Celebrating Pride Month—Not Just a Rainbow-Hued Marketing Opportunity

June is finally here, and the US is celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride! You may have noticed that the logos of many of your favorite brands have been replaced with rainbows. In recent years, most large corporations have discovered that sending a message of acceptance to the LGBTQ+ community not only gains the loyalty of that community but that of their allies. While rainbow-themed marketing sends a message of acceptance and inclusion to customers, organizations also need to consider how they can extend the same message to their employees year-round.

Millennial and Gen Z workers expect and demand a diverse workforce where people feel comfortable being themselves and which reflects the communities in which they live and work. Workers who feel comfortable expressing their gender at work and don’t need to hide details about their personal relationships are more engaged in their work and have higher organizational commitment.

How to Create LGBTQ+ Friendly Workplaces

There are many things organizations can do to create an accepting workplace, including these three important steps:

1. Diversity training is critical. Training should include discussion of respecting an individual’s noun (name change) and pronoun (he/she/they) choices, offering support to coworkers who have recently come out or are transitioning, and accepting the life choices of potential recruits or coworkers without judgment.
   
   
2. Pride should be celebrated internally as well as in external marketing. Organizations should make it clear their marketing choices during Pride Month are more about promoting acceptance and less about profit.
   
   
3. Organizations can start an LGBTQ+ task force that addresses concerns with inclusion and acceptance. Employees should be able to contact the task force anonymously if they are not out or fear retaliation. Larger organizations can even start a support group for employees facing challenges with coming out or transitioning.

How SHL Can Drive Inclusive and Diverse Talent Strategies

In addition to these initiatives, SHL can help evaluate your current climate and suggest strategies for increasing acceptance to create positive changes that welcome everyone.

• Positive change must begin with commitments from leadership. SHL offers numerous solutions for selecting and developing top C-suite talent who are forward-thinking and recognizes the value of a diverse workforce.
  
  
• SHL can provide highly objective tools to identify talent open to cultural differences and eager to promote diversity. Employees who value diversity will form better working relationships with both coworkers and customers, as well as –  research shows – drive better results.
  
  
• SHL can also assist in recruiting talent from a variety of backgrounds. Our content is available in numerous languages and undergoes extensive review for cultural and gender bias. Our content is also accessible on multiple devices, which opens testing opportunities to groups that have historically had less access to computers. This enables your organization to target a more diverse applicant pool.

Employees who feel accepted for who they are will be much more effective in their roles, and an inclusive workplace will be more productive overall. Enhanced productivity benefits the organization, but profit and growth shouldn’t be the only motive driving an organization to include its LGBTQ+ workforce. It’s time that organizations focus on creating welcoming workplaces because we all deserve respect for who we are and because it is the right thing to do.

Contact us if you would like to learn more about how to create a welcoming workplace for diverse employees. To learn more about diversity in leadership, please visit our website.