Activity ideas to sensitize, entertain, engage, and make your workplace truly diverse and inclusive
Pride Month which is celebrated in June, honors the LGBTQ+ community and commemorates their struggles for equal rights and acceptance. It is a time of reflecting, celebrating, and recognizing the progress made through years of activism and the work that still lies ahead. Pride Month is about embracing diversity, and inclusivity and supporting each other with no negativity or judgment. For a long time, it has proven to be a great opportunity for organizations to talk about their policies to support the LGBT community and show a truly inclusive workplace. It’s the time of the year when everyone engages with the LGBT community, recognizes their contribution to the workplace, and celebrates diversity, turning their existence into a celebration.
Employee engagement during Pride Month gives us a unique opportunity to create a more inclusive and supportive workplace culture. Through thoughtful and creative activities, companies can educate employees, build community, and show their support for LGBTQ+ colleagues. By steps like hosting educational workshops, organizing inclusive events, and encouraging open dialogue, organizations can amplify their cultural terrain and strengthen their internal bonds.
How to Be an Authentic Ally!
Being an ally means so much more than just supporting the LGBTQ+ community. It’s about creating an environment in which the people of the community feel welcome, safe, and inclusive. Being an ally is a continuous action of educating and understanding the cause and emphasizing with the community. Here are a few steps, one can consider to become an authentic ally at work-
• Educate
Start by educating yourself about the history, struggles, and achievements of the community. You should also learn the LGBTQ+ terminology and pronouns. It can be done through reading books, watching movies and documentaries, or simply talking to the right people.
• Listen and Validate
Practice the art of listening, as every person’s experience can be different. Allyship is all about being conscious and considerate and learning to truly listen and empathize with others.
• Create Inclusive Spaces
Create a more inclusive and comfortable environment in the workplace. Be the listening ear and a supporting voice where everyone feels equal and safe.
• Speak up and Advocate
Address the discriminatory remarks and advocate for LGBTQ rights by supporting equality policies and initiatives. You can also wear Pride symbols like pins or lanyards to show your support.
• Don’t be afraid of trying
Don’t be afraid of doing the wrong thing, as doing something is better than doing nothing at all. You can learn from your mistakes. Even trying to show up as an ally is valuable. So keep trying and learning from your mistakes.
We recommend our SEE framework…
At the heart of our Pride Month celebrations at the workplace, is our commitment to SEE – Sensitize, Entertain, and Engage. In this blog, we’ll explore various engaging and inclusive ways to celebrate Pride Month at the office, ensuring every employee feels proud, valued, and seen.
Sensitize- Building awareness and understanding
The aim is to sensitize employees by creating awareness and understanding of LGBTQ+ history and issues through educational workshops and discussions. We can build a network of allies at work who stand in support of their LGBTQ+ colleagues. Hosting sessions where motivational speakers share their coming-out stories, and struggles helps humanize these experiences, making them relatable and inspiring. Additionally, educating employees on LGBTQ+ history and the ongoing fight for equality provides essential context and deepens understanding. Here are some ideas with which, we can create a more informed and empathetic workforce, where everyone feels seen, heard, and supported.
• Talk by Achievers from Pride community
Book a motivational talk or chat session with achievers from the Pride community. Hearing their story, experiences & achievements would let you showcase your support for the LGBT community. This would also give great strength to employees from the LGBT community. Select from a specially curated list of India’s finest speakers on D&I, like Harish Iyer, Gauri Sawant, Ankita Mehra, and many more Top achievers from the LGBT community.
• Workshop on Awareness of LGBTQ+
Engaging sessions by experts can help you build awareness on topics like LGBT Sensitization, Unconscious bias, Diversity & Inclusion, Debunking myths about the LGBT community, etc. These sessions are not only informative but also made engaging through live interaction, quizzing, and activities that keeps participants involved throughout.
Entertain: Celebrating diversity with joyful activities
Pride Month is a time to celebrate and enjoy the lively culture of the LGBTQ+ community through entertaining activities. Organizing movie nights with LGBTQ+ themed films, book readings featuring diverse authors, and comedy specials that bring humor and insight to shared experiences can create a dazzling and inclusive atmosphere. Hosting a music concert exhibiting LGBTQ+ artists can make a great party. These events not only entertain but also show the richness of LGBTQ+ contributions to the arts. Here are some unique ideas that can lead to entertainment while also creating a sense of belonging among all employees-
• Live Entertainment
Nowadays some top performers from fields like stand up comedians, singers, live bands, etc are from the LGBT community. Organizing their performance for your employees lets you not only recognize their talent but also allows you to show that you value talent without any biases. Reach out to us to know more and book top performers for live entertainment from the LGBT community.
• Theatrical Act
Book the engagement activity Theatrical Act and let your employees narrate their version of why diversity & inclusion are important. This employee engagement activity moves through all the stages of film making- ideating, scripting, shooting, and editing. Book this activity as it delivers contagious excitement among participants as each team screens their masterpiece for the rest of the attendees.
• Movie Night/ Book Reading
LGBTQ+ themed movies can not only be a great source of entertainment but also education among the employees. For book reading, you can choose a story highlighting LGBTQ+ stories and in the end, you can also host a discussion session after the movie, or book reading, to learn more about the community and share your understanding.
Engage- Bringing everyone together
Engaging the workforce is at the heart of our Pride Month celebrations. By participating in Pride-themed volunteer opportunities, employees can contribute to meaningful causes and connect with the LGBTQ+ community. Interactive activities like Pride-themed games, art exhibitions, and photography competitions give creative outlets for expression. Trivia nights focused on LGBTQ+ history and culture offer fun and educational engagement. These activities not only bring employees together but also deepen their understanding and appreciation of the LGBTQ+ community. Here are some ideas, through which, we can build a more inclusive, supportive, and vibrant workplace for everyone.
• One Vision
One Vision can be the ultimate activity to align employees around your organization’s policies on the LGBT community. You can showcase a visual representation of your vision and let participants recreate that through teamwork and collaboration. This painting activity is perfect for cascading vision, values, or policies among employees.
• BrainBout Quizzing
Play customized quizzing on LGBT or Diversity & Inclusion on the quizzing platform BrainBout. Through community quizzing you can enhance awareness about your D&I policies, Sensitization about LGBT, etc letting employees unleash their knowledge to be on the top of the leaderboard.
• T-shirt painting
Celebrate the month of pride with T-shirt painting activity on the theme of Pride month. Book this activity to celebrate diversity & inclusion initiatives taking place at your workplace.
• Shoe Painting
Paint / decorate your sneakers in Pride month colors & let your employees show support towards the LGBT community with our Shoe Painting Activity. Bonus comes in the form of great memories made while doing this fun activity.
• Tattoo at Workplace
Celebrate Pride Month with a tattoo activity at your workplace. A tattoo artist will make customized tattoos for your employees so they show their support for the LGBT community. An easy-to roll out and must-do activity at your workplace during pride month.
• Pride Month giveaways
Gift small giveaways like pride month badges, lanyards, stationery items, stress balls, flags, bands, etc which are on the theme of pride month and show your appreciation towards the LGBT community.
The steps we take during the pride month are just a celebration of what is supposed to be year-round efforts in the office. By sensitizing, entertaining, and engaging, we are creating an environment that is safe, respectable to one another and equal. Let’s celebrate Pride Month to champion inclusivity, celebrate diversity, and engage meaningfully.
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