Summary notes: Member Exchange Session – February 7, 2023

Thank you to everyone who joined and participated in today’s Member Exchange Session.  As we did not track the actual participants, we are sending this to all our member contacts who were included in the invitation to the session.  If others in your organization participated, please feel free to share this with them.

We had more than 80 participants and there were still 68 on the line at the end of the call, so we know that this topic was important to many of our members.

Special thanks go to our presenters for their impactful stories: 

Ben Bolt (ISS)
Sterre Mkatini (University of Twente)
Nino Cilona (Shell) 

Here is a high-level summary of some of the key points:

  • Allies or another more neutral third-party can step in and respond in a more objective and less personal and emotional way to empower the community. Knowing where to find this support is key.
  • Avoid the “knee-jerk” reaction – Damage control by removing the offending post should be an option, but if you have strong support in the responses – you may not want to pull it too quickly.
  • Plan ahead – anticipate the situation where negative comments come in and have a support plan in place for where affected individuals can reach out for help.
  • Educate your employees about psychological safety to foster inclusive culture. While you can capture everything in policy, a listening and respectful attitude in an organization is the basis for safety. Management and HR play a role in facilitating this.  Consider embedding this in your code of conduct. Plan for dealing with other employees who are threatening – e.g. through intervention via their line management. 
  • Build support from the top of the organization – know to what extent you have the support of your organization specifically leadership, HR and communications are important.. When there is an incident, call on that support to have the organization (leaders) make a clear statement of organization’s position and how that is not in line with the negative comment. Turn the incident to an opportunity to share your organizational values.
  • Consider the location in your response – the Rome/Embassy model can define what level of support you can expect from leadership in different countries or regions.  Depending on whether the location is a ‘when in Rome’, and ‘embassy’ or a ‘advocacy’ location helps you know how leaders can respond in support.
  • Intersectionality – examples shared show that this goes beyond LGBTIQ+ and that there is more education to be done to point out hostile situations that women, the trans community, allies are also exposed to.

The link to the recording is below – please feel free to share with others within your organization.  This is one of the benefits that Workplace Pride offers to our members, so we ask that you not share the recording and summary outside of your organization.

recording link   https://us06web.zoom.us/rec/share/ByXkdjite7vCUiGAi3-QcSEIVNMJdLlaUfsvvHHwBSUNVaOXxQlYc7CpoPnKdXc.B4_w1oZ2OQ93cSxq   Passcode: 6.!pXViT

The following sessions topics and presenters are still being planned.  We have planned dates and time to try to flex the time slots to be more friendly to other time zones (see below – note these times are Central European Tim)).  We will send an invitation for the next session as soon as we have more details worked out.

Session date/time:

Feb 7     12:30-13:30 CET – complete

Apr 4     09:30-10:30 CET

Jun 6     16:00-17:00 CET

Aug 15   12:30-13:30 CET

Oct 10    09:30-10:30 CET

Nov 28   12:30-13:30 CET

Workplace Pride Launches its 2023 version of the Global Benchmark Survey

31 January 2023

We are pleased to announce that the 10th edition of our Global Benchmark Survey is officially open for registrations from February 1st until April 21st.

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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Sample Global Benchmark 2022 Result Report

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 €2000 ex VAT 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.

REGISTER HERE ONLINE

A presentation about the Global Benchmark

To watch a short presentation (14 minutes) about the changes to this year’s Global Benchmark
Click HERE or watch below:

We have a frequently asked questions page with tips and guidance. 

Submissions for the 2023 Global Benchmark close on Thursday, April 21 at 24:00 (CET).

If you have any questions, please write to [email protected]

Tech@WorkplacePride Visits Maersk

One of the ambitions of the Workplace Pride’s five ‘Communities’ is to strengthen co-operation and networking in each area of interest. For Tech@WorkplacePride this covers the Tech Industries in the broadest sense of the term and includes the additional goal of strengthening the community by exchanging knowledge about D&I.  

One way that Tech@WorkplacePride facilitates this exchange is to organise several activities per year together with Workplace Pride’s member organisations. As a great example, Tech@WorkplacePride, along with 25 participants from amongst the Foundation’s members, visited Maersk at their Rotterdam Harbour facilities last November. With their head office in Copenhagen, Maersk is the global integrator of container logistics and has been a Workplace Pride member since 2021. 

Tech@Workplace Pride Participants at Maersk’s Rotterdam Harbour Facilities

The Tech@WorkplacePride delegation was treated to a presentation by Wallace Wang from Maersk about their D&I policies and achievements, and of course about their eye-catching rainbow containers.

