It’s Pride Month, and as is par for the course, workplaces around the world are publicising their LGBTQ+ solidarity. Yet, as we’ve seen in previous years, the multi-coloured flags get packed away as soon as the calendar turns to July.
Corporate logos awash with rainbows for 30 days revert to their usual muted tones. And the many shoutouts to being ‘proud sponsors’ of Pride events all but disappear.
The visible outpouring of support, once considered an essential part of the fight for equality, has taken a distinctly colourless turn. Decried by LGBTQ+ organisationsas nothing more than an insidious marketing strategy, corporations stand accused of appropriation and performative allyship—known as rainbow-washing.
At best, businesses are profiting from loyal LGBTQ+ consumers, and who can blame them? Two-thirds remain faithful to brands they believe support the community, even when less sympathetic competitors offer lower prices or greater convenience. At worst, they’re enthusiastically waving the Pride flag whilst engaging in damaging anti-LGBTQ+ activities.
A recent investigation, for instance, found that 25 major US corporations known to plaster their social media avatars with rainbows, sponsor Pride parades, and declare their unwavering commitment to the LGBTQ community spent more than $10 million between 2019 and 2021 supporting politicians set on undermining LGBTQ+ rights.
Workplaces talk the pro-LGBTQ+ talk, but fail to walk the walk
You may wonder how this relates to pro-LGBTQ+ workplaces. Well, even though in most progressive countries, discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender, family life, and civil status is against the law, under a range of national and international statutes, employers are still falling short when it comes to more than just performative allyship.
Findings from countless diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) studies, such as the UK’s Chartered Management Institute’s Walking the Walk Report, signal a ‘tick-box’ approach to workplace inclusion policies at many organisations. Such research comes as the US political and corporate backlash against DEIhas seen many global enterprises questioning the value and backtracking on strategies in this area.
To be fair, achieving a truly diverse and inclusive workplace is a challenging feat. Simply checking lists and meeting quotas has never been enough. What’s needed is a deep-rooted commitment to understanding and eradicating social barriers that prevent LGBTQ+ individuals and groups from fully participating and thriving in the workplace—a commitment backed by the appropriate resources and implemented effectively.
Championing diversity, equity, and inclusion
Human rights and equality groups have slightly differing ideas about the best way to approach workplace DEI. In Ireland, we use the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission’s Seven-Step Framework as a foundation.
1. Policy – The first step is to create a DEI policy that outlines the workplace’s values and principles to serve as the foundation for all policies, practices, and standards. It should include expectations and responsibilities for equitable recruitment, working conditions, career progression, pay, promotion, and accommodating diversity.
Leveraging relationships with LGBTQ+ organisations can help. Many, like Stonewall, provide education, best practices, and toolkits to help workplaces develop effective DEI-positive policies that include and support all LGBTQ+ employees.
2. Training – The second step is to provide equality and human rights training that enables staff to understand and achieve these standards. Training should go beyond basic unconscious bias and awareness programs to promote pro-LGBTQ+ equality attitudes and behaviours.
It should bolster staff knowledge about their rights and responsibilities under equality legislation and build skills, so they know how to appropriately respond to discrimination or harassment, including how to seek redress.
3. Responsibility – To ensure compliance with DEI policies and standards, the third step is assigning overall responsibility for enterprise-wide equality and human rights to an individual diversity officer or a collective drawn from various functions and levels across the organisation.
Diversity officers and committees should collaborate with and oversee the entire workforce to ensure everyone complies with equality and human rights laws. They can promote consistency in inclusion initiatives by reviewing policies and practices for potential biases, discrimination, and exclusion.
4. Roadmap – Step four is producing an equality and human rights roadmap that clearly lays out DEI objectives and the actions needed to fulfil these objectives, so ensuring commitments and standards are put into practice. Impacts must be measurable with concrete targets that are both evidence-based and auditable.
Reviewing your current policies and procedures helps you determine where you are now and plan your path forward. Examining the level of LGBTQ+ representation is another way to assess your DEI efforts’ effectiveness and see where improvements are needed.
5. Impact assessment – Carried out on policies and plans at the design stage, impact assessments ensure compliance with internal and legislative DEI standards. Testing for negative impacts on LGBTQ+ staff and correcting or mitigating potential detrimental outcomes both account for diversity and advances equality.
A key consideration is ensuring LGBTQ+ employees receive the same or equivalent conditions and benefits as those in sex-assigned heterosexual partnerships, such as parental leave, family insurance, or time off for dependents.
6. Monitor – Step six concerns data collection. Within the parameters of data protection legislation, organisations should collect and analyse information about their inclusion and treatment of LGBTQ+ people to ensure fair access and provision of equitable employment conditions.
Employers can gather meaningful insights by promoting disclosure through HR tools like universal Reasonable Accommodation Passports or gathering anonymised feedback through surveys.
7. Participation – It is essential to include LGBTQ+ people in the above planning, implementation, and assessment steps. Organisations should then maximise opportunities for employee involvement. Cultivating DEI champions or LGBTQ+ spokespeople can help to ensure a range of voices are listened to and acted upon.
This not only promotes representation, but it also means diverse perspectives and lived experiences inform each step of the framework, making it fit-for-purpose. Listening to those at risk of experiencing LGBTQ+-based discrimination and clearly communicating a response also increases transparency and openness, both of which are vital components of an inclusive workplace.
DEI is a no-brainer
Meaningful LGBTQ+ diversity, equity, and inclusion is an ongoing process. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach, and it certainly isn’t achievable overnight. But, as multiple studies have shown, there is an obvious business case. A strong DEI culture results in higher-quality work, greater team satisfaction, and financial outperformance.
Promoting and supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion is a no-brainer. It is fundamental to good people management, a core business function, and essential for tackling wider social inequalities. As HR professionals, we must proactively build and embed equality and human rights into our workplace cultures to avoid the rainbow-washing label.
Crystel has worked with HRLocker since 2013. As CEO, she is responsible for streamlining RevOps within the company. She works cross-functionally with internal and external stakeholders and identifies opportunities to position HRLocker for growth. Crystel is a passionate employee experience advocate, HR industry thought leader, and host of the popular HRLocker webinar.
