This past summer an event took place in North America with the potential to significantly bring LGBT issues to the forefront of the public eye. I’m not talking about the success of the Gay Games VII bringing more than 11,000 international athletes into public competition with some 350 corporate sponsors in tow. I’m not talking about Montreal hosting almost as many athletes in competition for it’s first ever World OutGames.
This groundbreaking event was actually a non-competitive meeting of the minds in an intimate boardroom setting; however it was no less significant to the LGBT community.
In July, Ernst & Young hosted the first LGBT Inclusiveness Roundtable with several companies that, like E&Y, had earned perfect scores on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Equality Index, which rates companies on a scale of zero to 100 based on their treatment of LGBT workers, customers and investors.
E&Y, its invited companies and non-profit groups, including HRC, came together in July to discuss ways to promote and facilitate an inclusive workplace, as well as to discuss ways share their key learnings and best practices with other members of the business community.
Knowing that knowledge and awareness creates change, the Roundtable produced a report titled “Making it Real” to highlight examples of how leading companies are moving beyond policies toward a more LGBT inclusive workplace culture.
The report’s ten tips may seem second nature to those of us involved in LGBT workplace issues. Among the key recommendations is a directive to companies to shift from a diversity culture of “them” to an inclusive “us” culture and for companies to use a team approach to adopt and promote policies by partnering senior leadership and human resources with all employee ranks. An overview was recently included in and E&Y commentary at advocate.com.
Good advice, and likely information smaller companies or businesses may find as a step toward discovering the Golden Ticket in their attempts toward LGBT inclusiveness in the workplace.
However, what seems to be most significant about this report is the meeting that took place to create it. It was a meeting of high profile corporations and organizations working together toward a common goal of ensuring LGBT workers not only feel welcome inside their companies but also thrive in an inclusive corporate culture.
That meeting of the minds carries with it a spirit of inclusiveness that reaches far beyond a pdf report. It fosters a commitment to equality at work that organically expands within employee ranks, eventually bearing fruit in employees’ lives beyond their cubicle walls.
In today’s highly influential business environment, a company that not only adopts but also projects a philosophy of respect and fairness for all employees is helping shape the lives of those same employees outside work hours and into mainstream society where
inclusiveness itself can take root for the betterment of us all.
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