In the presentation, Wang pointed out that Maersk’s policy is to “collaborate, not compete, on diversity” with other companies. They strike collaborations with companies such as Puma, one of their customers, to work together on their D&I policies. 

According to Wang, respect for diversity is a core value at Maersk, and it is a basic responsibility not to discriminate against any of their employees. Discrimination bars people from living up to their full potential, creates inequality and less stable and prosperous societies.

Maersk also believes in diversity of thought to continue to improve and develop their business. Facilitating a culture where everyone feels comfortable, respected and fairly treated which will in the end not only affect Maersk but also all of their stakeholders and partners.

Proof of this cooperation can be seen in the picture below of the Maersk D&I team, where two of the Maersk D&I team wear a blue Puma sneakers, with the logo of Maersk imprinted at the back.

From left to right: Niklas Kaul, Hai Dang Duong, Nadia Carlsson, Wallace Wang and Cláudia da Silva

Following the presentation and lunch, the group had an impressive bus tour to view the automated cargo off and onloading of the containers in the harbour as well as one of the biggest cargo vessels in the world. Impressively only the first few meters of the onloading is done by hand nowadays. The rest of the process, including driving electric wagons (AGV: automated guided vehicles) that move the containers around on the dock, is fully autonomous and sustainably electric.

The bus tour concluded with a presentation at the facility about the logistic processes of Maersk. 

During the Q&A afterwards it got even more interesting, when the group began discussing the D&I policies on the work floor among production-floor employees. Obviously, Maersk is a worldwide company working with all nationalities which sometimes makes it challenging when it comes to inclusion. While physical health and safety are already at the core of Maersk’s culture, there is still room to grow on the social safety and diversity aspect. On this last point, it was positive sign that this group of 25 LGBTIQ+ people made their way through the facility as it enabled the D&I group of Maersk to make a connection there as well. 

Participants from Tech@WorkplacePride included representatives from Workplace Pride members  ARCADIS, ASML, IBM, Saxion, TU Delft and the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and they were very grateful to Maersk for their hospitality. 

Tech@WorkplacePride’s ambition in 2023 is to undertake more company visits and they will start with one at Delft University of Technology in February. Even visits outside the Netherlands are possible so members of Workplace Pride who are interested to host such an event, or who have any questions can contact the group at [email protected].

Nairobi Roundtable: Free to Be Me (F2BM) Project Takes Big Steps!

Friday, 16 December 2022

As part of its contribution to the 5-year Free to Be Me (F2BM) Project that aims to improve the lives of LGBTIQ+ people in 14 global south countries, Workplace Pride recently organised the first Socio-Economic Roundtable in Africa. This event, which was held at the residence of the Netherlands Ambassador in Nairobi, Kenya brought together representatives from local civil society organisations, businesses, and the diplomatic community. 

This ‘tripartite’ of stakeholders stimulates interaction between LGBTIQ+ civil society organisations and businesses in these 14 countries with the goal of strengthening business and social contacts. Workplace Pride members will be engaged throughout the length of the project through their offices and activities in the project countries. 

The Civil Society Toolkit, which was developed jointly by Workplace Pride, Open for Business, and the Other Foundation and funded by the Global Equality Fund, featured prominently in the roundtable and will be used on an ongoing basis in the F2BM project. 

This model of Socio-Economic Roundtables will continue in Manilla in Q1 2023 with further sessions planned in Rwanda, Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Indonesia later in the year. The Roundtables have been created after extensive research with all stakeholders and will be complemented in 2023 by a Mentoring Program that brings practitioners in the business world in direct contact with LGBTIQ+ individuals in the project country. 

For more information on Workplace Pride’s contribution to the F2BM program, please contact [email protected] 

Click here to view the full report of the Socio-Economic Roundtable in Nairobi:

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Workplace Pride Nairobi Roundtable Report - December 2022

Speaking with one Voice on Purple Friday

15 December 2022

The concept of “Purple Friday” was inspired by Spirit Day in the United States, which was first held in 2010 as an expression against bullying of LGBTIQ+ youth. It is a day that calls for solidarity, focusing primarily on the LGBTIQ+ community youth and, in particular, educational institutions. Purple Friday is widely celebrated in schools in the Netherlands but is becoming increasingly seen in higher education institutions and even in the corporate world. 

To focus more on what the day means for employers as well as students, Workplace  Pride and Student Pride Netherlands organised a hybrid lunch session at the Foundation’s offices that brought together various stakeholders dealing with this topic. Academia@WorkplacePride, one of five ‘communities’ within the Foundation, was in the lead with this informative panel discussion that included representatives from student associations, universities, and the corporate world. Co-Moderated by Workplace Pride Co-Chair, Michiel Kolman, and Chantal van der Putten, Chair of Student Pride Netherlands, the session answered both the “Why” of Purple Friday as well as some practical steps that can be done to increase acceptance of LGBTIQ+ people in schools and universities. The general consensus was that teaming up and combining efforts will have the greatest impact going forward. 

