Following the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) last month, Asda has produced a digital guide featuring colleagues sharing their experiences and advice.
This is an excellent idea. We all know the power of peer-to-peer communication, and I think The Asda Pride team has done a fantastic job. They worked with scarlettabbott to produce the digital guide.
It feels particularly important following the atrocities in Orlando.
Asda is the most LGBT-friendly employer in the UK – officially – as they scooped the top prize at this year’s LGBT Awards.
They were also featured in Stonewall‘s incredibly useful guide – Communicating Commitment to Trans Inclusion. I’ll share some of their advice at the foot of this article, it will hopefully prove useful if you’re also thinking about how you communicate.
Writing on their Green Room blog, Asda states:
“Everyone is unique and that’s what makes us special – we want to celebrate and respect our differences. But around the world, many people still face discrimination.
“IDAHOBIT on 17 May helped to raise awareness and marked the start of our Summer of Pride activity.
“On IDAHOBIT Day, we celebrated our values of integrity and respect with an event at Asda House, broadcast live to other home offices and Rochdale Chilled Distribution Centre (CDC). Colleagues shared their experiences and some top diversity tips.
Let’s look at what they’re doing…
“IDAHOBiT is a great way to celebrate our colleagues and it makes me proud that they are able to openly share their stories and experiences.” –
Hayley Tatum, Senior Vice President – People
“We’ve pulled the best bits of this great event together as we didn’t want anyone to miss out, so we’ve created this diversity guide to share our learning.
“We know that having the right information can make all the difference when it comes to feeling confident in supporting your colleagues – or coming out yourself.”
Asda has an active Twitter feed @AsdaLGBT, which it uses to share stories:
We’re really proud to be in Top 100 employers @stonewalluk at number 83. It feels like a long journey but it has been all worthwhile. #LGBT
— Asda LGBT (@AsdaLGBT) January 20, 2016
I promised to leave you with communication advice from Stonewall, which you can see below.
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P.s. I’m still in shock following the news this morning about the EU Referendum result. I can’t bring myself to write about it as am still processing it. But I think this Tweet from @SoVeryBritish this morning is apt. Mine is milk, no sugar:
We’re going to need a bigger kettle…
— VeryBritishProblems (@SoVeryBritish) June 24, 2016
Rachel
Post author: Rachel Miller
First published on the All Things IC blog 24 June 2016.