Postgraduate research opportunities Missing & marginalised voices: Exploring LGBT+ Networks as a Catalyst for Employee Voice and Intersectional Representation in the Workplace

Employee voice has long been recognised as a central dimension of fairer workplaces and good jobs (Dundon et al. 2004; Wilkinson and Fay, 2011). However, much of the literature on employee voice assumes that employees are homogeneous and express themselves in a generic way, neglecting the the workforce's diversity in terms of intersecting factors such as gender, race, and sexuality (Syed, 2021).

An exception to the above is the emergence of research on ‘employee networks’, and their potential to offer a distinct ‘form’ of voice for the representation of marginalised organisational communities and those who remain ‘invisible’ and/or silent. Yet while calls have been made for studies which address the potential ‘missing voices’ of diverse workforce identities (Kouggianou, 2019; Bell et al., 2011), such studies remain limited (Syed, 2021). For example, the literature predominantly – and erroneously – makes heteronormative generalisations, perpetuating a heterosexist approach and neglecting the voice of diverse sexual identities.

Few studies have explicitly examined the voice opportunities and experiences of sexual minority employees; indeed LGBT+ employees remain missing in most theoretical and empirical conceptualisations of voice (Bell et.al, 2011; Syed, 2021; McFadden and Crowley-Henry, 2018; McNulty et al., 2018).

This PhD project will therefore ‘give voice’ to LGBT+ employees, including transgender and non-binary workers, currently underrepresented in the extant literature. It will also contribute to the modest literature concerning the potential of employee networks to amplify the voice of minority groups, as well as the theoretical and empirical laguna of LGBT+ voice and intersectionality.