Out & Equal Workplace Advocates is the world’s premier nonprofit organization dedicated to achieving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer workplace equality.
Out & Equal’s work has long been about diversity and inclusion, and we’ve made great strides on that front. Now it’s time for us to evolve that work. From this moment on— our work will be about belonging.
In its simplest form, diversity is about counting heads. We need a gay man, a Latina woman, a transgender veteran, a differently-abled millennial—check, check, check, and check. We have diversity.
Inclusion is less simple – there’s a turn of phrase in our work, “diversity is about counting heads, inclusion is about making heads count.” Inclusion is about leveraging and protecting differences. Inclusion is something a company does for it’s employees. Inclusion lives in HR handbooks, in healthcare policies, in CEI scores, in D&I strategy.
Diversity and Inclusion is critical. We will always push companies to understand the absolute need for diversity. And we must keep fighting to make sure that those policies include and protect our community. Out & Equal will never back down on expanding diversity or inclusion. But the heart of our work—the focus of our attention— needs to shift from diversity to inclusion to belonging. Belonging is our holy grail.
Belonging is not top-down, Belonging is interdependence.
Learn more from their Welcome Brochure here.
Contact them here.
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