The enthusiastic discussions also explored practical topics such as gender-neutral toilets in educational institutions and how gender registration can have a direct impact on students and their well-being. Finally, all of the event was captured in a lively ‘cartoon graphic’ that highlights the main takeaways (see below).

Thanks go to all speakers for their insight as well as to the in-house and online participants who helped bring a bit more clarity and inspiration to Purple Friday! 

Click here to see the video of the event

Click below to download the illustration:

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Workplace Pride 2022 Purple Friday Hybrid Event

2022 Annual Members Meeting Recap

Wednesday, 7 December 2022

As we approach the end of 2023, Workplace Pride can look back at another year full of challenges and achievements. To provide our members a good overview of this year’s events, we held our Annual Members Meeting on Thursday, December 1st. The meeting was hosted by Adyen, a Foundation Leader member of Workplace Pride at their beautiful new office in the heart of Amsterdam.

Adyen’s CFO, Ingo Uytehaage, opened the event along with his colleague Allan Nunes who explained the great progress the company is making on LGBTIQ+ inclusion. David Pollard, Executive Director of Workplace Pride, and his colleagues then took the in-house and online attendees through an overview of the achievements and milestones of the year, followed by a glance toward the year to come. 

Workplace Pride is grateful to its members and the LGBTIQ+ community for their support this past year. We look forward to the ongoing cooperation in 2023 as we work together to create workplaces where everyone can truly be themselves! 

Click below for the Annual Members Meeting Presentation 

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Workplace Pride 2022 Annual Members Presentation

Click here for the recording of the video

“Trans+ in the workplace: A Talk across Generations

Trans activists come in many forms. To dig a bit deeper into this topic the Trans+ Community at Workplace Pride organised a cross-generational talk on November 17th at the Foundation’s offices in Amsterdam. This event, which all Workplace Pride members were invited to, highlighted the experiences of two leading activists who shared their personal stories about being transgender in the workplace. 

Corine van Dun (she/her), a former journalist for public broadcast stations, transitioned in the late eighties and became active with the not-for-profit organisation Transgender Netwerk Nederland (TNN) in 2011. Corine experienced transitioning in the workplace when it was still quite new for many people in society. She shared how challenges came in seemingly fundamental aspects such as job security, alongside more subtle forms of discrimination. 

Ellen Jansen (she/her) on the other hand, has her own company and started her transition two years ago. Ellen shared how she spent a lot of time sharing her stories with her clients and employees and the (mainly positive) reactions that she was met with. 

Despite the differences between their experiences, both Corine’s and Ellen’s experiences showed how an inclusive working culture is absolutely critical for transgender people to feel welcome and remain productive at work, but also that it is just as important for the people that work with them.

The talk was hosted by Sophie Jeckmans (she/her) who is the Workplace Pride Board member who leads the Trans+@WorkplacePride Community and was moderated by Jan Broekhuizen (they/them) member of the Trans+ core team. 

To view the video of the event, click here or view below.

Workplace Pride Member Exchange Session

Workplace Pride’s second Member Exchange Session was held on November 8, 2022, on the topic of Embedding Leadership Support.

Thank you to our two presenters, Jose Nava from Unilever and Ronald Niewenhuis from KPN, for sharing some great insights, to the Workplace Pride Relationship Managers for organizing, and to our Director of Program Development, Yuli Kim, for moderating. Also, we would like to extend our gratitude to the forty-eight people who attended! 

We would like all Workplace Pride members to have access to what we learned from this session. Below, you can find the most important metrics and takeaways, including a link to the recording of the session:

Key takeaways:

Have a clear and compelling story about LGBTIQ+ Inclusion.
What is your strategic intent? Be clear about what you are trying to achieve, what you are doing, and why. Back this up with data/measures, for example, from the Global Benchmark and your own engagement surveys, to support. Be very clear about what you need from leadership – what is your ask of them? Position LGBTIQ+ inclusion as a business imperative with evidence, including data points, when engaging leadership.

Always connect LGBTIQ+ inclusion and related activities with your organizational values and business strategy.
Make it crystal clear that you support LGBTIQ+ people and do not tolerate discrimination. Do this with your code of conduct, policies, employment contracts, collective labor agreement, employee benefits, and leadership development programs and training. Refer back to these when you encounter resistance.

