Being a respectful colleague means we respect how other people identify.
As a general note, if you are unsure of someone's pronouns, it's safe to default to they/them initially, until you meet the person/confirm what pronouns they are using with other people.
If you haven't done this before it might feel strange to refer to someone aloud as 'they/them', but you might notice I (Tara) do this if I'm asking a question about someone I don't know - I'll refer to them as 'they/them'. i.e. 'What is their role?' 'When will we meet them?' etc. Rather than assuming 'What is her role?' 'When will we meet him?'. You can also use your best judgement i.e. if someone is telling you about another person and already mentioned them by particular pronouns, follow what they have said.
Consider some people may also have a name that you assume is a 'masculine' or 'feminine' name, but you could be totally incorrect! Our client Jody for example, is male/he/his, but many of us have made the assumption Jody is a female/she/her name just based on the name in his email signature. So it's best to never assume 😊
In Slack you can set your pronouns on your Profile:
This will then be visible if you look at someone's Slack profile:
If someone uses incorrect pronouns for you, please correct them.
If this continues to happen or the same person does not use your correct pronouns, please let your manager know.
Feel free to include your pronouns in your email signature / LinkedIn.
If someone uses incorrect pronouns for you, please correct them.
If this continues to happen or the same person does not use your correct pronouns, please let your manager know.