Pride Month 2024 is approaching quickly! This month is all about celebrating and supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as spreading love and acceptance. Whether you’re a small business or a big company, it’s important to celebrate Pride Month and promote an accepting and inclusive environment at work.
But what are ways on how to celebrate Pride Month at work? Are there benefits of celebrating Pride Month at work? What are some Pride Month corporate activities you can use to celebrate and promote diversity and inclusion? Rest assured, because we’re going to help you celebrate Pride Month at work so you can support your employees, inclusion, and the LGBTQIA+ community.
Benefits of Celebrating Pride Month at Work
First, let’s talk a little bit about the benefits of celebrating Pride Month at work. The main reason you should celebrate Pride Month is because it’s the right thing to do. The LGBTQIA+ community has faced heavy discrimination over the years, and though much progress has been made, they still deal with many challenges and setbacks. They deserve love and support, and Pride Month is a great way to show that.
Beyond that though, there are other more business centric benefits. The benefits of celebrating Pride Month go hand in hand with the benefits of promoting diversity and an inclusive culture in the workplace.
For example, promoting diversity and inclusion opens you up to a larger talent pool. If you aren’t inclusive and discourage people from the LGBTQIA+ community, you’re missing out on a lot of potentially great employees that value inclusivity. But if you are inclusive and promote diversity, you have access to a larger pool of talent.
Having a diverse and inclusive work environment also means more diverse skill sets and outlooks. People from different social and cultural backgrounds have different skills and perspectives, which can bring a lot of value to your business and help spur creativity, innovation, and more.
Another factor to consider is that modern consumers place more of an emphasis on a company’s values than in years past. People want to support companies that support causes they care about, such as the LGBTQIA+ community. LGBTQIA+ friendly businesses are more profitable according to an article from Forbes that looked at multiple studies on the topic. Though your decision to support Pride Month shouldn’t be about profit, it is a factor to keep in mind.
How to Celebrate Pride Month at Work
Now that you know the benefits, let’s move onto how to celebrate Pride Month at work. This can be difficult for many people, especially those who aren’t in the LGBTQIA+ community. Finding ways to celebrate Pride Month at work without it coming off as corporate and insincere can be a challenge, and authenticity is key if you want your Pride Month to be effective. Here are some Pride event ideas for work to get you started.
Create a Safe and Supportive Environment
If you’re a socially conscious company, there’s a good chance you’re already doing this. That said, creating a safe and supportive environment is key for Pride Month. If you don’t already do this, creating the right environment should be step one.
Above all else, LGBTQIA+ people deserve to feel safe and welcomed at work. There are lots of ways to go about this, but anti-discrimination policies are a good start. As a workplace, you cannot be inclusive and accepting if you tolerate discrimination. Putting a stop to and preventing LGBTQIA+ discrimination should be a top priority.
Another good idea is to issue inclusive language guidelines. It’s easy for people who aren’t well versed in LGBTQIA+ language and concepts to say things that may be offensive, hurtful, or insensitive. Those folks may mean well, but their language can still be damaging. Creating clear guidelines for employees to follow can go a long way in making your workplace a more welcoming and inclusive workplace.
It’s also wise to pair those guidelines with training(s) related to LGBTQIA+ issues and sensitivities. Again, learning and understanding is key. No matter how little or much people know about the LGBTQIA+ community, it’s never a bad idea to learn more. Training can help you and your employees gain a better understanding of the LGBTQIA+ community, be more sensitive to their struggle, be more supportive, and ultimately make your workplace more accepting.
You could also consider offering LGBTQIA+ friendly employee resource groups or support networks. This can help give LGBTQIA+ employees more support, as well as show that they are welcomed and supported in their workplace.
Pride Month Corporate Activities
Pride Month may be serious, but it’s also supposed to be fun too. There are a lot of different activities and events you can use to celebrate Pride Month, promote diversity and inclusivity, and have fun at the same time. These activities can be a great way to get everyone involved, participating, learning more, and show support for their LGBTQIA+ coworkers.
Game shows for example are a great choice for Pride Month. You can tailor your game shows to promote awareness, inclusivity, and fun. Verizon owned Visible launched their own game show for Pride Month. Though their event is aimed toward the general public, it’s a great example of a game show that celebrates and supports the LGBTQIA+ community.
