created to give visibility for LGBTQIA+ members and allies, foster inclusion across the profession and advise CA ANZ on how to build a culture where everyone belongs. Learn more.