Cork Pride's network to promote LGBT+ inclusion in workplace
Damien O'Halloran, Cork Pride company secretary and chair of the new ‘Work With Pride’ professional business network. Pictured here with his dog Cyclops, Damien is a data and customer experience expert, formerly with Dell Technologies, who now runs his own business consultancy.
Networking has an invaluable role to play in boosting the confidence of LGBT+ workers within business communities, says Damien O’Halloran of Cork Pride.
The Marriage Equality referendum of 2015 was a landmark moment for inclusion for Irish society in the broadest terms. Since then, the LGBT+ community has enjoyed a lot of success in engaging with businesses in Ireland, promoting policies around diversity and inclusion.
Cork Pride is taking another important step with the launch of Ireland's first ‘Work With Pride’ LGBT+ professional business network at 6.30pm on Thursday, May 12, at the River Lee Hotel in Cork.
“When you ask questions about how to make workplaces better, you have to remember that there are so many different types of workplace,” said Damien O’Halloran, Cork Pride company secretary and chair of ‘Work With Pride’.
“Bigger corporations will generally have policies around equality, equity, diversity and inclusion. They may have a policy on dignity in the workplace, with perhaps someone in HR dedicated to overseeing the practical delivery of these policies in the workplace.
“Our ‘Work With Pride’ network will also include people working in SMEs, sole traders and smaller enterprises where these supports may not be readily available.”
Cork Pride’s aim is for the ‘Work With Pride’ network to connect businesses of all sizes, to share and promote ideas that help create better, more inclusive workplaces.
Like any other professional network, members will attend educational and social events. Membership is free. Members will build professional relationships, broaden career opportunities, educate one another on workplace topics and become more inclusive colleagues through a series of annual formal and informal scheduled events.
“The idea for ‘Work With Pride’ grew out of the virtual conferences and events that Cork Pride hosted during the pandemic,” said Damien, an IT expert formerly with Dell who now runs his own consultancy. “People are working in very different ways now, and many don’t have the same access to colleagues to discuss the hot topics on a given day.
“During Covid, a lot of discussion grew around what makes your business an employer of choice. To be a truly inclusive employer, you must be able to show that your policies are being delivered in practical ways.
“One recent survey by Deloitte found that one in five people felt they faced discrimination in the workplace due to their ethnicity or their sexual orientation. Some 43% of LGBT+ people in Ireland say they are not ‘out’ in the workplace.
“Ireland has definitely come a long way, but we shouldn’t be complacent about rights being eroded. We look forward to discussion around the Employment Equality Act and the Equality Status Act. The recent events in Sligo [the suspected homophobic motivation behind the murders of Michael Snee and Aidan Moffitt] have made everyone stop and think.
“There is a need for robust legislation to come out of Helen McEntee’s hate crime bill. There is also a need for more networks like ‘Work With Pride’, more D&I conferences with topics that engage debate around practical changes to deliver inclusion in the workplace.”
This sense of the need to ensure the ball isn’t dropped for D&I progress in Ireland is very evident in the “Proud to be…?” theme of the 2022 Work With Pride Diversity and Inclusion Conference, to be hosted by Cork LGBT+ Pride Festival CLG on Thursday, July 28.
Damien says the theme shows the general awareness that Irish society and businesses have become more open and inclusive. The question mark in “Proud to be…?” also signals a need for ongoing education across a range of topics.
Damien O’Halloran says Cork Pride can thank Ibec and its other lead sponsors for making it possible for the group to host events that raise awareness of D&I in the workplace.
He also thanks staff communications experts Workvivo for free access to its platform, which has enabled Cork Pride to host discussions that engage discussions across a range of hot topics, with strong worker participation across the island and overseas.
Indeed, Deloitte’s 2020 report ‘Working Globally: Why LGBT+ Inclusion is Key to Competitiveness’ shows how the need for more discussion on topics of inclusion has grown with the way the modern workplace has become more globalised with the rise of remote working.
The report found the unease that many LGBT+ workers feel about the different D&I laws and the application of D&I company policies in different jurisdictions around the world.
These workers said they were happy to travel to different work sites, but only 45% of LGBT+ people who feel ‘completely comfortable’ being open about their sexuality in their primary office felt the same way while working on an international assignment.
The Deloitte survey also found that more than 90% of LGBT+ people who have worked on an international assignment did not receive information from their employer about LGBT+ laws, networks and culture before or after being offered the assignment.
“Ireland has made progress,” said Damien O’Halloran. “The fact that some people still feel they can’t reveal their true selves in the workplace tells us that we still have more to do.”
