It occurs yearly.
Throughout the month of June, your social media timeline is flooded with companies pledging their allegiance to the LGBTQ+ group with rainbow logos, images, campaigns, and merchandise.
Whereas this outpouring of assist is nice in concept, it raises main questions on how large manufacturers and companies truly assist the LGBTQ+ group as soon as the rainbow merchandise are taken off the shelf and Satisfaction flags are saved away.
What number of of those firms actively present their assist and advocate for LGBTQ+ rights year-round? What number of of those firms work to implement actual change for the LGBTQ+ group? And what number of are doing nothing, and even the alternative, behind closed doorways?
Rainbow washing — a corporation’s use of rainbow colours to primarily endorse the LGBTQ+ group whereas offering little to no sensible assist — is turning into an increasing number of frequent. It goes with out saying: There are good methods and dangerous methods for manufacturers to take part in Satisfaction Month. And right this moment, we’re looking at each.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Satisfaction Month
Earlier than you’re employed together with your design workforce to fill your campaigns with rainbows, take a step again and be sure to’re taking the suitable method. Here’s a have a look at our high do’s and don’ts that will help you rejoice Satisfaction Month.
Do: Get worker enter through the planning course of.
Earlier than you dive into planning your company Satisfaction initiatives, it’s extremely essential to get a variety of workers concerned within the course of. We advocate placing collectively a committee of worker volunteers to function a sounding board and to offer enter as your plans start to take form.
Getting your workers concerned in Satisfaction planning will accomplish a number of issues. It’ll reveal your dedication to listening to and implementing worker suggestions, it is going to assist facilitate a way of assist and group inside your organization, and it’ll assist stop you from making errors that will in the end alienate and frustrate members of the LGBTQ+ group.
Do: Assist LGBTQ+ initiatives yr spherical.
In the event you don’t already take steps to assist the LGBTQ+ group year-round, take the chance to debate doing so with administration and employees throughout Satisfaction Month. To be a real ally, it’s essential to indicate actual assist year-round.
Adidas is a superb instance of a corporation that helps LGBTQ+ initiatives past Satisfaction Month. Whereas they do launch yearly rainbow themed merchandise, in addition they work with LGBTQ+ artists and designers, and donate year-round to organizations like The Trevor Mission. Additionally they host a talking sequence with LGBTQ+ athletes and allies about discriminatory federal legal guidelines and assist the following technology.
Do: Prioritize the assist of LGBTQ+ workers and initiatives.
It’s not sufficient to say LGBTQ+ people are supported at your group. It’s important to proactively take steps to make underrepresented voices heard by creating an inclusive and secure setting. Creating an worker useful resource group the place LGBTQ+ members and allies can come collectively is an effective begin.
It’s additionally essential to host occasions across the yr that replicate your LGBTQ+ workforce members, and uplift the voices of your LGBTQ+ workers, and put assets and {dollars} behind diversifying and educating your organization. It’s a fantastic thought to rejoice Satisfaction Month with varied actions, donations, and academic displays, however don’t let that celebration finish as soon as the month does.
Do: Evaluation inside insurance policies.
Earlier than you look to publicly promote inclusivity and your assist of the LGBTQ+ group, it’s essential to try your inside insurance policies. In the event you’re undecided the place to start out, we advocate implementing the next:
- Range and inclusion coaching to create a secure and pleasant setting for all workers.
- A transparent mission that emphasizes honest remedy and open assist of the LGBTQ+ group.
- Equal advantages for all workers no matter their sexual orientation, together with well being advantages, day off for adoption depart, parental depart, and equal pay.
- A social duty program to assist manage and take steps to reveal clear assist for the LGBTQ+ group.
- An anti-discrimination coverage that features particular language round LGBTQ+ discrimination, with clear and enforceable penalties for many who don’t comply.
- A transition information for workers which can be going by gender reassignment, together with useful tips about search HR assist, entry well being advantages, and so forth.
You may as well have a look at the Human Rights Marketing campaign yearly Company Equality Index for extra concepts on make your organization extra inclusive. They’ve created a nationwide benchmarking device that covers company insurance policies, practices, and advantages pertaining to the LGBTQ+ group.
Do: Educate your self and people round you on the origins and historical past of Satisfaction Month.
Satisfaction Month has a wealthy political historical past that firms usually fail to completely perceive and acknowledge. The origin of June as Satisfaction Month stems partly from the Stonewall Riots, that have been named after a homosexual bar referred to as the Stonewall Inn in New York Metropolis, the place patrons and different group members fought again in opposition to police harassment in 1969. Not solely is Satisfaction Month a time to acknowledge the progress that’s been made for the reason that Stonewall Riots, but it surely’s simply as essential to acknowledge how far we nonetheless should go as a society.
Do: Put your cash (and time) the place your mouth is.
