Celebrating Pride Month 2024 in the Workplace
Much has changed in our workplaces in recent years, but the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) certainly hasn’t, nor has recognising the value of everyone on your team.
June is recognised as LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) Pride Month to commemorate and celebrate your employees who are part of this community. Pride Month 2024 is a global celebration of queer identity and history, honouring the remarkable achievements and ongoing struggles for equality and acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.
For you as an inclusive employer expressing values of diversity and equality among your workforce – however broad – celebrating Pride 2024 is an important time of year where you can make your employees feel heard, valued, and listened to.
The Origins of Pride
Pride Month commemorates the pivotal Stonewall Uprising of June 1969, when LGBTQ protesters clashed with police in Manhattan, igniting a tipping point in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
Nowadays, Pride celebrations attract millions worldwide, with parades, workshops, parties, and events uniting queer communities and allies in a vibrant expression of pride and inclusion.
Even if you don’t fall into one of the categories in the LGBTQ+ community (or the expanded LGBTQIA+ community acronyms including mentions of intersex and asexual), you can still celebrate Pride. Even if you’re straight or aren’t sure how you identify, Pride can and should be celebrated at work.
Why Celebrate Pride at Work?
The first Pride was born out of a societal and cultural struggle – a defiant stand against discrimination and injustice. While the LGBTQ+ community has made significant strides, isolation, segregation, and ridicule are just some of the daily struggles that millions of people in the LGBTQ+ community experience, even from their own family members who do not accept or support their identity.
Regardless of your company’s working patterns (office, remote, or hybrid) celebrating Pride in the workplace is a powerful way to create an environment where all employees feel connected, safe, and empowered to bring their authentic selves to work. It’s an opportunity to embrace diversity, foster a culture of belonging and encourage everybody to feel connected and safe at work.
How to Celebrate Pride Month 2024 at Work
Here’s how you can make your workplace a paragon of Pride inclusivity and diversity:
Educate and Inform
Knowledge is power. Educate yourself and your team on the history and significance of the LGBTQ+ rights movement and Pride, but also host workshops, discussions, or invite guest speakers to share their stories and experiences. Provide your employees in and out of the LGBTQ+ community with all the resources they need to recognise this important month-wide event. Resources like Workplace Pride among others are great places to seek additional education.
Support LGBTQ+ Causes
Align your employee rewards and benefits programmes with your company’s values by offering opportunities to donate to LGBTQ+ charities and institutions. Mind Out, the LGBT Foundation, Galop, London Friend, and many more are just some organisations that champion inclusion and support for all within this community. Conscientiously and proudly supporting them at the top level expresses your commitment to an inclusive cause.
Embrace Pride Memorabilia
Deck out your offices and workspaces with Pride flags, banners, pins, and other commemorative, eye-catching memorabilia. Go above and beyond the Pride rainbow flag by representing diverse identities within the LGBTQ+ community with transgender flags, intersex flags, as well as those for bisexuality, demisexuality, and asexuality.
Show Your Allyship
Encourage employees to display their pronouns in their email signatures and include overt statements of allyship in company social media profiles, website, and customer-facing materials. Provide resources for employees to do the same even if they’re cisgender.
Incentivise Participation
Whether in-person, remote, or hybrid, consider organising a diverse array of events throughout June, from educational sessions and panel discussions to social gatherings and Pride-themed activities.
Offer recognition and rewards to employees who attend company-sponsored Pride events, post Pride swag selfies, support LGBTQ+ businesses, or take other actions to celebrate and promote inclusion.
Be an Ally
Once Pride Month is over that doesn’t mean that your education and support should stop. All year round, continue to support LGBTQ+ businesses, use the right pronouns, validate your employees’ experiences, attend community events, and keep educating yourself and your team.
Avoid prescribing heteronormative roles, stereotyping, asking intrusive questions and treating cisgender and straight as the norm.
Celebrating Pride Month is not a one-time event; it’s an ongoing commitment to creating a workplace where LGBTQ+ employees feel valued, respected, and supported. By implementing inclusive policies, raising awareness, fostering allyship, and supporting LGBTQ+ causes, employers can cultivate a culture of belonging and promote the well-being and success of their LGBTQ+ employees.
The Role of DEI Software in Driving LGBTQ+ Inclusion
ClearTalents’ DEI software plays a crucial role in supporting LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace.
By allowing employees to create a workplace inclusion passport, managers can better understand and accommodate their needs and requirements.
The diversity and inclusion software’s ability to facilitate open communication and track reasonable adjustments empowers LGBTQ+ individuals to bring their authentic selves to work and perform at their best. Hiring managers can leverage this tool to ensure that employees who are part of the LGBTQ+ community can feel safe and welcome immediately from onboarding and beyond, so they can feel empowered to thrive throughout their tenure.
Contact ClearTalents to arrange a DEI software demo and start creating an inclusive workplace today.
