Proud to be supporting Pride at Thomas

As part of our #PrideMonth celebrations here at Thomas, we have been learning about the history of Pride and are showcasing voices and stories from our LGBTQ+ staff. This is part of a series of talks that have been running throughout the year from experts, both internal and external, about diversity and bias. Globally, many among us have made a personal statement by donating to support local LGBTQ+ charities. In the UK, employees have also been writing to their MPs to request that legislation banning Conversion Therapy is delivered ASAP. 

Our superb Science team have helped us to understand more about the psychology of bias, revealing that even the most diverse amongst us are still subject to unconscious bias due to our individual frames of reference and our human natures. However, there is good news – there are a number of steps that we can all take to try to minimise the impact of unconscious bias through things like diversity training, carrying out diversity and inclusion audits, using gender-neutral language in job adverts and much more. We’ve put together a selection of resources that you can access if you’d like to learn more about this.  

Diversity and inclusion isn’t just something that should be a tickbox exercise for companies. 

Research from McKinsey and Company (2017) found that top quartile companies for diversity were more likely to financially outperform others less diverse than themselves.  

That means that everyone should have the same opportunities and that businesses should actively focus on increasing their diversity in an authentic manner, without just resorting to hiring token members of diverse groups to meet a quota. The theme for Pride this year is #YouAreIncluded, and that’s something that resonates strongly with us at Thomas. We’re all on a journey to make the world a more inclusive place, and while we’re the first to admit that we’re not perfect, we’re trying to make Thomas, and the world, a better place through inclusivity.