June is all about Pride and from the very first day of the month, you can see big corporations all over the world change their logo into a colourful rainbow version of itself to signify that they support the LGBTQ community.
But is that the extent of their support? Is it just virtue signaling? The truth is, it can be. After all, anyone can change the colours of a logo. That’s not to say that logo changes aren’t a good sign – they are certainly a good starting point. In fact, when massive global corporations change their logo in honour of Pride Month, it does two great things.
It attracts attention to the fact that they are publicly saying, ‘We respect and support the LGBTQ community’. This means they can be held accountable much more easily if they don’t instill those values in their workplace culture. In a more socially aware world, virtue signaling isn’t good enough anymore, so most companies who change their logo should be prepared to answer tough questions, which should overall lead to better workplace practises and policies.
Another great thing about rainbow logos is the visibility of Pride Month and the LGBTQ community overall. Yes, some of it, or a lot of it, or maybe even most of it might be just big corporations hopping on a bandwagon in order to turn a profit, but there is a small silver lining to that. A significant portion of the biggest corporations in the world have thrown, in some cases, massive budgets towards showing their support for the LGBTQ community. Even in the most cynical of worlds, that means these businesses are knowingly spending a lot of money to make themselves look better to consumers, employees and other corporations. While we should always scrutinise the genuinity behind such marketing campaigns, we can also see their attempt at support as a positive move.
Of course, for members of the LGBTQ community, hallow support might be marginally better than nothing but it is not enough, especially when it comes to the workplace. Everyone should feel inspired at work, secure when they’re there and leave fulfilled every day and a rainbow logo one month of the year isn’t going to cut it. So, how can you find out if a company really does practise what it preaches when it comes to equality and inclusion?
The first thing you’ll want to check out is a company’s values and policies. Their values should be somewhere on their website and should have something that will indicate an equal, inclusive workforce or one that aims to ensure people can bring their authentic selves to work.
For their policies, you may need to ask for them if they’re not readily available but companies that promote equality, diversity and inclusion should be forthcoming with this. One example of a strong equality policy is Coca-Cola. In 2011, the company offered transgender-inclusive health insurance coverage.
The vast majority of large corporations now have a variety of employee resource groups so that employees with shared characteristics or life experiences can join together. These resource groups are also often involved at improving workplace policies for their group. If a company has an LGBTQ resource group, it’s an excellent sign. If it doesn’t, but it has other groups, don’t be afraid to ask why and discuss the possibility of starting one.
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation is a US civil rights organisation that works to achieve equality for the LGBTQ community. It releases an annual Corporate Equality Index (CEI), which acts as a national benchmarking tool on corporate policies and practises pertinent to LGBTQ employees.
While it is a US-based organisation, many of the companies listed are global giants and their policies are likely to translate to their worldwide offices. For example, Microsoft is just one of the companies with a rating of 100% on the 2019 CEI.
While the CEI is a helpful reference and reading up on a company’s policies is a good start, nothing compares to how a company’s employees feel. Does leadership truly practise what it preaches? Are the values evident in the company culture or are they just words on a website?
If you want to find out the true culture of a company, try and talk to a couple of their employees. Alternatively, check out their reviews on sites such as Glassdoor. Even if there’s nothing specific about LGBTQ culture, general vibes will give you a good indication of how inclusive it is as a workplace.
Does that company that has thrown a massive budget behind rainbow-themed products put their money towards more tangible LGBTQ causes too? This year, Budweiser launched a Fly the Flag campaign, with cups designed “to celebrate and educate around different communities and their flags”.
While this campaign has faced some serious backlash for going above and beyond the usual commercialisation of Pride Month, the company also announced that it has become sponsors of Pride in London as well as partnering with nine charities that support the LGBTQ community.
Most commercialisation efforts and logo changes are understandably met with eye-rolls from the community, but if a company is putting its money towards supporting LGBTQ causes, events and organisations, it’s a good sign for potential employees.
Another good way to check on companies’ values is to see if they’ve done anything noteworthy to stand for values aligned with your own. If you’re looking for an LGBTQ-friendly workplace, see which ones have made headlines for making genuinely positive moves in this space.
For example, in 2016, PayPal cancelled its plans to open a global operations centre in North Carolina after the state passed a controversial law, which was widely interpreted as an attack on LGBTQ rights. More recently, Mastercard announced that it will now allow transgender and non-binary customers to use their chosen name on cards without the requirement of a legal name change.
While not every company is going to have a handy news story to signal their views, it’s always worth looking up. You’d be surprised what good (or bad) press you could uncover.
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Pride flag photo by Tristan Billet on Unsplash