Another great event for Pride Month is Helping Hands. In this event, you and your employees will be creating care packages for those in need. And since it’s focused on Pride Month, you can donate them to local LGBTQIA+ shelters or charities. This can be a great way to bond, promote awareness, and make a difference in the local LGBTQIA+ community.
The Big Picture is a great exercise for helping teams stay mindful of “seeing the bigger picture” in their professional lives. As in most areas of life, it’s all about communication, collaboration and pulling together in the same direction.
Those are just a few examples of events and activities you can do for Pride Month. At TeamBonding, we have a number of events for diversity and inclusivity that are perfect for Pride Month. So don’t be afraid to browse around and find an event that seems like a great fit for you and your team.
Promote Visibility and Allies
Promoting visibility and encouraging employees to be allies is another way to celebrate Pride Month at work. Things as simple as hanging pride flags or symbols in the workplace can go a long way in making your LGBTQIA+ employees feel safe, comfortable, and accepted at work.
Another simple way to promote visibility and allyship is by encouraging employees to use inclusive pronouns and add their pronouns to things like email signatures, LinkedIn, and more. Again, this is a fairly simple and small change, but it can have a big impact.
You can also consider partnering with some LGBTQIA+ organizations and charities. Whether you do an event, a special collaboration, or something else, taking the time to support LGBTQIA+ organizations, businesses, and charities shows that you actually care about the community.
Community Engagement
Community engagement is a very direct way to celebrate Pride Month and show your support, but it can also be one of the most impactful. No matter how big or small your city is, there is an LGBTQIA+ community. Directly supporting that community is the perfect way to show your support and make a difference locally.
You could consider attending any local pride events, such as parades or street fairs. Encourage employees to come out and show their support. You could even consider sponsoring the event or participating in it yourself.
Events like that are also a great opportunity to partner with other local businesses for joint initiatives. You could set-up an event together, do a donation matching initiative, or something else to directly support the LGBTQIA+ community.
Evaluation and Continuous Improvement
Lastly, Pride Month shouldn’t be the end of your support for the LGBTQIA+ community or focus on inclusivity. While Pride Month is a time to focus on it, you should always be evaluating your workplace and looking for ways to continuously improve your workplace.
Pride Month can be a starting point to make your corporate culture more accepting and inclusive. You should be analyzing and assessing the impact of your inclusivity efforts, collecting feedback from employees, and implementing changes and improvements based on that feedback.
Tons of companies say they care about the LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month, yet immediately stop talking about it and forget their initiatives come July. Constantly working to be more inclusive, accepting, and supportive shows that you and your business genuinely care about the LGBTQIA+ community.
Companies That Celebrate Pride Month at Work
Before wrapping up, let’s quickly look at a couple examples of companies that go beyond the rainbow logos and celebrate Pride Month right.
The cosmetic company Lush is a great example of Pride Month done well by a company. Lush does numerous things to celebrate and show their support. Outside of obvious things like releasing pride centered products, they have a section of their website dedicated to the various causes they support, including the LGBTQIA+ community. They include stories from LGBTQIA+ activists, LGTBQ+ individuals, resources, and much more. They also host pride events and donate considerably to LGBTQIA+ charities.
Another simpler example is Yankee Candle. They are keeping things relatively simple by launching a line of Pride-themed candles, the proceeds of which will be donated to a charity that helps LGBTQIA+ people escape from harmful situations. Yankee Candle may not be the loudest when it comes to Pride Month, but actions often speak louder than words.
source: Adidas
Adidas has a long history of supporting the LGBTQIA+ community and celebrating Pride Month. Their Love Unites collection features rainbow-colored apparel and footwear, and they actively support organizations that advocate for inclusion in sports and human rights defense.
Celebrate Pride Month and Support the LGBTQ Community
This June, make an effort to celebrate Pride Month and support the LGBTQIA+ community. By creating a safe and supporting workplace, doing events focused on awareness and inclusion, promoting visibility and allyship, encouraging community engagement, and continually working towards being more accepting, you can celebrate Pride Month and show your continued support.
If you need help celebrating Pride Month, look no further than TeamBonding. We are an LGBTQIA+ friendly company with a wide selection of events that can be tailored to your Pride Month celebrations. So get in touch with us and make this Pride Month one to remember.
