Actions speak louder: looking behind the rainbows this Pride Month

Those close to me will know that I have long been sceptical of the motives of some companies that adopt rainbow-themed logos during Pride Month. For many organisations the rainbow logo is a true testament to the hard work they’re doing in driving better allyship in their organisations and how they’re supporting their LGBTQ+ community. For others it’s been an all too easy way to suggest a level of support that has little foundation beneath it.  

At Something Big we haven’t felt right to use a rainbow version of our logo this year, not because we don’t see ourselves as allies to the LGBTQ+ community, but because we felt we had more work to do to earn our right to declare that allyship. 

So, if you’re wondering why we haven’t been sporting a rainbow logo this Pride Month, here’s a flavour of what we have been doing instead: 

1. Educating ourselves   

With one of our values being ‘always learning’, we’ve been supporting our team, freelancers and supply partners to continue to nurture, nudge and widen their understanding of the LGBTQ+ community. From lunch and learns and eLearning, to working with excellent external partners, The Diversity Standards Collective and Clare Harris we’re committed to continual learning and we’re loving the journey we’re on.  

2. Breaking our echo chamber 

We all love algorithms when they help us quickly find a great restaurant on our doorstep. But they should also come with a warning, as by serving us more of the content we most engage with we risk surrounding ourselves in an echo chamber of opinion and thought. We’ve encouraged our team to proactively break that by creating a list of great LGBTQ+ influencers to follow, which brings a richness to the content we see in our feeds and broadens our perspectives.  

3. Making our work authentic and representative  

As creators of communications, it’s our responsibility to make sure our work is authentic, representative and inclusive. 72% of LGBTQ+ people believe that the way they are represented in advertising is tokenistic, which is a pretty good reminder of how far we have to go. Over the last few months, to enhance our robust DEI checks at briefing, development, review, and approval stages, we have created a guide for our team, freelancers and supply partners. The guide includes simple tips that help shift behaviour and create authentic, representative work. Combined with the support of our DEI leads and wider team, we’re challenging our creative and pushing representation.  

 4. Stepping up to support  

With one of our values being ‘making it better’ when we find something that’s not working, we lean on our growth mindsets to find a way to make it better. With large workforces supporting their LGBTQ+ colleagues with ERGs and networks, we realised that we weren’t the only small team who might be struggling to offer the same support to our community. We have teamed up with Pride In Surrey to create The Surrey LGBTQ+ Employee Network . Now employees of businesses all over Surrey have access to their very own workplace network.  

5. Creating an inclusive workplace  

Our external surveys with Great Place To Work UK and our annual confidential DEI survey both help us understand our team, their challenges and where we can make things better. Actions plans have included, improving onboarding, introducing buddies for new starters, running team sessions on microaggressions, adding ‘belonging’ questions to exit interviews, and creating personal profiles that enable colleagues to get to know each other better in a hybrid world.  

6. Making the workplace a fairer, more inclusive place for all  

Of course, it’s not just our own workplace that we’d like to see being a better ally to the LGBTQ+ community. We’d love to make a meaningful difference to all workplaces. We’re proud to have just developed a global campaign touching over half a million people around the world, I Belong, and shared our experiences with other DEI leaders at an event for the UK’s Best Workplaces™ hosted by Great Place to Work®.  

7. Celebrating this vibrant community  

We’re excited to be joining our local LGBTQ+ community in celebrating Pride in Surrey in Reigate later this year as a team. We’ll be enjoying the atmosphere with our friends, families, from dressing up and joining the parade to enjoying a family day out and a picnic.  

8. Leaning into the challenges  

But even with all the great work companies like DHL are doing, there is still so far to go. Globally, 13 countries continue to criminalise transgender people, there continue to be countries with anti-gay laws, and only 96 countries have processes that allow people to change their gender (with only 25 of those are not being prohibitive). And here in the UK, whilst legally we might have progressed, discrimination and hate crimes are still far too prevalent. There is still much to do.  

I’ve seen a few comments from the LGBTQ+ community this year referring to a silence in the corporate landscape this Pride. I hope this isn’t really the case and that instead, seeing fewer rainbow logos is actually reflecting a reduction in rainbow washing and a more considered approach,  while some vital work behind the scenes is happening that is creating real change. 

What do you think and what did you do this Pride?