Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University of Hanover, Germany
LGBTQ employee networks, which often take the form of employee resource groups (ERGs), are increasingly prevalent in the workplace. These voluntary, employer-recognized but employee-run groups of workers provide support and networking opportunities for LGBTQ employees and allies, not last by engaging in the development of diversity policies and initiatives. In doing so, LGBTQ networks may contribute to the creation of queer spaces in organizations. Using 47 semi-structured interviews with members, allies, and associates of LGBTQ employee networks, this qualitative study explores the functions of and dynamics in and around these types of ERGs. In particular, the analysis highlights how LGBTQ employee networks provide spaces of support, encounter, education, and advocacy through the creation of meeting spaces and temporal routines, while balancing visibility and anonymity as well as grassroots and coporate initiatives. In exploring functions and dynamics of LGBTQ networks, this study adds to research on LGBTQ employee networks as queer spaces in organizations, boundary management in organizational spaces, and opportunity structures for insider and embedded activism.