Find an active sponsor, advocate, or “cheerleader” at the executive level or board of your organization.
Listen for executives who are seeking information about diversity, equity & inclusion, and/or employee resource groups, and engage them. Do your homework and find out where they are in terms of their journey by using a stakeholder analysis so that you can adjust your approach accordingly. Some may know a little and need more education first, while others may be more informed and want to know what they can do to help.

Peer pressure can accelerate even more support. 
When you have executive support, don’t forget to ask them to speak on your behalf to gain support from their peers, who are most likely other executives. An intersectional approach can also be helpful. For example, joining forces with other employee resource group sponsors, as they probably “get” it and can join forces to support LGBTIQ+ employees as well.

Set clear goals. Monitor them and measure progress – and report among stakeholders.
Grassroots initiatives can help build awareness. Position yourselves to co-create the agenda and plans for the coming year(s). Identify what measures will help you grow leadership support and focus on actions that drive those metrics.

Future topics:

How do you engage the “floor”?
There was some dialogue in the Zoom chat (Gian Battista from Schiphol Group and Martijn van den Tillart from ASML) that this could be an interesting topic. Workplace Pride will add this to the list for a future session. This topic of the so-called “white- and blue-collar inclusion”  has had our attention for some time, so we will certainly put this on the agenda for subsequent topics in 2023 for the member exchange sessions.

There was a lot of good information in the dialogue – you can listen to the full meeting below:

Recording: Member Exchange Session – November 8, 2022 – Embedding Leadership Support

You’ll hear more about the next Membership Exchange Session topic, time, and date as we get closer to the next event. We’ll keep you informed!

Monkeypox and LGBTQI+ employees: How employers can avoid stigmatization

Now that the Monkey Pox infection rate is going down in many countries including the Netherlands, it is a good moment to reflect on the implications and lessons learned for the workplace from this particular virus.

In this article in the management magazine MT/Sprout Dr. Kai Jonas, professor of applied social psychology at Maastricht University, and Dr. Michiel Kolman, co-chair of Workplace Pride and Sr VP at Elsevier, discuss the Monkey Pox implications for the workplace and come with concrete recommendations for HR professionals and managers how to deal with health issues in the workplace that comes with stigmatization – Monkey Pox is not the first virus infection that comes with a strong stigma and sadly will also not be the last that affects the LGBTIQ+ community at work. 

Click the link below to read the article in English:

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Monkeypox and LGBTQI+ employees: How employers can avoid stigmatization

2022 Leadership Awards Gala Recap

What an energising evening last Friday night at the Workplace Pride Leadership Awards Gala! Close to 400 of the Foundation’s members came to celebrate a year full of hard work and progress towards creating workplaces around the world where LGBTIQ+ can truly be themselves. 

Held at the Amsterdam Stock Exchange Building (Beurs van Berlage), the theme of the evening was “Colours of the World”. This theme was a reflection of the many different communities represented within the greater LGBTIQ+ community, the international character of our movement, and the genuine desire to be as inclusive as possible. 

In a departure from the previous Gala’s, this event saw the top scorers of the 2022 Global Benchmark being recognised at the beginning of the evening instead of at the end. This change was to acknowledge the weeks and months of dedicated hard work that participating organisations put into completing the Global Benchmark survey as well as the excellent work that all organizations are carrying out to create more inclusive workplaces throughout the year. 

2022 Global Benchmark Ambassadors:

2022 Global Benchmark Ambassadors

2022 Global Benchmark Advocates:

2022 Global Benchmark Advocates

Click here to read the full article, annual report, and press release about the 2022 Global Benchmark results. 

Additional awards and the winning people/organisations include: 

  • Most Engaged Network: Avery Dennison
  • Best Media Representation: Booking.com 
  • Most Active Volunteer: Diederik Oelrich Winklaar – KLM
  • Most Effective Ally: Sabina Divien – Shell
  • Outstanding Role Model: Marijn Pijnenburg – IBM
Most Engaged Network: Avery Dennison
Best Media Representation: Booking.com 
Most Active Volunteer: Diederik Oelrich Winklaar – KLM
Most Effective Ally: Sabina Divien – Shell
Outstanding Role Model: Marijn Pijnenburg – IBM

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Martha McDevitt-Pugh for her many years of dedication and service to our movement and the Special Achievement Award was presented to Aad Buis, Treasurer at Workplace Pride for his diligent support to ensure that the Foundation remains financially stable and healthy. 

Special Achievement Award: Aad Buis (L) and Lifetime Achievement Award: Martha McDevitt-Pugh (Right)

To view the photos of the Gala, click HERE