Get Wiser: Transitioning at Work
Transitioning at work was a complex journey for Natasha Yann. Now retired, she has had a rich career with 35 years in engineering or construction, of which 23 years were in the oil and gas industry and predominantly in subsea with Clough, Coflexip and Technip.
Natasha weaved through a complex scene and talked about challenges through the key facets of her life – personal, familial, social and career. This difficult task was peppered with influential background noise from society – culture, politics, law and beliefs. “It was a pretty stormy sea”, she said.
Her preparation may have taken years; but the execution was seamless and over a relatively short period of time. Whilst employed by Technip, she completed her social and professional transition in a matter of months. She attributes this success to the support that she received from the company and the human resources department.
Even with an established Diversity and Inclusion policy, the company realized early on, that individuals would react in a spectrum of ways. Together with Natasha, they developed a process to support her transition. This included informing all staff, establishing rules of engagement, providing staff with training and the opportunity to engage with Natasha on her transition back to work. Natasha also made sure to speak to each person on her return.
Natasha describes the pathway for others as developing a policy, promoting understanding and embracing difference to achieving inclusion in the workplace. A key reason her decision happened later in life, is because the corporate culture has becoming more inviting.
She encourages us all to learn more about minority groups, consider our own privilege and preconditioning, to strive for inclusion (not only tolerance or acceptance), create a diversity and inclusion policy based on up to date knowledge, become a true ally, encourage people to be themselves and really embrace differences, and most of all – to be circumspect of media and politics which do paint minorities as “others” and somehow unworthy.
If you want to learn more, check out the following resources:
- https://www.prideinclusionprograms.com.au/about-pid/
- https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/Transgender_Inclusion_in_the_Workplace_A_Toolkit_for_Employers_Version_10_14_2016.pdf?_ga=2.34943713.1532262603.1556625526-981118778.1556625526USA
- https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/transgender
- https://www.psychology.org.au/for-the-public/Psychology-topics/LGBTI/LGBTI-Parenting
- https://www.transfolkofwa.org/