The groundbreaking conference entitled “The Future is Now: Workplace Inclusion in Japan” took place on Friday, September 30th, 2022 at the Accenture Innovation Hub Tokyo. This filled-to-capacity event was attended by enthusiastic members of the business community, government, and civil society. The evening before, The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Japan hosted an opening reception for the event in their extraordinary residence.
Workplace Pride would like to thank our host Accenture, co-hosts The Kingdom of the Netherlands, Kraft Heinz, and Unilever, and supporters IFF, Avery Dennison, Nokia, Kyndryl, and Sodexo.
Below, you will find a full report of the event in both English and Japanese from our Director of Program Development Yuli Kim, which includes the highlights and list of speakers and panelists from the conference.
Also, you will find a wealth of information included in the presentations from the conference from Workplace Pride, Akiko Horie (Accenture), Joy Ho (Unilever), and Maki Muraki (Nijiiro Diversity).
Click here to view the photos from the conference!
Click below to download the report in Japanese
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Click below to download the report in English
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Click below to download the Presentation from Workplace Pride
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Click below to download the Presentation from Akiko Horie, Accenture
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Click below to download the Presentation from Joy Ho, Unilever
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Click below to download the Presentation from Maki Muraki, Nijiiro Diversity
The winners of the five categories, as well as the top-scoring organizations in the 2022 Workplace Pride Global Benchmark, will be announced at the Gala taking place at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam on Friday, October 28th.
This year, an unprecedented 90 nominations have been submitted for the awards! Therefore we have extended our shortlist per category from three to five nominees.
In our eyes, all of the nominees are winners for the support they have shown for LGBTIQ+ inclusion at work, but as we do have to choose winners, the finalists are listed below.
Don’t miss this chance to come to show your support for the nominees and everyone who is helping to make progress with LGBTIQ+ inclusion in the workplace!
Most Engaged Network
This award honors the Workplace Pride member LGBTIQ+ network that has shown the most involvement both internally and externally in the past year.
This award honors the best positive representation of LGBTIQ+ workplace inclusion in the media (internal or external) by a Workplace Pride member in the past year.
This award honors an individual volunteer from a Workplace Pride member that best supported LGBTIQ+ workplace inclusion in the past year, both within their own organization and externally.
The Nominees are:
1. Sabrina Pufflijk (She/Her) – De Nederlandsche Bank 2. Marijke Loonen (She/Her) – FrieslandCampina 3. Diederik Oelrich Winklaar (He/Him) – KLM 4. Kaneesha Nadal (They/Them) – Kite Pharma 5. Anne Schreuder (She/Her) – Unilever
Most Effective Ally
This award honors the most effective ally of the past year, both within their own organization and externally.
The Nominees are:
1. Sandra van Scheppingen (She/Her) – ING 2. Dan Carter (He/Him)- Johnson Matthey 3. Sabina Divien (She/Her) – Shell 4. Hannah Heaton (She/Her) – Schlumberger 5. Cass Wright (She/Her) – ISS World
Outstanding Role Model
This award honors individuals who inspire others through their actions to create more LGBTIQ+ inclusive workplaces. While only Workplace Pride members may make submissions, anyone can be nominated.
AJ Francavilla (He/Him) – Sodexo Hanita Gill (They/Them) – Johnson Matthey Marijn Pijnenburg (He/Him) – IBM Pedro Kuijt Rumayor (He/Him) – Shell Tamar Zikry (He/Him) – Intertrust
Workplace Pride held three wonderful events for our members and other stakeholders during this year’s Amsterdam Pride.
Workplace Pride was pleased to have an ‘Open House’ reception for our members on July 28th at our new office. With a larger office, the Foundation can now organise more events and activities, even on behalf of our members! The well-attended open house was the first large event in our new office! We enjoyed plenty of refreshments and appreciated the opportunity to connect with old and new members alike. This was a fantastic evening that made our office truly feel like our new home. We look forward to more “gezelligheid” in the future!
On Saturday July 30th, a large delegation of almost 100 people from Workplace Pride members came together during the 2022 Amsterdam Pride Walk. This powerful event captured the importance of LGBTIQ+ inclusion and being your authentic self.
As a precursor to the walk, Workplace Pride organised a breakfast reception to ensuring plenty of energy for the walk ahead. The group was joined by a magnificent Samba band which provided a great focal point and helped us to celebrate Pride in a festive way.
A remarkable moment of the walk was when our group entered the main entrance of Vondelpark and were greeted by the 71 flag carriers of the Zero Flag Project. Each carrier was holding a national flag representing countries in which homosexuality is criminalised or even punishable by death. This was a compelling and sobering reminder that we are in this fight together and why it is so important for us to be loud and proud as a community.
