Calling female colleagues ‘guys’ could be grounds to report someone for discrimination

Calling female colleagues “guys” is a microaggression that can be reported to managers, staff at a top City law firm have been warned.

Hogan Lovells is cracking down on perceived discrimination with a new reporting system for so-called microaggressions.

Microaggressions are intentional or unintentional acts or subtle slights that can lead to employees feeling marginalised.

Hogan Lovells is relying upon a list of microaggressions that include saying “you’re pretty strong for a girl”, referring to a mixed-gender group as “guys” and describing younger colleagues as “kids” or “babies”.

Other examples include assuming an older colleague is technologically challenged, using “heteronormative language without considering diverse identities” and using “ableist language without awareness”.

The Anglo-American law firm – which is the sixth biggest in the world – has told UK staff that they can now anonymously report any microaggressions to be “reviewed internally”.

‘Ensure every voice is heard’

Penny Angell, UK managing partner, said the firm wants to “ensure that every voice is heard, allowing us to review and act on trends over time”.

She said: “We know that there can be a reluctance to call out seemingly ‘minor incidents’, which may none the less contribute to someone feeling excluded or marginalised in the workplace.”

A Hogan Lovells spokesman said lawyers who want to complain will be able to do so using a web app available 24/7.

Anyone reporting a microaggression will fill out a form relating to the identity, what they experienced – such as “interruption or stereotyping” – and the setting or context, such as if it was in a meeting or one-on-one.

Businesses have for years attempted to raise awareness of microaggressions by putting staff on specialist training courses or encouraging what critics have called “woke snitching portals”.

This year it emerged that civil servants had been told that rolling their eyes or looking at their mobile phones can be evidence of sexual or racial discrimination, as part of a diversity training which has cost more than £160,000 since 2021.

One group was taught that “tiny, often unconscious gestures, facial expressions, postures, words and tone of voice can influence how included (or not included) the people around us feel”.

Students at Britain’s oldest drama school, Lamda, were also urged in 2022 to report teachers’ microaggressions using QR codes placed in classrooms which gave them instant access to a microaggression reporting form.

Critics branded the move totalitarian and raised concerns about a potential “culture of denunciation”.

In 2021, lawyers told the prestigious Russell Group of universities that they risked infringing freedom of expression after The Telegraph found that six websites had been set up for students to denounce their lecturers.

Durham University’s “Report + Support” site listed “not giving someone eye contact” and “constantly criticising and never praising” as potential offences.