Transgender employees share their experiences
“I chose USAA because, in our hiring policy, it says we don’t discriminate on these sorts of things, such as gender identity, and it was important to me to support a company that held values that I believe in,” says Hailie.
Being her authentic self is not something that Christine G. has ever taken for granted. In 2013, Christine realized she was transgender. It was a much different time, she says.
"If you came out as transgender back then, it was likely you would be homeless, your parents would not accept you or you would not be considered for job opportunities,” says Christine, infrastructure engineer. “The main message I got from my online searches at the time was to pretend to be a boy for as long as possible, get a job, get insurance and whatever else you need, and when you come out, get ready to move to a new location where no one knows your past.”
Thankfully, Christine says, times have since changed for the better. She joined USAA in 2017 and got involved with the diversity business group (DBG) BOLD, where she became a leader. At the time, she was trying to navigate how to come out to her teammates.
“I didn’t know if they were going to accept me, or if I would have to find a new position somewhere else on a different team,” recalls Christine. “Once I started as a BOLD leader, my coworkers and I started going to events together, and I found out that a lot of my coworkers were accepting of LGBTQ+ folks rather than being secretly or overtly opposed, as I had feared.”
Christine says after she came out to her team, they immediately helped her with her name change, wanted to learn about transgender identity and how to interact in the workplace.
Hailie P., software engineer, came out as transgender to her team earlier this year.
“I was approached by a few of my teammates who said they would support me, and that’s what kind of drove me to come out to everyone – I knew they accepted me and that gave me strength to be authentic,” says Hailie.
Hailie says she chose to work at USAA because of the inclusive hiring policies.
“I chose USAA because, in our hiring policy, it says we don’t discriminate on these sorts of things, such as gender identity, and it was important to me to support a company that held values that I believe in,” says Hailie.
Both Christine and Hailie wanted to ensure they pave the way for other transgender employees to come out in the workplace, so they worked on creating Transgender/Non-Binary resources and steps employees and teams can take to facilitate the transgender transition. 
“One of the things I noticed was that there weren’t many resources for transitioning employees – we had the USAA Handbook, but it wasn’t very detailed or include all the steps in the transition,” says Christine. “So, I thought I would try to make something so others don’t have to go through what I did.”
Hailie says the playbook is not only important to facilitate employee transitions, but to better understand our membership, too.
“I think its hyper important that we have these resources available because this will allow our company to grow in understanding the trans community, which will translate into being able to support not only each other but our members as well,” says Hailie.
Since they’ve come out in the workplace, Christine and Hailie both agree it’s like a fog has been cleared.
“It feels like you’re in a cloud or constantly acting when you’re not being yourself – it’s a lot of work to keep up that persona and watch your behavior and mannerisms,” explains Christine. “Being myself now is so much more relieving – all this pain, this cognitive dissonance is gone, and I feel much more able to think clearly now.”
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