Advertisment

Advertisment

Keep On Pushing

Cherice Thomas

Story by
Cherice Thomas Programme Leader, Kyndryl

LGBT icon in shape of a circle on rainbow flag. Sexual minorities

Cherice Thomas, Programme Leader at IT infrastructure services provider Kyndryl on why the case still needs to be made for DEI initiatives.

One of the things that I love most about my job at Kyndryl is the business’s KIN groups. Our Kyndryl Inclusion Networks are employee-led resources for people with shared identities around things like race, gender, sexual identity, and disability. They are sponsored by the company at the global enterprise level and branch down into country-level chapters, giving everyone who works here the opportunity to organise, support one another, foster professional development, and find better ways of working in an inclusive environment. That embedded link from the highest level of the business down to the individual employee makes them feel, for me, unusually valuable and empowering.

Reading this, you might be thinking that there is nothing hugely unusual in all of this. Many enterprises now invest in a structure of inclusion groups alongside their business organisational structure, and while Kyndryl (if I may say so) does that especially well, is this still something that merits shouting about?

I think it does – and, in fact, that it’s a kind of initiative that we need to make the case for as powerfully and persuasively as ever.

I myself volunteer time for three KINs, working with the Race & Ethnicity KIN Core team as well as taking part in the LGBTQ+ KIN and the Women’s KIN. In all of them, I find both a meaningful recognition of my own experiences and an important opportunity to support those coming up through the business world after me.

A Journey

Coming out, for me, was a long journey from my late teens through to my mid-twenties, and the professional environments I was learning to move in at the time were far from my only challenge. I am proud of my Caribbean culture, and it is something that I dearly love being part of, but in my early adulthood it wasn’t always forward-thinking about people’s sexualities. A complex history of anti-LGBT laws on the books in the region and a code of religious belief introduced through the colonial era incubated a stubborn opposition to people living as anything other than straight.

That made me scared to come out – fearing that I wouldn’t be accepted for who I am, that I would lose the friends and family I rely on. Sure enough, there were people I lost along the way, but I was also blessed with a deep well of support from those I loved the most, and who loved me the most.

Today, my Caribbean community and the broader culture have come a long way in understanding and accepting LGBTQ+ identities. So has the national culture in this country, just as we’ve made important progress in terms of eroding away some ethnic and racial prejudice. Many things have contributed to these shifts, among them the willingness of businesses to make space for the unique experiences of identity that people bring with them into their work.

There are some cynics who see these advances as being inversely correlated with the need for initiatives like KINs – who think that the better we get, the less we need to try.

I am not so complacent.

Bigotry Continues

Globally, there are still far too many nations where pursuing a same-sex relationship can result in persecution, imprisonment, or even death. It’s important to recognise that fact, both as a gross injustice in itself and as a warning that bigotry is not a creature of the past, but a threat in the present. As proud as we should be of the rights won and the discriminations ended, a status quo of equal rights is much easier to destroy than it is to build.

We can look to recent tides in the US as evidence of this: trans people barred from military service; federal contractors using religious exemptions to fire LGBTQ+ employees; growing censorship of inclusive educational texts; organised financial pressures being applied to businesses trying to accommodate diversity; legislation acting against women’s bodily autonomy; and much more besides.

I fear that it will be hard to imagine such a degradation being repeated here in the UK until it actually happens. In the face of such a risk, it is important that businesses double down on the good that they can do.

As a child I was drawn almost compulsively to logic and geometry puzzles, often begging grown-ups to get me more books of them. In the admissions process for my first IT job I was informed that I’d received the highest ever recorded score in the aptitude test they were using. This is a career that absolutely fits me, but in my youth it’s not something I ever imagined for myself – and that’s because it wasn’t until I was solidly in my career that I saw anyone who reflects my culture and values doing this role.

That role-modelling of career possibilities, and the wealth of talent it gives businesses access to, is the usual headline reason given for investing in things like the KINs that I take part in, and that quality is enormously valuable. 

We shouldn’t forget, though, that such initiatives are also a social stance. They are a way of saying ‘not today’ to those who would make prejudice the norm once more. And today, that’s something to shout about.

Topics

Share

Advertisment

Latest Events

AI in the Workplace, The Potential, The Pitfalls and The Risks

In recent years, advancements in AI technologies have surged, permeating nearly every industry and facet of our lives. From automating routine tasks to augmenting human decision-making, AI holds the promise of revolutionising productivity, efficiency, and creativity in the workplace.
AI in the Workplace

Apr 2024 – Reward and Recognition – is that the best you can do?

What are the standard ways HR should be seeking to reward and recognise its employees - and what are the more innovative ways?

May 2024 – Equality, Diversity, Inclusion: Put your money where your mouth is

Is EDI still a vital part of every business' agenda and what good does it deliver for HR?
May 2024 Webinar from the HR World

May 2024 – Employee Benefits: How to Stop Wasting Money

Are you throwing money at employee benefits or a health and wellbeing programme that aren't appreciated?

Mar 2024 – Leveraging Digital Learning Tools: Empowering HR Teams for Success

In today's fast-paced business landscape, the role of HR teams is evolving rapidly. To stay competitive and foster organisational growth, companies must leverage effective learning programs strategically.

