I havnt transitioned publicly yet but I don't want to carry on lying anymore. I feel like I'm ready to tell them just not sure how to bring it up. Is it better to wait until I transition further or better to say earlier?

I gave my workplace as much notice as I could of my impending transition. I actually started talking to the HR dept. a year in advance. They were very appreciative of this, and worked with me to make things go as smoothly as possible.

That's really nice to hear. ^^
When you told HR was it through a letter or speaking to them? And did how did they tell the other workers about it?
Sorry for being a pest but I like to know these things to help with anxiety :p

I told HR face to face 1/2013, my boss 5/15/2013 and came out 11/13/2015. I am the first trans to come out and transition at work. HR really went all out to help me. The plan was for me to come out in 8 meetings and HR (3) and my boss was to be there with me. They never showed up but I had the meetings. Everything went extremely well.

I did this about 3 weeks ago.

I told management and HR initially. A simple "I'm a transgender person transitioning from male to female, I understand that this will have some impact to the business and work environment - and I would like to actively participate in the management of the change process, so we can limit the impact."

After HR figured out all the steps etc they needed to take, we set a date and then I started to tell my close work friends and colleagues in a 1-on-1 basis. I told them about how I came about understanding that I was transgender just over 12 months ago... recently I decided to transition. I also told them that I respected them and our relationship that we have and that I wanted to tell them 1 on 1 instead of them finding out via an email which will be sent out on "x" date. I said that a number of things will be changing - like the clothes that I wear and my name. I also told them that it was also an opportunity for them to ask me any questions without other people around, so they could feel safe to. (I specifically didnt volunteer what I was changing my name to - so it gave them an easy first question to ask). I also said that I have a few more people to talk to - so if they wouldnt mind keeping it to themselves until "x" date.

My experience was actually very good. I havent had any bad reactions - and a lot of them appreciated me telling them 1 on 1.

If you're stuck for a way to end the conversation simply say thankyou for the way they have responded to telling them.

Quote from: xAmy on August 10, 2016, 06:24:00 PM
That's really nice to hear. ^^
When you told HR was it through a letter or speaking to them? And did how did they tell the other workers about it?
Sorry for being a pest but I like to know these things to help with anxiety :p

I initially asked for a meeting because I had a 'personal issue' to discuss. At this meeting, I told them what I wanted to do. I gave them plenty of time to do their research, because, despite it being a very large company, nothing like this had ever happened there. So I helped them write the new policies to deal with this should it come up again. This was all back in 2000/2001, so trans issues were much less known about than nowadays.
I told a few of my close colleagues and work-friends face to face, which went well, mostly.
Then, much closer to the time, HR and my immediate managers held two large meetings (there were too many people in our department to have just one meeting) where they told everyone what was going to happen. I wasn't present at these meetings.
They enlisted the help of a trans support group (I can't remember the name) who came in to work to inform HR and management how to deal with it all.
It is a very large company, and they have a company magazine, so once I had transitioned at work, they did an article on me with a photo. So then, all of a sudden, the entire company of over 20,000 employees all knew about me.
I got quite a few letters of support, many from complete strangers, who had read the article.
It was all held up as good practice for diversity and awareness at work by HR.