Workplaces lack rainbow diversity
More needs to be done to encourage rainbow diversity in the workplace, a pharmaceutical company boss says.
Anna Stove, the general manger of the New Zealand arm of GSK, said while there had been a lot of focus on gender diversity, some companies were neglecting other parts of the workforce, such as rainbow employees.
Achieving organisational diversity had to be more than just a ‘‘token effort’’, and businesses needed to make a public statement of support for rainbow employees, Stove said.
To date, only 32 New Zealand companies, including GSK, are certified with a Rainbow Tick, meaning they operate inclusive workplaces. Rainbow relates to the LGBTTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, takata¯ pui, intersex) community.
Having a Rainbow Tick gave one of Stove’s staff members the confidence to ‘‘come out’’ to colleagues during a meeting, she said.
‘‘Our staff member had concerns that ‘coming out’ could potentially affect their career progression … [but] because the company was committed to being rainbow certified, it gave them the confidence to discuss this more openly.
‘‘We were thrilled to see the impact of change so quickly.’’
Rainbow Tick programme director Michael Stevens said the rainbow community often felt persecuted and unsafe in wider society.
‘‘So we have a strong tendency to hide who we are in general, and in the workplace, and this has negative consequences both for us and for employers.’’
‘‘[So] we enable organisations to signal to rainbow employees that they are in a workplace where they are welcome to be themselves, where they do not have to waste time and energy by pretending to be someone else.’’
Middle management staff were one of the key barriers to rainbow diversity, Stevens said.
‘‘The problem with attracting this part of the workforce seems to lie with middle management, as senior leaders tend to understand the value of creating an inclusive workplace, and most staff under 30 expect it.’’
Another obstacle was that people thought Rainbow Tick was trying to change their personal views, he said.
‘‘[But] we are not. People are entitled to hold onto their religious or personal view.’’
‘‘We’re not about forcing major change on our clients, often it’s just a little tweak here, and there, to policies and practices, helping adjust an existing practice, or helping to make something clearer.’’
Rainbow Tick certified businesses were aware that organisations that reflected the communities they operated in, tended to be more successful, Stevens said.
‘‘It means it will have connections across a much wider area … so they seek to create workplaces where their staff feel comfortable and happy.’’