Job‐related well‐being of sexual minorities: Evidence from the British workplace employment relations study

Abstract

Despite the increasingly liberal views toward sexual orientation and the evolution of legal rights worldwide, sexual minorities have been an understudied demographic group, especially in mainstream management scholarship. Using a national representative employer and employee linked survey, this study examines the relationship between sexual minority identity and job-related well-being. Multi-level regression analysis reveals that bisexual employees have higher levels of anxiety and depression at work than their heterosexual counterparts. The difference is greater in industries that are not friendly to sexual minorities. When bisexual employees believe their managers are trustworthy and supportive, that difference disappears. No differences are found in well-being between lesbians, gay men and their heterosexual counterparts. This study provides initial evidence on the effect of sexual minority identity on job-related well-being. It also sheds light on the different workplace outcomes between bisexual employees, lesbian women and gay men. INTRODUCTIONThe past two decades have witnessed a shift in attitudes toward sexual minorities. Support for LGB (lesbian, gay man and bisexual) rights has increased among nearly all demographic groups, across different generations and across religious faiths (Vegter & Haider-Markel, 2020). Scholarly attention to the experience and treatment of sexual minorities has also increased at a rapid