LGBTQIA+ Employee Network: FY19 Wins & Impacts
If you asked me a year ago what the LGBTQIA+ Employee Network would achieve by the end of our fiscal year, I wouldn’t have dreamed what we have accomplished. I knew that the network was supported by many, but I wouldn’t have anticipated the mounds of support we received, top to bottom throughout the organization. So no matter where we were standing last year, this year our accomplishments were tremendous ones for us.
A lot of the time, when working toward our goals in inclusivity and diversity, it can be daunting. There is so much work ahead of us. And while there is so much left to do, forgetting each step we took to get us toward the ultimate goal of inclusion and equality, would do a disservice to the work we are doing every day.
Take a moment to reflect on your year, on your employee network group’s year, on your company’s progress to more inclusion. Taking the time to collect your successes and share them throughout the organization — tying that success back to tangible results of feelings of inclusion, representation of more diversity, can be a key difference to continued support, engagement, and excitement in a world of difficult goals and adversity.
We started the fiscal year with the largest LGBT+ Pride event in the Netherlands, and one of the largest in the world: a parade of about 80 boats through the canal of Amsterdam! Our participation in Amsterdam Pride solidified the support of our network within Palo Alto Networks. It was our first sponsored event in this region and we had lots of participation from employees.
In January, we launched two more chapters in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Plano, Texas. It was a huge milestone for us to launch these chapters. Many employees have reached out to me directly to share that they had feared discrimination in the workplace due to their sexual identity and that the launch of these two chapters helped them feel at ease and supported. The presence of our network helped them feel more comfortable just being themselves in their daily lives at work. It was humbling to hear that our efforts and small strides can make such a huge impact. Our overarching goal for this network is to ensure that employees feel supported and safe to be their best selves at work. We love hearing things like:
“My family is conservative, but seeing all the great Pride celebration fun on campus caused me to take my family to SF Pride. We all loved it. It brought tears to my eyes seeing the freedom and equality. Thank you LGBTQIA+ ENG!”
“I didn’t feel comfortable being ‘me’ at work. But seeing the huge support from everyone all month long gave me the courage to be more ‘me’!”
“I’m so happy to see you be your true self at work because I know my son oftentimes struggles, but knowing that there are change and companies like PANW who support the gay community warms my heart”
These messages aren’t just words — they are the validation and support each of us wants to hear when experiencing a difficult environment.
Our network is focused on several goals and one of those is education for our employees. Here, we don’t just discuss that problems exist, we face them head-on. In early May, we hosted our first Allies event, “Community Voices: How We Make a Difference.” 6 out of 7 of our employee networks joined to share personal stories about how allies have helped them through personal and professional scenarios.
As part of our efforts in hiring a more diverse workforce, a few members of our network attended the Lesbians Who Tech (LWT) conference in San Francisco in March. We quickly realized that the LWT summits are a great opportunity for us to connect with LGBT Employee Networks from other companies and to make a much bigger name for ourselves in the Inclusion & Diversity efforts throughout the technology industry. So we have made the commitment to be a corporate sponsor at the next 2 LWT Summits in NY and SF.
Each of our chapters makes a unique impact and help our local LGBT+ communities in different ways. We nominated the Billy de Frank Center in San Jose for a SMILE grant — for which they were awarded $5k. They used this grant as seed money to start up a 24/7 resource hotline for the LGBTQ community. This free hotline will provide supportive listening, crisis intervention, and lots of resources to the community.
We spent a great deal this year creating a safe space and providing resources for our colleagues to truly be their authentic selves at work. This was only the beginning. How were we doing as an organization, compared to other organizations? This year, we were listed with a rating of 95% on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Corporate Equality index. This report provides an in-depth analysis and rating of large U.S. employers and their policies and practices pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees. While 95% is a good score to receive, we know that we can do better — and we will do better to receive 100%.
In celebration of LGBT+ Pride Month, our chapters around the world hosted different events. The HQ chapter held weekly on-campus PRIDE celebrations during lunch with games, prizes, snacks, and FUN! It wasn’t all just fun and games though, we took this opportunity to educate our employees on the significance of Pride month and why it’s important to continue to celebrate and discuss how far we’ve come as a community. The Amsterdam chapter watched the Stonewall Riots documentary and educated employees about how LGBT Pride first started. At the Pride celebration in the Tel Aviv office, they brought in a transgendered guest speaker to share her story of coming out, transitioning and being successful in the corporate world. The Dallas chapter participated in the Dallas Pride Festival and parade.
We closed out the year with news that warms all of our hearts. We were awarded a $2500 grant that we gave to Dallas Hope Charities in Dallas, TX. Dallas Hope Charities provides resources and temporary housing for LGBT youth who have been displaced from their homes upon coming out. This grant helped 3 LGBT youth obtain safe and welcoming homes. What a difference we are making in our communities!
Our work doesn’t end here. We have many things planned for FY20 to take this to the next level. We want policies changed. We want to better serve our LGBT+ community here at work. We want more employees involved. We want to continue to make a bigger impact in our community at large. Where will we be next year? I still can’t answer, but I know it will continuously grow our impact within the company and out in our communities around the globe, and that we will continue to celebrate the successes we have along the way.
