What does it mean to be out and proud in 2022? How can parents create a home that fosters a child’s identities across the spectrum of gender and sexuality? Who is part of the LGBTQIA+ community, and what does it take to be a strong ally? How does one build a truly inclusive workplace with an empowered and visible LGBTQIA+ community?
Built In New York spoke with six companies to learn about the meaningful questions they are elevating in the workplace this Pride month. Each company is celebrating Pride with a focus on education and advocacy, pairing celebration of progress with a continued commitment to inclusion in the workplace and in the broader community.
“We are planning to focus on education around LGBTQ+ inclusion, improving awareness and increasing allyship,” AJ Frances, Trustpilot’s global diversity, equity and inclusion lead, told us.
Alongside celebratory events both in-person and virtual, several companies are working with external partners to expand the perspectives offered to colleagues throughout the month of June. Both Policygenius and Reonomy, an Altus Group Business, are hosting keynote speakers, while Papier’s newly-formed Pride employee resource group (ERG) is working with a partner organization to host a workshop for their team.
Each of the companies we spoke with has formed a dedicated ERG to build institutional support for LGBTQIA+ colleagues.
“We are lucky to have a budget for our ERG to spend on learning opportunities, books, or events to empower and support our employees,” Aaron Ebert, Check’s head of marketing, said.
Read on to learn more about the Pride celebrations, benefits and policies supporting LGBTQIA+ colleagues at these companies throughout the year.
How is Maven Clinic celebrating or recognizing Pride throughout the month of June?
Pride is a big deal at Maven! We have a vibrant and proud LGBTQIA+ community, and we’re all advocates working for every family, every day. Since Mavens have busy personal lives, our approach is to empower each of them to celebrate Pride in the way that best suits them.
This year and every year, we’re as focused on the opportunity to learn as we are on the celebration. All events are open to Mavens who hope to learn about the LGBTQIA+ community, be better allies and share their own lived experiences. Our Pride at Maven ERG created a panel to discuss how parents can speak to their children about sexuality, gender, and family structures — hosted and moderated by Pride at Maven members.
We’ll kick-off Pride Month on June 1 by changing our Maven logo in a show of support and celebration. Internally, our Pride posters will also go up and pride swag is shipped out to all Mavens! Our people team has been hard at work curating celebratory experiences for our New York, San Francisco and remote teams, to be hosted throughout the month.
For our member community, our content and product teams have created an impressive library of LGBTQIA+ resources that we’ll highlight publicly throughout June.
Beyond the month of June, what are some examples of ways Maven Clinic supports or advocates for the LGBTQIA+ community?
Mavens are lifelong learners. This requires being humble and looking for diverse perspectives – bringing in people whose stories should be told. In our weekly all-hands meeting, you’ll often hear stories from LGBTQIA+ providers on their health care experience or see the impact our work has on LGBTQIA+ families in a weekly Maven Moment. This is what we’re here for.
Since our inception, Maven has been a platform and a place for every family. Through Maven, members of the LGBTQIA+ community who have been historically underserved and left out of maternity and fertility conversations have comprehensive care on their journey to starting and raising a family. We offer end-to-end support tracks, including for IVF, fertility, adoption and surrogacy. Members can meet with providers that align with their identity and we have a growing library of bespoke LGBTQIA+ member content.
Beyond serving our members, our Pride at Maven ERG is active in the community. Most recently, our ERG curated a list of four LGBTQIA+ charities to donate to on Maven’s behalf in response to anti-trans and anti-gay legislation. They’re also active participants in our product, communication and philanthropy efforts.
One hundred percent of Mavens said people here are treated fairly regardless of sexual orientation.”
How does Maven Clinic support and empower the LGBTQIA+ members of your team?
At Maven, we have LGBTQIA+ representation at every level of our organization, with 20 percent of our executive leadership and 12 percent of overall staff identifying as LGBTQIA+. In a recent workplace survey, 100 percent of Mavens said people here are treated fairly regardless of sexual orientation. This is not a coincidence. We’ve intentionally built a culture where diverse perspectives have a seat at our table, which enables us to make decisions in the best interest of all Mavens.
Policies need to be inclusive of all families, so we have one leave policy — we don’t ask who the primary or secondary caregiver is. We understand that financial support is a crucial component for many LGBTQIA+ parents, and our product, Maven Wallet, empowers these parents with up to $7,500 for egg freezing, sperm storage, surrogacy, adoption and maternity.
