Creating a Culture and Practice of Using Correct Pronouns and Chosen Names Is Part of Workplace Well-Being
June is Pride Month. A lot of organizations will post a rainbow logo and call it done. I want to talk about something more specific and more practical than that. I’ve been carrying around a screenshot in my phone for over a month now of a comment from someone who said it would greatly improve their wellbeing if they knew that their management would support them when they correct people who misgender them.
I am a CIS gender woman named Bobbi. Not Barbara or Roberta, but if I were, I’d expect to be called Bobbi because that is the name I have chosen to go by. Also, there has never been an E on the end of Bobbi, but the number of people who have added one is a point of frustration in my life. Adding pronouns to my email signature and in my bios significantly reduced the number of emails I receive addressed to “Mr. Newman”. I assure you that my dad’s only experience with workplace well-being is when the factory he worked at most of his life gave them free Gatorade when it was over 100 degrees inside. Although he probably has a lot to say about how to treat people right at work. But my points are one, practices that benefit one group also benefit others, and two, everyone wants to be named correctly. It’s not hard to do. But because this is a blog about creating flourishing workplace environments where staff thrive, let’s look at this through that lens.
Using someone’s chosen name and pronouns correctly is a workplace well-being issue. A well-being one, in the same way that supporting employees through menopause is a well-being issue, or designing for neurodiverse staff is a well-being issue, or getting rest, or professional development support. We are whole people, even at work. Research shows that these practices improve the wellbeing of staff, improve productivity, improve team interactions, and improve customer service.
It’s about treating our staff, our coworkers, and our patrons with respect. When someone’s name or pronouns are consistently gotten wrong, whether by accident, habit, or refusal, that’s a chronic stressor. Staff should feel confident and safe, correcting other staff members and patrons when they use an incorrect name or pronouns. Leadership, management, and policy should fully support correction when staff are addressed inappropriately.
Research on stress and the impact of overall health and wellbeing is pretty consistent on this – it does real damage. Each individual incident might seem small. Over time, it isn’t. We cannot expect staff to be productive, innovative, and provide excellent service when they are continually under stress and pressure at work.
When we frame it as a matter of individual courtesy, we put the burden on the person most affected to manage it, to decide whether to say something, how to say it, and whether it’s worth the cost. Instead, this is part of the policies that we have in place to ensure that patrons and colleagues treat staff with respect and consideration, and that there are consequences when they do not. This is about what the institution expects, models, and enforces.
Libraries that take this seriously do a few things. They have clear expectations in policy, not just in values statements. They make it easy for staff to update their names and pronouns in directories and systems without friction. Leadership uses correct names and pronouns consistently. And when mistakes happen, they’re acknowledged and corrected without drama. It is acceptable and expected to correct staff and patrons using incorrect names and pronouns. And there are consequences when they do not. Consider this no different than other name-calling.
Where to Start
If your library doesn’t have clear guidance on this yet, here are some straightforward places to begin:
- Add name and pronoun fields to staff directories and internal systems, and make them easy to update
- Include chosen name and pronoun practice in onboarding for new staff
- When leadership makes mistakes, acknowledge and correct them without making it a big production, modeling matters
- Build clear, written expectations into HR policy so staff know what is expected and what support looks like if those expectations aren’t met
The goal is a workplace where people don’t have to spend energy managing whether their colleagues and patrons will address them correctly. That frees up capacity for the work.
None of this requires anyone to take a political position. It requires the institution to decide that the people who work there deserve respect, to be treated with dignity, and to have their names used correctly. And acknowledging that the research shows that policies like this improve overall well-being, productivity, innovation, and customer service.
