Context:
Almost 1 in 5 LGBT+ people have experienced workplace misconduct due to their sexual orientation or gender identity and nearly two thirds of LGBT+ employees think their workplace lacks commitment to diversity.
We and our speakers share best practices on how to deal with anti-LGBT+ bullying, discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Drawing from experiences of implementing training sessions, working within HR and DEI teams, and in both small and big organisations, our speakers talk about how they’ve resolved or prevented issues as well as how they’ve helped create safe and inclusive spaces and cultures for LGBT+ colleagues.
Topics include how to make policies inclusive of everyone (especially trans employees), the importance of intersectionality, ways to engage employees in education and training, and the power of staff networks.
Our speakers:
Ed Cox (he/him): Ed is a member of the LGBT+ Directors Network, a former trustee of the LGBT Foundation and a serial social entrepreneur. He is co-founder of Reason Digital, a social change agency delivering digital products and services to support charities and social enterprises, including those that support LGBTQ+ people such as Stonewall Housing, Terrence Higgins Trust and Liberty.
As a gay business owner, Ed has been responsible for creating inclusive workplaces and has experience of making a safe workspace for LGBTQ+ employees. He’s here to discuss what business owners can do to create inclusive workplaces in order to reduce the instances of workplace harassment and bullying against LGBTQ+ employees.
Emma Jennings (she/her): Emma is a Diversity and Inclusion Lead for The Employer’s Network for Equality and Inclusion (enei). She is experienced in supporting a number of organisations on their inclusive practices and has previously led change management and inclusive culture change projects. At enei, she provides guidance and consultancy on equality, diversity and inclusion.
Emma has experience delivering specialist support on LGBT+ inclusion including facilitating a number of workshops on inclusive staff networks and intersectionality. She speaks from lived experience and has supported a number of organisations in their objectives of becoming more LGBT+ inclusive.
Geffrye Parsons (he/him): A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, Geff has 28 years of experience in investment banking. He joined Macquarie in 2013 as a Managing Director in the EMEA region.
Having been a founder member of the LGBTQ+ network at his previous employer, BNP Paribas, Geff also chaired the Macquarie Pride (LGBTQ+) employee network group for eight years. Geff left Macquarie in February 2022 but on a high after he helped them to top Stonewall’s list of Top 100 Employers. He has now set up his own DE&I consultancy practice, The Inclusion Imperative, which aims to assist organisations and platforms to further improve their DE&I performances, especially – but not only – in respect of LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Other notable achievements of his include winning the award for ‘LGBT+ Inspirational Leader’ at the British LGBT Awards in May 2019; being ranked in the top quartile of the global list of the Top 100 LGBT+ Executives in each of 2018 2019 and 2021; and being shortlisted for the award of ‘Business Role Model’ at the Pink News Awards in October 2018. Geff also acts as trustee for two important UK-based LGBTQ+ charities, GiveOut and Diversity Role Models.
Z Monteiro (they/she): Zee is the founder of AlignedPurpose, a company supporting individuals and businesses to purposely align themselves with the equitable future, where intersectionality and new perspectives are welcomed within the workplace and society. Besides this, Zee is a writer and poet. In their writing they challenge the reader to reflect and engage on topics relating to Race, Neurodiversity & Queerness.