Inclusive benefits equip Mavens to live their best lives. But creating a safe space for all empowers Mavens to bring their authentic selves to work. Our Pride at Maven ERG hosts employee panels to share lived experiences in the LGBTQIA+ community (e.g., gender identity; family building via adoption and surrogacy) and other opportunities for Mavens to learn and connect.
How is Check celebrating or recognizing Pride throughout the month of June?
Check is looking forward to a fun Pride month that remains grounded in the work left toward building equality for the LGBTQIA+ community.
For our “wig party,” each employee gets sent a different colorful wig to wear at a virtual event. During the event, we decorate rainbow cookies, host break-out room sharing sessions and take goofy pictures. Employees get a chance to celebrate the progress of equality and reflect on how much more there is to do.
Our donation matching program supports Lambda Legal, an established nonprofit that fights for the civil rights of LGBTQIA+ and HIV-positive people through impact litigation, education and public policy work. Our staff organizes a group donation, and last year, our co-founders Andrew Brown and Vivek Patel personally matched employee donations, which allowed us to increase the impact of our donation.
We also partner with nonprofits like Maven Youth to mentor LGBTQIA+ youth who want to understand what it is like to be queer in the working world.
Our ERG goals are to celebrate progress toward equality for all people and to acknowledge that there is more work to be done.”
Beyond the month of June, what are some examples of ways Check supports or advocates for the LGBTQIA+ community?
Check has an LGBTQIA+ ERG that we call PrideCheck. Our ERG goals are to celebrate progress toward equality for all people and to acknowledge that there is more work to be done.
While Pride month is the most prominent time we honor these goals, we aim to influence them throughout the year. We host monthly PrideCheck meetings for LGBTQIA+ employees and allies where we discuss current events, celebrate queer history and plan initiatives. We also have an open forum in Slack where employees can share asynchronously throughout the week.
How does Check support and empower the LGBTQIA+ members of your team?
During Pride month, we publish a blog post to honor the work we do and raise the voices of our employees. Last year, we asked several employees from around the company to share what Pride means to them and what makes them feel supported at work. We also ask employees to add their pronouns to digital profiles to create a more inclusive environment for all folks at the company.
How is Policygenios celebrating or recognizing Pride throughout the month of June?
This year, Policygenius is having some in-person and virtual events to celebrate Pride, and our in-person events will also be streamed for virtual employees who are viewing. We will host Sara Cunningham, founder of Free Mom Hugs, to share her story about becoming an LGBTQIA+ advocate and to provide resources for parents at Policygenius. Each year we hold a donation drive for LGBTQIA+ organizations during Pride month. We’re continuing that this year with donations going to the Ali Forney Center and Free Mom Hugs.
We’ll be hosting a Drag Show Happy Hour at both our New York and North Carolina headquarters for our annual Pride party and having a LGBTQIA+ short film screening as well.
Beyond the month of June, what are some examples of ways Policygenius supports or advocates for the LGBTQIA+ community?
Beyond the month of June, our employee affinity group, PgPride, meets on a monthly basis to discuss what we would like to see for future programming as well as any other relevant topics or events we can do throughout the year. Now that Pride month planning has been laid out for this year, we will be starting to plan additional events for October for LGBTQIA+ History Month, which includes the celebration of National Coming Out Day, which we recognize can still be difficult for some individuals. Policygenius also has a PgPride Slack channel that members take over with monthly topics for open dialogue with colleagues.
We often hear from employees that they truly feel they can be their authentic selves.”
How does Policygenius support and empower the LGBTQIA+ members of your team?
From the early days of Policygenius, we created a safe space for the LGBTQIA+ community, demonstrating our company value of “live by the golden rule.” We often hear from employees that they truly feel they can be their authentic selves immediately after joining Policygenius, which speaks volumes about our culture of inclusion. We honor geniuses by naming conference rooms after them, including LGBTQIA+ legends Marsha P. Johnson, RuPaul, Elton John, Ellen DeGeneres and Audre Lorde. We do a lot to promote inclusivity at Policygenius, from providing ways to add pronouns in Slack and email signatures to our benefits offerings, including health insurance coverage for any domestic partner and paid parental leave offered to any new parents regardless of gender.
How is Papier celebrating or recognizing Pride throughout the month of June?
We recently established Papier Pride, which is our first ERG, and we wanted to be mindful about how companies celebrate Pride in June. The team contributed with a variety of ideas on the activities that would be most thoughtful for our community both internally and externally.
We will host an internal workshop in collaboration with the global collective We Create Space to bring insights and awareness on LGBTQIA+ community and allyship, and we have organized a “school trip” for all members of the company to visit Queer Britain, the UK’s first national LGBTQIA+ museum, which recently opened a stone’s throw from our London office.