Guidance on Policy Creation
ALA Affirms the Rights of Transgender People. (2020, June 24). American Libraries Magazine. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/ala-affirms-the-rights-of-transgender-people/
Jennifer S Kiesewetter. (2021, June 7). Best Practices for Using Pronouns in the Workplace and Everyplace! SPARK. https://www.adp.com/spark/articles/2021/06/best-practices-for-using-pronouns-in-the-workplace-and-everyplace.aspx
Kleiman, E. (2024, May 9). Trans Staff and Patrons – a Reflection. Public Libraries Online – A Publication of the Public Library Association. https://publiclibrariesonline.org/2024/05/trans-staff-and-patrons-a-reflection/
States Are Banning Preferred Pronouns at Work, but Federal Guidelines Promote Inclusion. What Should HR Do? (2023, October 25). https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/inclusion-diversity/states-are-banning-preferred-pronouns-at-work-but-federal-guidelines-promote-inclusion
Talking About Pronouns in the Workplace. (n.d.-a). Pfizer. https://www.pfizer.com/pronouns
Talking About Pronouns in the Workplace. (n.d.-b). HRC Foundation. https://www.thehrcfoundation.org/professional-resources/talking-about-pronouns-in-the-workplace
Tighe, J. H. (n.d.). Using Employees’ Requested Pronouns: It’s About Dignity, Respect and Workplace Compliance. Fisher Phillips. Retrieved May 27, 2026, from https://www.fisherphillips.com/en/insights/insights/using-employees-requested-pronouns-its-about-dignity-respect-and-workplace-compliance
References and Recommended Reading
Beyond Inclusion: Pronoun Use for Health and Well-Being. (n.d.). Community Commons. https://www.communitycommons.org/collections/Pronouns-and-Well-Being
Charette, E., Nemanick, S., Keim, P., Ledoux, S., Goolsby, L., & Lloyd, E. (2024). Gender diversity in the workplace: Pronouns, gender-stereotyped job listings, and perceptions of hireability. University of Denver Undergraduate Research Journal, 5. https://www.duurjportal.com/index.php/duurj/article/view/227
Cullen, K. (2017, October 12). Why Are Suicide Rates Higher Among LGBTQ Youth? Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-truth-about-exercise-addiction/201710/why-are-suicide-rates-higher-among-lgbtq-youth
Dali, S., Atasuntseva, A., Shankar, M., Ayeroff, E., Holmes, M., Johnson, C., Terkawi, A. S., Beadle, B., Chang, J., & Boyd, K. (2022). Say my name: Understanding the power of names, correct pronunciation, and personal narratives. MedEdPORTAL, 18, 11284.
Editor, J. (2017, November 14). Universal Design for Belonging: Living and Working with Diverse Personal Names. Journal of Belonging, Identity, Language, and Diversity (J-BILD). https://bild-lida.ca/journal/volume-1_1-2017/universal-design-for-belonging-living-and-working-with-diverse-personal-names/
Facts About Suicide Among LGBTQ+ Young People. (2021, December 15). The Trevor Project. https://www.thetrevorproject.org/resources/article/facts-about-lgbtq-youth-suicide/
Huffman, A. H., Mills, M. J., Howes, S. S., & Albritton, M. D. (2021). Workplace support and affirming behaviors: Moving toward a transgender, gender diverse, and non-binary friendly workplace. International Journal of Transgender Health, 22(3), 225–242.
Kinitz, D. J., Tran, N. K., Shahidi, F. V., Maslak, J. T., Flentje, A., Lubensky, M. E., Obedin-Maliver, J., & Lunn, M. R. (2025). Associations of minority stress and employment discrimination with job quality among sexual- and gender-minority workers. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 51(3), 214–225. https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.4221
Mai, D. (2022, August 1). Sharing Pronouns Matters, and It Can Help Save Lives. AAP Voices Blog. https://www.aap.org/en/news-room/aap-voices/sharing-pronouns-matters-and-it-can-help-save-lives/
Marketing and Communication. (2020, December 7). That’s Not My Name. University of Utah Health. https://uofuhealth.utah.edu/workforce-excellence/news/2020/12/thats-not-my-name
Naomi Torres-Mackie. (2019, September 29). Understanding Name-Based Microaggressions. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/underdog-psychology/201909/understanding-name-based-microaggressions
Perales, F., Ablaza, C., Tomaszewski, W., & Emsen-Hough, D. (2022). You, Me, and Them: Understanding Employees’ Use of Trans-Affirming Language within the Workplace. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 19(2), 760–776. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-021-00592-9
Pronoun Usage and Mental Health Impacts of Pronoun Respect in TGNB Young People. (2025, December 10). The Trevor Project. https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/pronoun-usage-and-mental-health-impacts-of-pronoun-respect-in-tgnb-young-people/
Ross, L. E., Kinitz, D. J., & Kia, H. (2022). Pronouns Are a Public Health Issue. American Journal of Public Health, 112(3), 360–362. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306678
Russell, S. T., Pollitt, A. M., Li, G., & Grossman, A. H. (2018). Chosen Name Use is Linked to Reduced Depressive Symptoms, Suicidal Ideation and Behavior among Transgender Youth. The Journal of Adolescent Health : Official Publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 63(4), 503–505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.02.003
Zhang, Z., & Du, S. (2024). The Effects of Nicknaming in the Workplace on Perceived Supervisor Communality and Employee Well-being (SSRN Scholarly Paper No. 4929259). Social Science Research Network. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4929259
#misnaming #names #pronouns #wellness #workplaceWellbeing
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