I work at FedEx Freight, most people have not heard of that branch of FedEx, usually they only know FedEx, FedEx Ground, and maybe FedEx Express, they all do things a little differently and the jobs are usually quite different. FedEx Freight just so happens to be what a lot of Factories, Warehouses, and places that order bulk, skids, or pallets of things use, which is why very few people outside of jobs like those know about it, as Freight rarely delivers to private addresses. All that is beside the point though, onto my story!
Back in about mid December I had decided I wanted to let work know about me starting to Transition from MtF, but I did not want to let all of work know, so I had went to my old boss (I used to work first shift, and not long before all of this I had switched to second shift) and told him what was going on, and at that point I was terrified of losing my job over it, as well as just wanted someone at work to know so that they were not in the dark about it. He was amazing with it! He has worked in the industry for over a decade and in his own words said "I am happy to help you with this! When you are here as long as I have been you do not get many firsts anymore" and had told me that there was no way I would lose my job over this. I told him to not tell anyone as I was not ready for anyone else to know, and he did not tell a single person!
About the end of January I had talked to him and told him I was ready for the rest of work to know, and that I would like to to take a day off, and have him hold a meeting with all the workers and tell them what was going on with me and what to expect. He had told our service center manager, my current boss, and hr what I was going through and what i would like to do and they were all amazing and all for it.
I went in early on Monday before work and had talked to all 4 of them, they asked me all types of basic questions (what bathroom I prefer, what pronouns, etc), and told me that they would be holding a meeting with all the work groups (which turned out to be 4 separate groups of workers they talked to!) On Tuesday (the day I was off to go see the specialist that would prescribe my hormones! Which went amazing!). I went in early Wednesday to see how it all went and they said everyone was amazing, all the workers were super supportive of what I was doing. My bosses also told me that any type of harassment would not be aloud, and that if I heard of anyone saying something behind my back, or if someone was just not being nice about what I am going through to tell any member of management and that employee would get talked to! So that made me feel very welcome to work there and that with all the stress I am going through, work wants to make sure that I am getting as little amount of stress from work as possible! A couple people asked me questions, everyone was nice and supportive (and when you are a Transwomen working with all guys, that is amazing!), and the supervisors had told me multiple times to not deal with anyone that is harassing me in any way and to tell them. I was also surprised when one of the supervisors had told me that a couple weeks ago, my current boss had pulled the 3 supervisors aside and told them "there is something going on at work, I can not tell you what it is, but if you hear something that just seems so unbelievable, then that is what I am talking about and you pull whoever you heard that from aside and come get me".
I am starting hormones soon, I am full time female everywhere but work, and had told them that after hormones I would become full time at work as well. 2 months ago I was worried about losing my job if anyone found out about my transition, now I could not feel more protected and welcomed! I encourage anyone that is looking for a job before, during, or after transitioning to check out FedEx! They are a huge company, with thousands of different jobs that can range from just about anything. I just thought I would share my work experience with everyone, as it has been so positive, just incase someone out there is in desperate need of a job that will be supportive all the way through! Management, the supervisors, and even some of the workers have told me that I have handled my coming out very professionally, I have told them that I do not want people to feel uncomfortable working around me just as much as I do not want to feel uncomfortable working around them, and that if I were to just walk in one day dressed differently, or if I were to tell just 1 person that told another person, and it just slowly got around, I do not think those would be as good of a way as having management pretty much come out for me, along with remind people about the policy and what is not aloud.
So that is my story of work! I hope in some way it helps someone out there!
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