ABSTRACT
As most people spend a large part of their lives in the workplace, work and occupation are important factors affecting everyone’s well being, irrespective of a person’s sexual orientation. Since heterosexuality still represents “normality” in our society, however, gay men and lesbians face the decision on how they will deal with sexual orientation in the workplace. What are the consequences of homosexuals disclosing their sexual preference at work? What are the reactions of co-workers, superiors, subordinates or clients? On the other hand, hiding one’s sexual orientation can also be stressful and may have a negative impact on job motivation and performance. Usually, co-workers have some knowledge about each other’s personal lives. By sharing personal information, co-workers build relationships and ties to one another, which has positive consequences for cooperation and individual promotion. Employees who lack these important resources of relationships because they do not have the freedom to share personal information with the people with whom they work receive less support in their day-to-day work and less support and reassurance when they experience personal problems outside of work (McNaught, 1993). This can lead to dissatisfaction and reduced productivity and effi ciency (Powers, 1996). Previous research has shown that gay men fear that revealing their sexual orientation will have negative consequences at work (Maas, 1999). Other studies focus on the stress, anxiety, and psychosomatic consequences in some men that result from leading a closeted life (Schneeberger et al., 2002). This contribution reports an empirical study of discrimination, openness at workplace, and job satisfaction among gay men in Switzerland.
