ACCENTURE

The PrideAtAccenture Platinum project sought to plan, deliver and measure a year long project aimed at the reduction of unconscious bias towards LGBTI employees at work. The highlight of the project was a 4 week campaign to be held during Pride Month 2017 for which 20 working day campaign materials were developed alongside a plan to reinforce key messages throughout the remainder of the year. Accenture leaders were engaged early within the program, playing an active role during and after the campaign. Clearly defined metrics were defined to measure the outcomes of the program along with the establishment of a lasting legacy: the ability to share the lived experiences of LGBTI employees using a combination of cutting edge approaches including storytelling, gamification, leadership role modelling and social collaboration.



LENDLEASE

We are extremely proud of our progress towards LGBTI inclusion at Lendlease. Since 2009 we have been proactively driving awareness, developing and supporting our leaders, and celebrating with our LGBTI community.

Our business is enormously diverse, and with over half of our workforce working from construction sites, satellite offices or in our varied assets, we were concerned that our usual communication and training channels may not always reach our remote teams. So, to ensure we reached our entire workforce, we changed the way we shared our messages and showed our support.

Our approach was two-fold:
1. Inclusive Leadership;
2. Site Network and Awareness Campaign.

Firstly, we focused on inclusive leadership, involving both Out Leaders and Ally Leaders to share their personal stories on why LGBTI Inclusion is important to them. We created a series of Out Leader videos with recognisable leaders, who shared their story and the impact of LGBTI exclusion; provided advice to other LGBTI employees and explained how people can show their support. These videos were used in team meetings and are available on our intranet.

The other core element was our site network and awareness campaign. We focused on connecting the core message of inclusion to a topic very familiar with our business and industry – mental health. We discussed rates of depression and suicide in the LGBTI community to reinforce the importance of driving LGBTI inclusion at work.

To assist our leaders, we developed a Manager Toolkit that included the key messages, promotional materials such as rainbow laces, purple shirts and posters plus a range of activities with instructions to help generate a conversation and team involvement.

Knowing how diverse our teams are, we empowered our leaders to determine what resources would work best for their local teams and how they would approach the event, considering the time and technology available to them.

Leader briefing sessions, conducted with the LGBTI Employee Resource Group, provided an opportunity for leaders to discuss their approach, and in a safe environment, ask questions and receive coaching on how to manage different questions and reactions from the team.

We held events in over 160 locations around Australia aligned to Wear It Purple Day. We were overwhelmed by the support shown and how actively the teams participated. Photos and stories were shared via our internal social media platform, Yammer, and there were many examples where our employees shared the message of LGBTI inclusion with family, friends and industry connections.


WESTPAC GROUP

At Westpac we’re proud of our LGBTIQ inclusion journey.

In 2017 we embarked on an ambitious program of work for our AWEI Platinum Project. Over the preceding years we had taken significant steps to ensure our LGBTIQ workforce and allies felt comfortable to be themselves and supported at work.

Engagement had been particularly strong in our Metropolitan locations however we recognised that those in regional locations often faced greater challenges to feel included.

As such we set ourselves the vision for our Platinum project to grow our remote and regional reach of LGBTIQ inclusion so that all our LGBTIQ employees felt supported no matter where they go to work. It was a busy year and the same sex marriage debate brought an increased urgency for us to support our LGBTIQ employees, and those close to them, particularly those outside our main metropolitan locations.

Working with stakeholders at all levels of our business our platinum project enabled us to:

  • Grow our regional membership of GLOBAL significantly;
  • Utilise new technology and social media to ensure our events were accessible to all;
  • Establish and grow our LGBTIQ support, events and awareness in every state through a significantly new regional and interstate structure;
  • Organise Australia’s first LGBTIQ corporate organised summit in Sydney attended by over 250 guests half of which travelling from our regional locations around Australia.

The work of our Platinum Project continues.

We recognise the challenge of regional LGBTIQ reach is not unique to Westpac Group. In 2018 and beyond are continuing to partner and support businesses and local community organisations so that we help to build regional inclusion for those that need it most.