Last but certainly not least, Workplace Pride was honoured to organise the 2022 edition of ‘Stories From the Heart’, kindly hosted by our Foundation Member, Heineken, and co-hosted by our Foundation Partner PwC. As many Workplace Pride members have activities in locations where it is difficult or even dangerous to be openly LGBTIQ+, this event, now in its third year, provided our members a first-hand account of what their colleagues and other community members experience on a regular basis. This year’s event featured activists from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Slovakia, Serbia, Hungary. Stories From the Heart is a joint initiative of Workplace Pride, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the RVO (the Netherlands Enterprise Agency) in partnership with the COC Nederland and the Municipality of Amsterdam.
Our heartfelt thanks to our all of our members who attended our events, or who participated in Pride in their own way in celebration of the LGBTIQ+ community.
This is what GOOD looks like for LGBTIQ+ workplace inclusion!
All the submissions have been received and evaluated and results have been distributed to participants.
The top scorers, and in particular those organisations that innovated in the field of LGBTIQ+ workplace inclusion will be announced very soon!
The Global Benchmark has been providing organisations with invaluable insights into workplace inclusion for LGBTIQ+ workforces around the globe going on 9 years now.
The gathered knowledge from the many participating organisations over the years has allowed us to truly define the ‘best in class’, when it comes to this topic. However, to make this, sometimes a complex topic, easier for all to digest, we have created the practical document below.
The eight sections in the benchmark focus on key areas and metrics, indicating clearly how far an organisation, may have come with its inclusion policies, and indeed where it may need to take them in order to improve or innovate going forward into the new decade.
With this document in hand, D&I managers, LGBTIQ+ network leads, and anyone who believes in more LGBTIQ+ inclusion in the workplace can give a clear and resounding response to the question: “What does ‘good’ look like for LGBTIQ+ inclusion in the workplace?”.
Please feel free to download the PDF for a full and more detailed explanation.
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LGBTIQ+ Employee Resource Groups: Benefits, Challenges, and Opportunities a Symposium at Leiden University
While organizational attention to the topics of workplace equality and inclusion has increased, some social groups are still disadvantaged. To support LGBTIQ+ employees at work, many organizations have LGBTIQ+ employee resource groups (ERGs). These groups are uniquely placed to provide a safe space for LGBTIQ+ employees, facilitate alliances between these employees and their ally colleagues, and advocate for structural changes in the organization.
Jojanneke van der Toorn, Workplace Pride’s Special Professor for LGBTIQ+ inclusion
In this symposium, Prof. Anna Einarsdottir, from the University of York, and Prof. Jojanneke van der Toorn, from Leiden University and Workplace Pride’s Special Professor for LGBTIQ+ Inclusion, shared insights from their recent research on the topic, discussing the promises and pitfalls of LGBTIQ+ ERGs and how they can be most effective. A panel including LGBTIQ+ ERG and HR specialists, including Workplace Pride’s executive David Pollard, reflected on the findings, shared insights from practice, and discussed how ERGs can contribute to LGBTIQ+ workplace inclusion.
The “LGBTIQ+ Employee Resource Groups: Benefits, Challenges, and Opportunities” symposium was organized by Jojanneke van der Toorn, Eva Jaspers, Chenhao Zhou, Kshitij Mor, and Paula Hoffmann, in collaboration with Academia@WorkplacePride.
We are pleased to announce that the 8th edition of our Global Benchmark Survey is officially open for registrations from February 1st until April 22nd.
Are you looking for a way to measure, manage and report on your LGBTIQ+ policies and practices?
Created in 2014, the Workplace Pride Global Benchmark was designed to measure the LGBTIQ+ inclusion practices of internationally active employers. It also addresses the needs of organisations faced with implementing global D&I and LGBTIQ+ policies in countries where obstacles, such as legal frameworks or cultural norms make it hard to do so.
So what does the Global Benchmark actually do?
Gives participants a custom-made overview of their organisations’ LGBTIQ+ policies and practices
Suggests practical improvements to policies and practices
It highlights how organisations rank among their peers through an online and print publication.
Awards a “Workplace Pride Global Benchmark Endorsement” for top-scoring organisations
Is the go-to measurement tool of LGBTIQ+ policies and practices for internationally-active employers
To view a Sample Global Benchmark Result report click below:
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Registration is free of charge to all Workplace Pride members. If your organisation is a member of Workplace Pride, you will receive the link to the Global Benchmark and a personalized code when you register at the link below.
Non-members participants pay an administrative fee of €1000 and will receive further instructions upon registration. This fee includes a detailed report of your LGBTIQ+ policies and practices in relation to your peers, along with suggestions for improvements. It also includes assistance in filling out the Global Benchmark if required.
