Halifax 'Inclusion' Policy Sets Twitface On Fire ... Again ..

[andy-hughes]

News followers may be aware of the latest furor about 'inclusion', this time involving the Halifax Bank.

The bank has decided to offer name badges to its employees with pronouns to advise their preferred pronoun address -

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/halifax-staff-pronoun-badges-customers-threaten-close-accounts

The badges are voluntary.

The company advises that this is about inclusivity, and ensuring that no-one is accidentally 'mis-gender identified'.

It also advises that anyone who does not agree with the policy is welcome to take their business elsewhere.

I feel that a simple reality check may be in order here.

I have been a Halifax customer for over thirty years, and in that time, as in every other walk of my life, I have never 'mis-gender-identified' anyone, probably because I am capable of telling the difference between a man and a woman in any social or professional setting where it matters - and personal in-branch banking interaction has never been one of them.

So I remain bemused but utterly disinterested in the notion that an employee thinks that their gender identity is important enough to me that they need to identify it via a badge on their front.

But, and this is where I am seriously bent out of shape -

If the company pushing this nonsense wants to confirm its 'inclusivity' by terminally excluding me if I choose not to agree with its policy, then I feel seriously motivated to take them up on their offer and move my account elsewhere.

They seem to forget, they are a service industry, and I can take my account anywhere I choose any day i fancy, and it's surely in their interests to ensure that I stay, not to push me away with their snotty 'my way or the highway' approach to my embracing their latest woke piffle.

I conduct my business without the need even to know the name of the person I am dealing with, and I have yet to feel the need to know which 'pronoun' they prefer to be addressed by.

I am all for inclusivity, but not when it only includes people who see the world their way, that is not my definition of the term, and I am not interested in dealing with an organsation that thinks it has a right to dictate my views on its staff policies.

Any thoughts?

[bednobs]

can we see the tweet that you feel is telling you to sod off? As said, it's pretty difficult to argue (although we're giving it a good go!) without seeing it :)

[andy-hughes]

The tweet is quoted in this link -

https://www.itv.com/news/2022-06-29/halifax-tells-customers-critical-of-pronouns-on-badges-they-can-close-account

[Prudie]

It's all over the news but to be fair all those moaning at Andy haven't actually understood what he's moaning about at all. Andy you might as well have posted that you don't agree with pandering to those who want to be called a specific pronoun and mis-gendering is woke balderdash, you'd have got just the same negative responses.

[bednobs]

so "“If you disagree with our values, you’re welcome to close your account.”
it's funny how people read things differently. I dont read that as "agree with us or close your account" as you seem to be suggesting, but rather "if you don't share our values, you are at liberty to close your account" as i am suggesting.
i certainly dont read it as high handed, or telling me what to think or do. As it happens, like you i couldnt really give a stuff what badges their staff wear (mainly cause i do all my banking with them via the app and dont even know where my local branch is), but i also don't take offence or see this as telling me what to do or think.
IMO You are NOT being terminally excluded, you are being reminded that if their values *** you off to the extent they clearly seem to you dont have to stay with them.

[naomi24]

This really is an appalling way to treat customers.

[bednobs]

as i said, the world changes though and when you move your account somewhere else, who is to say they wont also do the same thing?

[Prudie]

It is nothing to do with the badges per se though and I expect other companies will be doing the same thing eventually if they aren't already.

[naomi24]

Bednobs, it would have been more conducive to good customer relations if they’d simply announced the badges. They didn’t need to add the rest. Of course that will get people’s backs up - even some of those who don’t object to the badges. There’s a principle there. Customers expect to be treated with respect - not told to bu&&er if if they don’t like it.

[naomi24]

B…… off*

[bednobs]

i meant remind you that you are free to go elsewhere prudie, not do the badges (which im sure some of them do already too)

[bednobs]

again i dont read it like that "being told to *** off"
I read it as being reminded there is an alternative if you dont like their values

[naomi24]

As AH said earlier, we all know there’s an alternative. This is just rude.

[bednobs]

i wonder how rude the tweet to them was that prompted this response :)
i suppose if one is looking for offence, one can always find it

[Prudie]

If as a company they are so confident that they have enough customers that they can afford to tell some to go elsewhere one wonders why they need to advertise themselves on TV so much.

[naomi24]

However rude the original complaint was, it didn’t come from all their customers and, as a business, they should rise above it.

[Atheist]

Andy said "This issue is not about anyone 'feeling' any way at all.

It's about the Halifax feeling the need to..."

Spot the contradiction?

Andy, just change your bank. No need to have a big strop on AB.

[naomi24]

Atheist, AH posted this as a topic of conversation. It’s what we do here.

[THECORBYLOON]

"I am not interested in dealing with an organsation that thinks it has a right to dictate my views on its staff policies."

You have already said you would refer to staff by the pronouns on their badges, even though you personally disagree with that policy.

Unless they have asked you to confirm whether you agree with that particular new policy or no, they are not to know what you think about it, are they?

That being the case, in what way are Halifax dictating your own personal view on their policies?

[Atheist]

Thanks, Naomi. That's what I was doing. Best wishes.

[New Judge]

//You have already said you would refer to staff by the pronouns on their badges, even though you personally disagree with that policy.//

And in that respect Andy has far more indulgence and patience than I have. I'm not in the habit of reading the small print on name badges. In fact I'm not in the habit of reading bank tellers' name badges at all unless I wanted to make a complaint about the individual (which I thought is what they wore them for). If I needed to use any pronouns I'd use what I thought was most appropriate based on the individual's presentation. If I was unsure I'd take a stab at it. From the number of people involved I reckon I'd have a problem in no more than one in two hundred cases. I'm well able to live with that and frankly it doesn't justify the cost of modifying the badges.