Celebrating Pride Month, And Why It Matters!

By now you’ll probably already be aware that June is International Pride Month.

You’ll be sure to notice more rainbow imagery and positive messages of acceptance being used by companies across the board as part of their advertising campaigns.

You may even be wondering why AGS is joining in the celebrations, after all, what link is there between what we do, and the LGBTQIA+ community? 

Well, at AGS, we understand that an important part of our role in recruitment is to ensure that we’re being as inclusive as possible.

By making a conscious commitment to embrace people of all backgrounds during our recruitment process, we help to make other workplaces more diverse. 

Pride Month – Diversity In The UK

In the UK, an estimated 1 in 7 people identifies as being lesbian or gay.

While 1 in 5 identifying as bisexual.

Despite making up a significant amount of the general population, 1 in 5 of those who are lesbian, gay or bisexual have experienced bullying in the workplace – that’s 350,000 people.

See Fact sheet written by Action For Children 

Allow that figure to sink in for a moment. 

In 2020, there are still hundreds of thousands of people being bullied for their sexual orientation at work.

We may have come a long way since the Stonewall Riots of 1969, but there is inarguably a lot more work to do.

Pride Month – Inclusive Recruitment

Our contribution at AGS is to recruit and screen candidates, not on their sexual orientation, ethnicity or other inherent qualities, but on their ability to do the job at hand.

This foot-in-the-door, as small a gesture as it is, allows individuals to be put forward for opportunities that may not have otherwise been made available to them.

Sadly, even in 2020, there is still a lot of bias toward minority groups of all types, which is one of the reasons why minorities are underrepresented in certain sectors.

If we all make a concerted effort to challenge these biases and prejudices, it isn’t just minority groups that will benefit, but workforces and industries as a whole. 

In fact, research shows us that working with people who are different to us, makes us “more creative, more diligent and harder-working”.

Not only that, but a more diverse workplace has also been shown to correlate to higher revenue where innovation is concerned.

Inclusive recruitment is an investment in the future of your business and the future of humanity. We’re proud to be an inclusive recruitment agency, and will be flying the banner high this Pride Month.