First of all, let me wish you all a great start to the new year.
2021 was a huge challenge for most of us with uncertainty surrounding the pandemic impacting every element of our lives and work. Despite this, Workplace Pride was able to make significant progress that has benefited our members and the LGBTIQ+ community. Milestones for the Foundation have included:
David Pollard, Executive Director
Our conference in Hungary brought together business, diplomatic, and local civil society organisations on the difficult topic of how to create inclusive workplaces for LGBTIQ+ people in a hostile political environment.
The Academic conference organised by Workplace Pride’s special professor for LGBT inclusion at Leiden University, Dr. Jojanneke van der Toorn, was held in May of last year. This seminal event brought together scholars from around the world on the topics of LGBT workplace inclusion and was the culmination of the first 5 years of the Chair, which I am happy to say will be extended for another 5 years.
Summer saw our first truly Hybrid International Conference held in June which pushed the boundaries of what is possible with the difficult backdrop of the pandemic. The event brought together many prominent speakers such as Jim Flittering, CEO of our member DOW Chemicals, and Lisa van Ginneken, the first transgender member of the Netherlands Parliament.
In August the Foundation was invited by the organizers of Copenhagen World Pride to coordinate their Workplace Inclusion Day which created a forum for businesses and other LGBTIQ+ civil society organisations from across Europe and the world to take a deep dive into workplace issues from many new perspectives.
And last but certainly not least, was our memorable Leadership Awards Gala which brought many of our stakeholders together to highlight their contribution to our movement. It was truly an unforgettable evening!
All of this was done within the context of a significant increase of more than 25% in the number of Foundation members and everything that this entails from an organizational standpoint.
For 2022 we will certainly continue to push the boundaries for LGBTIQ+ workplace inclusion around the world.
In the first quarter of the year, we will be launching our white paper on LGBT corporate advocacy, we will be organising a conference for our members in Dubai and will plan webinars on various topics that support more inclusive workplaces.
The foundation’s “jewel in the crown”, the 2022 Global Benchmark survey, opens for submissions on February 1st. and we will be making this valuable tool even easier to access for those employers wishing to make progress on LGBTIQ+ workplace inclusion.
We will also continue our work on the important Free to be me project, which is funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and which supports progress for our community in 14 countries in the global south.
Looking further ahead, our international conference is planned for June of this year while a groundbreaking conference in Japan tackling the issues of LGBTIQ+ workplace inclusion and beyond in a unique environment is planned for the 2nd half of 2022
Workplace Pride’s special programs for women, Young people, technically focused LGBTIQ+ people and Academia will be ‘re-imagined’ as “Workplace Pride Communities” with the goal of providing them more structure and, realise greater impact for the specific groups that they represent.
And of course, our major focus of working together with our members via dedicated relationship managers and through our supportive Learning and Development program will continue and even be expanded in the coming year…. always taking into account the priorities of the LGBTIQ+ community and the many stakeholders that we work with.
In closing, I’d like to add that, while the pandemic is far from over, a new workplace reality is on the horizon. And while LGBTIQ+ communities and individuals continue to be threatened around the world, we also continue to make tangible progress and we should not forget that.
The Workplace Pride Staff, Board, and member organisations will continue to work hard in 2022 to improve LGBTIQ+ inclusion, transforming workplaces worldwide and we invite you to join us on this very important journey.
We wish you a Happy New Year from Workplace Pride!”
DIFFER(ent) Kinds of Energy Re-cap (including NWO’s signing of the Declaration of Amsterdam)
Every year, the Tech@WorkplacePride programme organises an event from a different city in the Netherlands. This year’s Tech@Workplace Pride online (formerly hybrid) event was streamed from Brainport Eindhoven, on the campus of the Eindhoven University of Technology on the 18th of November.
The guiding theme of this 2021 edition was sustainability and energy transition, and the importance of diversity for this mission. We had talks by leading scientists and industry staff about developments on sustainability and energy, suited for a lay audience, mixed with stories/reflections on diversity. There were both LGBTIQ+ and non-LGBTIQ+ speakers.
To ensure a sustainable energy transition in the coming years, it is necessary for organisations to be more innovative, build better strategies, and make courageous choices. Having employees representing diverse communities helps to better understand the environmental impact of the company’s operations, building more trust among the public, increasing cultural intelligence, and developing better strategies. Diverse companies are more innovative and more likely to outperform homogenous teams.
Leon Ouwerkerk, the LGBTIQ+ coordinator for the Dutch Research Council (NWO in Dutch) opened the event with Bianca Nijhof, Co-Chair of Workplace Pride giving an opening welcome speech.
