Pride is over...Now what?

Each June, I celebrate with all my LGBT+ family, friends, colleagues and allies. For me, Pride is an opportunity for people to come together to celebrate our uniqueness and reaffirm our beliefs that we’re all human beings and should be entitled to the same basic human rights and respect. When all the confetti, dancing, and celebration has started to settle, it’s now time to say “Pride month is over, now what?”

At Willis Towers Watson, I co-chair the UK LGBT+ Network, which focuses on the needs of colleagues from across the diverse spectrums of sexual identity, orientation and gender. We are committed to supporting the company to provide an inclusive work environment, where all individuals are respected for the skills and talents they bring to the table – a place where all colleagues feel comfortable to bring ‘their whole selves’ to work.

Our work stretches throughout the year, not just in Pride month. In 2019, we have already made significant progress in the UK, namely:

• Trained over 200 colleagues and some clients in how to be an important ally to the LGBT+ community and the importance of this both inside and outside of the workplace
•     Worked with LGBT+ organisations like Stonewall and the Terrence Higgins Trust to assist with fundraising efforts and raising awareness of events and activities
•    Liaised with our procurement teams to look at ways of assessing our suppliers’ commitment towards LGBT+ inclusion as part of the selection process
•    Reviewed our HR policies and recommended gender neutral language to ensure all of our policies are inclusive

In addition, we’ve got a full programme of events and activities planned for the rest of 2019 with focus on topics such as trans inclusion, community work and training our client and supplier organisations.

As a company Willis Towers Watson works throughout the year to create a more inclusive culture with initiatives including amending our global email signature guidance to include adding pronouns and explaining to colleagues why this is important. Colleagues in the US have taken part in Spirit Day to stand against bullying in support of LGBT+ youth. In Western Europe, colleagues established local LGBT+ inclusion network chapters in France & Germany for the first time and hosted an ally training session for the senior leadership team & country managers across the region.

As well as being proud of my own identity, I’m also proud of the work WTW is doing to promote LGBT+ inclusion and the support and resources we’ve been afforded by the business to help in our efforts. Much like the overall Pride movement there’s been plenty of fantastic achievements but of course there’s still much left to do.