LGBTQIA+ at Grant Thornton

At our firm we want everyone to feel comfortable to be themselves and to be open about their romantic and sexual orientation(s), gender identity, transition status and/or intersex status if they wish.

Why is LGBTQIA+ inclusion important?

We spend a large part of our lives at work, so when LGBTQIA+ people feel that they have to hide or minimise parts of themselves in the workplace, it can take a toll in many ways, be that not feeling part of the team or experiencing mental health issues, which can impair their ability to be effective in their roles. We work on LGBTQIA+ inclusion so that colleagues, clients and suppliers feel comfortable being themselves which in turn allows the firm to attract and retain diverse talent.

Our current strategy is made up of three focus areas.

1.

Allyship

Our goal is to empower individuals to become stronger allies for the LGBTQIA+ community by fostering an environment of inclusivity, respect and understanding. We hope to inspire our colleagues to become advocates for their LGBTQIA+ peers, ensuring a supportive workspace for all.

2.

Advocacy

We want to be a leading voice for LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and work to ensure our LGBTQIA+ colleagues have what they need to thrive. Our advocacy involves supporting LGBTQIA+ charities and providing our People Managers the training and resources they need to support our LGBTQIA+ people.

3.

Belonging

By making spaces where our LGBTQIA+ colleagues and allies can come together, we aim to create a safe environment for them to connect, reassure and empower one another. The end goal is to ensure that our people feel that they can bring their authentic selves to work. Further to this, we know that when our LGBTQIA+ colleagues see people like them in leadership roles, they feel more comfortable and confident being themselves at work. We uplift and celebrate our LGBTQIA+ leaders, employees, and external role models.

Some steps we have taken so far include (but aren’t limited to)

Establishing and maintaining a dedicated LGBTQIA+ working group to drive change.
Fortnightly coffee mornings for LGBTQIA+ colleagues and allies to come together and connect in a safe space.
Introduced a buddy scheme to pair LGBTQIA+ colleagues and allies on an informal, 1 to 1 basis.
Conducted a review of all policy documents, updating existing policies and introducing additional ones to ensure inclusivity for LGBTQIA+ colleagues and their families – including chosen families. This includes an inclusive, non-gendered dress code policy, a revised adoption and surrogacy policy, and introducing a transitioning at work policy.
Providing webinars and training sessions to educate our people on LGBTQIA+ lives, issues, and inclusion.
Establishing a reverse mentoring programme which pairs senior leaders with LGBTQIA+ and other minority background colleagues to spark conversations on inclusion.
Created an inclusive recruitment strategy to bring LGBTQIA+ people into our firm.
Ensured that we have the correct data around our people’s sexual orientation, gender identity and trans status (for those who are comfortable disclosing this) to ensure we can appropriately support them.
Hosting regular events for our people, clients, and contacts, especially to mark and celebrate LGBT+ History Month and Pride.
Spotlight LGBTQIA+ employees and partners on our homepage to promote visible role models and encourage others to feel comfortable sharing their stories.

There is always more work to be done - we are currently focused on building on the above, as well as the following actions:

Hosting a wider range of events (both virtual and in person) for our internal LGBTQIA+ and allies network, Count Us In.
Connecting with other strands to ensure consideration of intersectional experiences and different perspectives across all areas of inclusion and diversity.
Building our external networks with other firms and LGBTQIA+ groups.
Identifying opportunities for future mentorship.
Continuing to build allyship through educating allies via our community events, company-wide posts and delivering training to our Inclusion Allies network.