Big Impact Initiative Award:
METRO Pride
At first glance, the topic has nothing to do with the workplace, but if you look closely, you will find a labor law perspective. It’s about reducing discrimination against gays, or more specifically, against men who have sex with men. Gay, bisexual men and trans* people currently have to comply with a 12-month deferral period, if they want to donate blood. Specifically, this means that they must suspend their love lives for a year in order to donate much-needed blood. In many other countries, this deferral period is only three or four months. This discrimination led the network’s company to stop blood donations on its own campus in protest of the current deferral period. In addition, the network has campaigned for a change to be made to the underlying legal regulation. On the initiative of the network to be awarded, PROUT AT WORK, together with 12 other companies from German industry, then published the position paper on blood donations on April 17, 2020 and sent it to political and medical decision-makers.
With this initiative, the network to be honored has both challenged internal standards and made a significant impact on society as a whole.
Rising Star Award:
Be You @ Beiersdorf
The network was able to attract 20 active networkers and 200 allies with its launch campaign. Internally, Be You @ Beiersdorf works intensively on diversity workshops and is thus committed to an open culture. One of the network’s greatest achievements this year was certainly the Pride Season campaign: under the hashtag PRIDEINSIDE, the Rainbow Bulli was used locally in Hamburg to raise awareness and educate people on the streets. Nationally, the prominently marketed Rainbow cans of the Group’s best-known brand caused a stir in stores. In addition, the campaign, which grew out of the company’s internal LGBT*IQ network, was linked to an education project. Information flyers were displayed next to each display in the stores, explaining what the company is doing as part of its corporate social responsibility: financial support was provided for Olivia Jones’ ‘Olivia macht Schule’ project, which raises awareness of LGBT*IQ issues in schools.
Global Leader Award:
GABLE @ Procter & Gamble
Founded in the 1990s, it has since been campaigning for LGBT*IQ equal opportunities internally, externally and, above all, internationally. In impressive short reports, for example, it tells the story of the beginnings and progress of LGBT*IQ commitment in the company and also the history of the network itself, together with the BBC. The network is active in 43 countries with 5,000 networkers, shaping LGBT*IQ diversity across the company. Internally, there are educational trainings on LGBT*IQ, the company celebrates its own diversity & inclusion culture and also informs the general workforce about the LGBT*IQ network in order to recruit further committed people. In employee surveys, the company wants to find out directly from LGBT*IQ employees how they feel about their own sense of acceptance and how open the company is about sexual orientation and identity. The company is also visible externally on diversity issues. From commercials on gender biases to LGBT*IQ oriented marketing campaigns, the company cooperates with various LGBT*IQ NGOs to achieve equal opportunities for LGBT*IQ people around the globe.