Via TIAA Press Team.
Today marks the second year of International Pronouns Day, and TIAA is responding with inclusive workforce and business impact. Using someone’s correct pronoun demonstrates respect and inclusion – and this day reminds us to help make using pronouns commonplace by asking, sharing, respecting and educating each other about our preferred pronouns.
“All associates are encouraged to visibly support an inclusive environment for our colleagues and clients by voluntarily including pronouns in your corporate email signature. This helps us to accurately refer to each other’s correct pronouns, creates a safe environment for bringing our full selves to work, and serves as a sign to our clients that we are an inclusive company,” said Corie Pauling, SVP & Chief Inclusion & Diversity Officer at TIAA.
Leading research shows that 20% of millennials identify somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, and 12% identify as transgender or gender nonconforming – who can be particularly affected when referred to by the wrong pronoun.
“At TIAA, we are beginning to see a shift in how our associates identify, and our client institutions are also making changes to support gender fluid individuals as they graduate and enter the workforce. As a company, we must be ready to model the inclusive use of pronouns with each other and our clients,” Pauling continued. “This action is another step in our commitment to support all individuals – associates and clients – and provide continuous learning on important inclusion topics and conversations. It’s a small action that can create a big impact.”
In order to support this addition, we shared examples for adding pronouns for associate email signatures along with online resources about why this change is significant.
