Behind the scenes, there are teams of people around the world working to ensure LGBT+ inclusion is embedded into the culture at Atos…. 365 days a year.
Pride week or month is often be a time for corporate organisations to change their logos rainbow or sell their usual products with a rainbow tint. Understandably, LGBT+ rights activists question these actions as ‘rainbow washing’, particularly when there is no evidence of their actions supporting the LGBT+ community, only lining their pockets from the renowned pink pound.
In Atos, the work we do around diversity and inclusion is often understated. We tend to shy away from marching in Pride parades or other overly public displays of our work. Although we work with external organisations to learn and share best practice, our focus is internal and on making sure our Atos employees have the best possible experience, regardless of who they are or how they identify.
Looking at the employee lifecycle we start with our recruitment and attraction teams. We want to ensure we are attracting the best talent from all walks of life. We want all potential applicants to know they can be themselves at Atos so we work on making sure our website and external collateral reflects this. We work with HR to ensure our policies are inclusive of everyone regardless of sexual orientation and gender identify. It’s the reason we launched our gender transition policy and review it annually. It’s not just policies too. We also have a guide for international travel, recognising that countries around the world have different legal and cultural attitudes to LGBT+ people and it’s vital our colleagues are safe on their travels for work.
Celebrating our LGBT+ role models all year is really important to us, to demonstrate that you can be out in the workplace and achieve all levels of success. Your sexuality and/or gender identity is not a barrier to success in Atos. We work with clients, suppliers and other organisations to learn and share best practice. We all want to develop a diverse and inclusive culture we are proud of.
Allies are absolutely key to LGBT+ inclusion. Whether it’s line manager training or general top tips for Allies, we work hard to raise awareness of the powerful impact allies can have all year round.
We don’t want to work in silos. We recognise people have intersecting identities and so we collaborate with the six other Atos diversity and inclusion networks. From organising a Stride for Pride event to raise money and awareness for LGBT+ mental health, celebrating LGBT+ woman as part of International Women’s Day or highlighting our BAME LGBT+ role models at Atos. Or bringing it all together in the annual Atos Diversity and Inclusion Expo that is livestreamed globally.
Building and maintaining our global AtosPride network is something we work on 365 days a year. We have more than 1200 members in 31 different countries and networks established in the UK, France, Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Spain, Philippines, Mexico, USA and Brazil.
Although it’s not all behind the scenes work that we do. Earlier this year we publicly pledged our support to the United Nations’ Standards of Conduct for Business. This sets out actions to protect the rights of LGBT+ employees, such as eliminating workplace discrimination; making sure business operations do not contribute to discrimination against customers or suppliers; and working with business partners to address discriminatory practices up and down the supply chain. By signing this charter, Atos are highlighting their commitment to making the working environment a place where LGBT+ employees can be themselves, driving performance, engagement as well as inclusion and diversity.
Hopefully this helps shine a light on the work Atos is committed to doing all year round as well as celebrating during Pride week.
We know there is always work to do and we invite you to join us in this journey to LGBT+ inclusion in the workplace.
Visit Atos' website here and find out more about the Atos Pride initiativ and hear from some of their role models. If you're interested in finding live opportunities click here.