Our internal book club selected to read Douglas Stuart’s new novel, Young Mungo, about a queer teen in working-class Glasgow. We will also host a lunch-and-learn catered by LGBTQIA+ businesses and work with PROUD Beer, which donates to LGBTQIA+ causes with each purchase.
For our customers, we will champion queer writers and creatives while focusing on mental health support for our community. We want to focus on ways to celebrate Pride beyond rainbow logos.
We want to focus on ways to celebrate Pride beyond rainbow logos.”
Beyond the month of June, what are some examples of ways Papier supports or advocates for the LGBTQIA+ community?
We have always supported and championed our LGBTQIA+ community. The featured artists in our “Paper People” series have included Lotte Jeffs, writer and podcast host of “Some Families,” which celebrates LGBTQ+ parenting. We want to expand our design partners to include more LGBTQIA+ artists like Matthew Williamson and will continue to celebrate people in our content throughout the year. We are also speaking to LGBTQIA+ charities about building long-term relationships with them.
How does Papier support and empower the LGBTQIA+ members of your team?
This year, Papier is proud to have launched Pride for LGBTQIA+ colleagues and allies, our very first ERG. Our 20 members meet monthly, and we have an engaging Slack channel with daily conversations, articles, inspiration and information about the community. We have built this as a safe space to share, celebrate and champion our community at Papier and help ensure we are building an inclusive brand. We have joined Self Space, the mental health organization, and our community has access to LGBTQIA+ specialists.
How is Reonomy celebrating or recognizing Pride throughout the month of June?
The Altus Pride ERG is planning a mix of inspiring and educational content and events for our global employee base to celebrate Pride in June. We have an informative keynote speaker, spotlights to celebrate some of our LGBTQIA+ and ally employees, and, for the first time since the pandemic hit, groups of employees will be able to attend in-person Pride activities at our hub offices.
Beyond the month of June, what are some examples of ways Reonomy supports or advocates for the LGBTQIA+ community?
Altus Group has made great strides in their support and advocacy for the LGBTQIA+ community. The company supports our Altus Pride ERG and has prioritized time and resources to fostering an inclusive workplace. Through our employee intranet, Altus recognizes the LGBTQIA+ community outside of June with observances throughout the year, including International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia; Transgender Day of Remembrance; and International Coming Out Day.
As an out and open employee, I feel that I am empowered to live my authentic life at Altus Group.”
How does Reonomy support and empower the LGBTQIA+ members of your team?
As an out and open employee, I feel that I am empowered to live my authentic life at Altus Group. Our leadership and training programs continue to grow and evolve with an emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion in our quest for psychological safety for all employees at Altus.
How is Trustpilot celebrating or recognizing Pride throughout the month of June?
We’re looking to host a “human library” or “ask me anything” panel discussion to talk about the different elements of LGBTQ+ culture and identities. Additionally, there are some fun in-person and virtual events we’re working on, which aim to bring people together to learn in a relaxed environment.
Beyond the month of June, what are some examples of ways Trustpilot supports or advocates for the LGBTQIA+ community?
We have our Trustpilot Pride and Allies ERG which aims to build a community for LGBTQ+ people to come together, alongside providing opportunities for allies to support, engage and learn more about LGBTQIA+ culture. Trustpilot works with our ERG to improve policies, processes and inclusion, focusing specifically on the way we recruit, onboard and support our LGBTQIA+ talent.
The onboarding of our new global diversity, equity and inclusion lead means there is now an increased focus in this space at Trustpilot, with a DEI strategy being developed that will focus on many dimensions of diversity and is inclusive of improving the experiences of LGBTQIA+ people at Trustpilot.
Essentially, it comes down to visibility and representation.”
How does Trustpilot support and empower the LGBTQIA+ members of your team?
One of our key values is being “truly open to all.” We are committed to creating a safe and open place to work where folks don’t feel like they have to fit in and can just be themselves. We want everyone to feel that they’re treated fairly, their perspectives are valued and everyone feels empowered to do the best work of their lives.
We are working toward this goal by building perspectives across the entire organization, improving access to education, and raising awareness of key issues. We are also mitigating bias by embedding our code of ethics, as well as our anti-harassment policy.
Essentially, it comes down to visibility and representation, which are some of the most important ways in which we can support and empower our LGBTQIA+ employees. We still have room to grow, but we are committed to achieving significantly more diversity across each job level in our workforce and aim to publish our commitments and goals around diversity later this year.