As a substitute of treating Satisfaction Month like a advertising and marketing marketing campaign or a hiring push, put efforts towards an exercise that may positively influence the LGBTQ+ group. Whereas financial donations could be useful, volunteering at group occasions or spending time with LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations could also be a extra worthwhile expertise. Beneath is a picture shared by Nike of their workers collaborating in Satisfaction celebrations.
The message is loud and clear: LGBTQ+ workers and prospects alike, we’re with you. We welcome you and we rejoice you, whoever it’s possible you’ll be.
Different nice concepts for celebrating Satisfaction Month at your group embody internet hosting instructional panels with members of the LGBTQ+ group, organizing a charity or fundraising occasion for a neighborhood or nationwide charity, holding inclusion workshops, and hiring LGBTQ+ audio system to debate their experiences.
Do: Be inclusive and genuine in your promoting efforts.
A vital step towards a extra inclusive work setting and equal rights for LGBTQ+ workers is easy — trustworthy illustration. Watch out to not leverage LGBTQ+ folks in your promoting campaigns in a approach that tokenizes or stereotypes these communities. As a substitute, embody people who establish as LGBTQ+ in your campaigns as a strategy to normalize these communities and provides them a voice. And ensure your rainbow logos and campaigns embody ALL the colours that characterize the LGBTQ+ group, as seen under.
Don’t: Assume that the LGBTQ+ group doesn’t proceed to face adversity just because Satisfaction Month exists.
Although we’ve made progress as a society, members of the LGBTQ+ group nonetheless face inequality and discrimination within the office every day. Contemplate these statistics:
- 31% of LGBTQ+ workers report experiencing office harassment previously 5 years.
- 67.5% of LGBTQ+ workers have heard slurs, jokes, or unfavourable feedback about LGBTQ+ folks within the office.
- Round one-third of LGBTQ+ workers have left a job as a result of the setting was unwelcoming.
- About half of LGBTQ+ workers within the US are usually not out to their supervisors and 25% aren’t out to anybody at work.
- Transgender workers, on common, make 32% much less per yr than their cisgender counterparts.
To keep away from merely paying lip service, your group ought to discover methods to play an lively position in advocating for significant change.
Don’t: Exploit social initiatives and conversations as a method to succeed in enterprise objectives.
Bear in mind, Satisfaction Month just isn’t about your enterprise.
Celebrating Satisfaction and exhibiting your assist for the LGBTQ+ group just isn’t a development — and it shouldn’t be handled as such. In the event you’re merely posting rainbow branded imagery or tweeting to “get in” on the essential conversations occurring this month, you’re doubtless being disrespectful.
Earlier than publishing Satisfaction-related content material, ask your self, am I including worth to this dialog? What am I hoping to realize from inserting myself into this dialog? What are my motivations? Do I would like my firm to look like, or to truly be, a secure area or ally?
Katie Burke, Hubspot’s Chief Individuals Officer, posted a considerate LinkedIn submit about how allies ought to take into consideration Satisfaction Month and assist their LGBTQ+ friends. It is a nice instance of add worth quite than hopping on the bandwagon of “fashionable” Satisfaction assist posts.
Don’t: Create exterior campaigns for the aim of financial achieve.
The general public will see by inauthentic makes an attempt to capitalize on Satisfaction Month. Though public assist of the LGBTQ+ group is at all times welcome and appreciated, it’s not tough to see when an organization’s “present of assist” is extra of a advertising and marketing play.
A lot of these missteps can vary from tone-deaf to downright offensive, so if you happen to’re undecided in case your Satisfaction campaigns or celebrations will probably be obtained effectively, it’s finest to place them on maintain till you’re employed together with your HR division and or a committee of volunteer workers who wish to become involved.
Do: Act with transparency.
Be clear, particular, and clear in any messaging you create to assist your ;Satisfaction Month initiatives. Clarify precisely what your assist means, the way you at the moment give again to the group, in addition to any future plans you need to broaden these efforts.
Whenever you define exact steps, you’re making it clear to your viewers that you just take Satisfaction Month significantly and that you just aren’t merely leaping on the bandwagon to succeed in a wider viewers.
Appearing with transparency is very essential when asking for financial donations.
Celebrating Satisfaction Month as an Group
Satisfaction Month means one thing totally different to everybody. It’s a time of celebration, reflection, and progress. As companies work to be extra inclusive in each their office insurance policies and their public-facing advertising and marketing efforts, it’s essential to keep in mind that essentially the most significant assist doesn’t come within the type of a rainbow brand, proudly displayed for one month of the yr.
This Satisfaction Month, we ask you and your enterprise to make equality, inclusion, and variety a precedence all yr lengthy. Work to grasp the advanced, multifaceted points dealing with the LGBTQ+ group right this moment. And, above all else, ensure that your individual workforce feels snug, supported, and heard.