Mar 2024 – The Efficiency Programme: How HR can maximise technology benefits

There are huge promises and potential for the use of AI and technology in HR and in this session we discuss the best way ahead for HR for technology and AI use.

Effective Resourcing Models & How We Guarantee the Integrity of Inclusive Recruitment Regardless of Approach

A opportunity to debate how can we adopt a cohesive inclusive approach that enhances the candidate experience without creating barriers between us and the talent essential to your organisational success.
15 May 2024 - Sanderson Round Table

Feb 2024 – It’s All HR’s Fault

Despite being a trusted voice in the C-suite, HR is still viewed with distrust and outright disdain by many employees – the very people HR is there to support.
Its all HRs Fault On demand Webinar

Jan 2024 – Health and Wellbeing: Making it Personal

If you’re investing in a health and wellbeing strategy, you want to make sure it meets the needs of your workforce.

Dec 2023 – Year in Review 2023

In this webinar we brought back some of our previous 2023 webinar speakers who gave their view on the past 12 months.

Nov 2023 – Reward and Recognition for the International Workforce

In this webinar we explored the dispersed workplace and asked what it means to support employees all over the world.
Reward and Recognition for the International Workforce

Streamlining Year-End HR Operations

Providing seasonal support, ideas and inspiration, this webinar covered the challenges and opportunities presented to HR professionals at this time of year.
Streamlining year-end HR operations

Compensation Planning – The key to a motivated and satisfied workforce

Compensation and reward strategies have changed radically over the past few years with the impact of the pandemic and the trends that followed.
Compensation Planning - The key to a motivated and satisfied workforce

Oct 2023 – Talent Acquisition: Why your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is more important than ever

This webinar addressing talent acquisition majored on the Employee Value Proposition (EVP).
Talent Acquisition – Why your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is more important than ever

Resourcing Models, Insource, Outsource or Hybrid what are the best solutions?

Discussions on the evening were led by two invited experts Jim Richardson, with spells at Santander and Royal Bank of Scotland as Global Head of Talent, Jim now advises corporate businesses on their TA models, and, Ross Crook, Managing Director at Sanderson Solutions.
Resourcing models round table

Sep 2023 – Retention: Holding on to The Talent You Need

The post-pandemic workforce now presents more of a challenge in terms of feeling satisfied and content in the workplace. This webinar on retention also provided a masterclass on employee engagement.
Retention holding on to the talent you need

Aug 2023 – Professional Development: Making the Step Up

What does it take to be an HR Director, or to take a position at Board level? This webinar looked at professional development for HR leaders.
What does it take to be an HR Director?

Jul 2023 – Employee Benefits: Then, now and next

The importance and value of giving employees choice on rewards and recognition.
Employee benefits, then now and next.

Jun 2023 – HR Data: The Key To Delivering Real Value

This webinar on HR Data brought home the importance of understanding the value of people data not just to HR but to the business as a whole.
HR on demand event - HR data: the key to delivering real value

RPO Market – Insource, Outsource or Hybrid: What are the best solutions?

The HR World and Sanderson Managed Services Ltd held an exclusive Round Table dinner to explore and debate the current RPO arena.

AI as part of the hiring, on-boarding and retention processes

The HR World and Sanderson Managed Services Ltd held an exclusive Round Table dinner to further the discussion of AI among Senior HR Leaders.

May 2023 – AI in HR: The Perfect Balance

AI is hitting the headlines right now as experts forecast a future that’s powered by tech. But what will this mean for HR?
On demand hr webinar - Ai in HR

Apr 2023 – HR Tech: Ensuring your technology delivers for all your people

Technology continues to throw challenges at the HR function as the speed of change increases and new technology (anyone noticed something called AI?) enters the arena.
HR tech on demand webinar with Sympa

Mar 2023 – Equality, diversity, and inclusion: Reshaping thinking for action

In this webinar we explored how ED&I can have a real impact for businesses. At the centre of the discussion was the idea of changing thinking in order to make things happen.
Equality, diversity, and inclusion: Reshaping thinking for action

Feb 2023 – Leading With Agility: How to give your business the behaviours and mindsets it needs for volatile times

This webinar took as its focus agility and how businesses can develop and maintain these skills among its workforce.
This webinar took as its focus agility and how businesses can develop and maintain these skills among its workforce.

Jan 2023 – How can you create a culture of health and wellbeing in the workplace?

This webinar tackled the important and timely issue of creating a health and wellbeing culture in the workplace.
How can you create a culture of health and wellbeing in the workplace?

Hiring Gen Z – what can employers learn about emerging talent in 2023?

Join us at this cross-learning, in-person event as part of The HR World Culture Clash series at RSA House in London on 20 Oct 2022.
Hiring Gen Z: Culture Clash Panellists

Bridging the gap: what can employers learn about emerging talent to drive better hiring strategies?

Join us at this cross-learning, in-person event as part of The HR World Culture Clash series, bringing HRDs, founders and emerging talent together to build a better workforce for the future.
Bridging the gap: what can employers learn about emerging talent to drive better hiring strategies?
HRW Membership@2x@2x

Are you a senior HR professional?

Join our membership to shape the future of work, get exclusive access to events, white papers and research content, profile your work, gain access to support from HR experts and celebrate your successes.

Become a Partner

Please get in touch to talk about how we can help your business make an impact in the world of work through our content marketing, partnership plans and advertising.