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  • Scoop Market Mysteries 6-24-22 (Pride)

Scoop Market Mysteries 6-24-22 (Pride)

🔎 Market Mysteries: Are companies taking action this Pride?

 Market Mysteries of the week

   Are companies taking action during Pride beyond their rainbow logos?   

Answer:

Alongside their public statement, corporations have focused on internal work supporting LGBTQ+ employees.

How can we use inclusive terms to talk about Pride?

We must approach these conversations

with an open mind and respect

. Ensuring that we

use inclusive terms

opens the door for education and a productive discussion. Many of us fear saying the wrong thing when it comes to identity, but as a culture, we have to become more comfortable with being corrected and learning new terms.

The most popular inclusive term is LGBTQIA+ or just LGBTQ+

, but many variations are also acceptable. 

As a member of the LGBTQIA+ community contributing to this piece, I tend to use the term

"Queer" as an alternative to LGBTQIA+

in writing to make it easier to read. While "Queer" was formerly a slur, our generation has reclaimed this word as a term of power instead of hate. Understanding the significance of the words we use and their impact on the LGBTQ+ community is the crucial first step toward creating a more inclusive workplace.

So how are companies taking an active role in supporting the Queer Community?

Navigating the

fine line between being supportive and performative

is challenging, and some companies are making more public moves than others. June 1st marked the beginning of companies

adopting a rainbow color palette and offering Pride-themed items

. Organizations like

and the

tried to show support for the LGBTQ+ community with rainbow social media posts. This practice sends the message "you belong here" to both employees and consumers and raises awareness of the life experiences of Queer people. This approach, however, has also been criticized as

"rainbow-washing," using marketing to exploit the Pride celebration purely for profit.

A public way for companies to support the LGBTQ+ community is by putting a

. While Coca-Cola, AT&T, and State Farm tout their rainbow logos,

they also donate

to organizations like the

and the

,

which support the LGBTQ+ community

. However, the same companies

against the Queer community, raising

questions about the sincerity

of corporate support. 

Even when companies progress in their social responsibility,

it is difficult for them to communicate it to the public.

Corporations have three main ways that they speak to the public: press releases, quarterly reports, and content marketing. The first two options cater to particular audiences, and the third opens the door for volatile and unstructured public responses. A company's

social media pages have become the primary way consumers interact with the brand,

but 280 characters are simply not enough space for brands to celebrate their progress. Whether internal spousal support for same-gendered couples or mental health coverage,

incremental policy change just doesn't translate easily

into the algorithm-driven world of social media. 

What kinds of changes are being made?

Across the board,

companies are changing policy and culture to better support the Queer workforce.

These changes can be as simple as removing "he/she" from company documents and replacing the term with "them."

Some companies navigate the "rainbow washing" by

working directly with Queer artists

. When American Eagle put out a

from Queer designers, they were clear they would be

While nearly all Fortune 500 companies

, most appear to be "

" with little to no progress.

on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Companies bring in outside trainers or consultants to educate the entire workforce and drive changes in company policy and culture to encourage a more inclusive workplace. These consultants work with leadership to take action to protect their marginalized workers and address discriminatory practices within the business over time.

Assigning an annual

training course alone doesn't cut it

. Some studies have shown that

. More than

to support vulnerable employees like LGBTQ+ workers, people of color, and differently-abled people. These organizations advocate for internal policy changes that address access to healthcare, parental leave, and protection from discrimination while creating an internal community for people of marginalized identities.

began providing their entire staff benefits for surrogacy, adoption, and fertility treatments, regardless of sexuality or identity.

How do we hold corporations accountable?

No formal reporting system exists for companies to show how inclusive they are. It's hard to account for such a subjective metric. Many companies,

, have started including diversity goals and metrics in their Corporate Responsibility Reports that are available to the public. As we've touched on before,

transparency and accountability go hand-in-hand

More organizations are trying to create metrics for the cause.

is a nonprofit that ranks companies for their progress in DEI. These rankings look at race, religion, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and disability status and their effects on workers' pay.

(HRC) also provides major law firms and corporations rankings. The HRC evaluates three criteria: workplace protections, inclusive benefits, and inclusive company culture rooted in corporate social responsibility. HRC has seen protections for LGBTQ+ workers at surveyed companies go from less than 10% to over 99% in the past 20 years. The HRC even puts out a report with the 842 businesses earning a full 100 rating

While these metrics and rankings won't answer all questions about how inclusive a company is,

they create accountability and guide companies to implement meaningful change

for their workers. Our mobile platform will incorporate many of these metrics on every major corporation as we look to increase transparency and accountability in the financial world.

There's still more work to be done. 

Has your company put action behind its rainbow logo? Have you joined an employee resource group to support your coworkers?

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