About 250 employees of the Philadelphia Electric Company packed into Energy Hall at the company’s Center City headquarters Oct. 18 for a panel discussion about transgender issues.
Exelon, the parent company of PECO, recently rolled out a comprehensive guide with information and resources for transgender employees undergoing a transition. Martha Phan, manager of internal communications at PECO, said this week’s event was spurred in part by the new policy and also by two employee groups — PECO Voices of Diversity & Inclusion and Exelon Pride.
“PECO has a very strong commitment to diversity and inclusion, and a lot of our employee groups produce programs and meetings to address diversity topics. And in the past for some of the more meaty and difficult subjects to talk about, they’ve held these panel presentations,” Phan said. “When Exelon introduced the new transgender policy this past year to help employees and managers navigate the transition process, the groups thought this might be a good time for the organization to come together and talk about these issues together.”
The panel was moderated by Stephen Glassman, chair of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, and featured panelists Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality; Nurit Shein, executive director of Mazzoni Center; and PECO employee Tre Heptig and Exelon employee Bara Jay Hellman.
Heptig, a trans-masculine West Philadelphia resident, has worked as a transmission and substation maintenance mechanic-in-progression since 2007. Hellman, a transwoman, began her transition in 2007 shortly after arriving at Exelon as a nuclear equipment operator.
Glassman said the personal stories the pair shared during the discussion were key to the crowd’s understanding of the topic.
“Their personal stories really moved the audience and helped them to relate to the issue being discussed,” he said. “And I think it also made it particularly relevant to the employees at PECO because two of their own were able to share with them their personal experiences, the challenges, the difficulties that they faced, as well as the support they saw at PECO, and to help evoke empathy and understanding in the workforce at their own company.”
Attendance was not required, and Pham noted that many employees traveled from around the five-county region to attend.
Shein applauded the response from the company and the employees.
“I think it went extremely well,” she said. “The room was packed, which was very, very impressive. It seems like PECO really has a culture of inclusiveness. People were really listening and open to hearing what the barriers and issues might be for individuals trying to transition on the job or gain employment as transgender people.”
Glassman said the success of the program exemplifies the broader culture at Exelon, which currently has a perfect 100 rating on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index and is one of very few corporations that covers the entire cost of gender-reassignment surgery for trans employees.
“They set a very high bar that other members of corporate America should emulate,” Glassman said. “They have not only put extremely strong and inclusive policies in place, but they’re actually acting on them and advocating for their workforce to become more culturally competent and improve the way they respond to differences and diversity in the workplace. I think that’s very impressive and they are a model for other Fortune 500 companies and even smaller and medium-sized employers here in the Philadelphia region.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].