The first presenter of the day was Richard van de Sanden, group leader and former director of DIFFER (Dutch Institute For Fundamental Energy Research). Richard’s presentation went into the details behind fusion energy and renewable energy-driven chemical conversion.
To change up the pace, the next presentation was by given Ari Sibiescu and Ave Ottens, two students from Eindhoven University. Their presentation dug into LGBTIQ+ diversity and how it’s unfolded in recent times and how different generations share values that differ as times change around language for example.
Next, Alfred Nijenhuis, a senior consultant at Arcadis gave an informative presentation on the need for the world and the Netherlands in particular to diversify energy systems that sustain our modern lifestyle and technological needs.
The next presentation came from Annelies Boerman, a lecturer/researcher at Saxion University of Applied Sciences whose presentation delved into Systems Integration.
Camille Burrer, Organizational Change Manager and Chair of Green ASML gave a presentation from ASML’s perspective on environmental sustainability and the impact individual employees can here therein.
Jeff Welser, Vice President, Exploratory Science and University Partnerships for IBM gave a presentation about five ways technology will change our lives within five years.
Finally, to close out a fascinating set of presentations, Margot Weijnen, Member of the Executive Board of the NWO (Dutch Research Council) gave an inspiring speech about the importance of diversity and the NWO’s commitment to LGBTIQ+ workplace inclusion by signing the Declaration of Amsterdam with Bianca Nijhof co-signing.
To see the videos of the presentations, please subscribe to our Youtube channel to be notified when they’re online.
IBM and Workplace Pride collaborate in LGBTIQ+ innovation
Although LGBTIQ+ people are protected by laws addressing employment and other forms of discrimination in a growing proportion of countries, there remain far too many LGBTIQ+ people around the globe whose rights are not protected. In many countries, LGBTIQ+ citizens are breaking laws just by being themselves. Even in legally progressive nations, many LGBTIQ+ people still feel that they cannot reveal their authentic identity in many professional, academic, and social settings.
To continue advancing inclusion and belonging for the full spectrum of the LGBTIQ+ community at work, home, and society at large, the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) is collaborating with Workplace Pride, and Out & Equal to host a Global LGBTIQ+ Innovation Jam.
Starting at 8am ET on Tuesday, April 13th and running continuously through until 5pm ET on Wednesday, April 14th, the Jam is a virtual, text-based event where thousands of business leaders; D&I experts; academics; and other allies will come together to explore the solutions to the barriers that still slow the advancement of LGBTIQ+ individuals in the workplace.
The Global LGBTIQ+ Innovation Jam is an open and inclusive forum for discussion and sharing around 7 important themes:
Corporate & individual championship
LGBT+ intersectionality
Mental health
Transgender and non-binary belonging
Allyship
Visibility and development
Impact of technology
Register for the Global LGBT+ Innovation Jam and join the discussion – for a few minutes or for all 33 hours! Input from Jammers will be analyzed by IBM’s proprietary Innovation Jam® AI-enabled technology and the results may be used to inform an upcoming LGBT+ Leadership study that is being published in celebration of Pride Month in June.
Although LGBTIQ+ people are protected by laws addressing employment and other forms of discrimination in a growing proportion of countries, there remain far too many LGBTIQ+ people around the globe whose rights are not protected. In many countries, LGBTIQ+ citizens are breaking laws just by being themselves. Even in legally progressive nations, many LGBTIQ+ people still feel that they cannot reveal their authentic identity in many professional, academic, and social settings.
To continue advancing inclusion and belonging for the full spectrum of the LGBTIQ+ community at work, home, and society at large, the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) is collaborating with Workplace Pride and Out & Equal to host a Global LGBTIQ+ Innovation Jam.
Starting at 8am ET on Tuesday, April 13th and running continuously through until 5pm ET on Wednesday, April 14th, the Jam is a virtual, text-based event where thousands of business leaders; D&I experts; academics; and other allies will come together to explore the solutions to the barriers that still slow the advancement of LGBTIQ+ individuals in the workplace.
The Global LGBTIQ+ Innovation Jam is an open and inclusive forum for discussion and sharing around 7 important themes:
Corporate & individual championship
LGBT+ intersectionality
Mental health
Transgender and non-binary belonging
Allyship
Visibility and development
Impact of technology
Register for the Global LGBT+ Innovation Jam and join the discussion – for a few minutes or for all 34 hours! Input from Jammers will be analyzed by IBM’s proprietary Innovation Jam® AI-enabled technology and the results may be used to inform an upcoming LGBT+ Leadership study that is being published in celebration of Pride Month in June.
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