All staff can play a role in creating a bi-inclusive workplace by supporting their colleagues and challenging biphobia.
Consider how you can provide the tools and encouragement to empower staff to step up as allies. This could include:
Awareness-raising communications and events
A lack of understanding about bi identities and experiences is a root cause of the stigma that bi people often face at work.
You can use your internal communications to tackle this. Explore how you can use your existing communication systems to share information about bi identities, experiences and issues – for example through diversity newsletters, team briefings or LGBTQ+ network group intranet posts.
Personal stories are also a powerful way to bring issues to life – staff may be willing to share their own experiences in writing or at panel events.
You may wish to focus these communications and events around the key dates and events in the bi equality calendar. This list is not exhaustive, as events may differ according to your region.
- Bi Visibility Day: 23 September, a day celebrating bi people, bi histories, and the wider bi community.
- Bi Health Month: March, a month used to raise awareness of health issues affecting bi people.
- Bi Pride UK: September, a Pride event in the UK for people ‘attracted beyond gender’.
- BiCon [UK]: date varies, a 'weekend-long gathering for bi+ people, their friends, partners, and others with a supportive interest in bisexuality.’
Providing training and resources
Beyond building awareness, consider how you can encourage staff to take practical steps towards being active allies. This could be through dedicated resources or training.
To develop training content, you can consult with your bi staff, collaborate with other organisations in your sector, or take inspiration from external sources like Stonewall’s blog on 10 ways you can step up as an ally to bi people.
Explore how you can proactively share resources throughout the year to encourage continued engagement. For example, consider if you can recorded training sessions or repeat them periodically throughout the year.
Bi allyship pledges
Training can be complemented with tools that support individuals to make personal plans and commitments. One way to do this is by creating a bi allyship pledge.
These can be completed during training, network group meetings or awareness-raising events. You can also run follow-up sessions to discuss what everyone has learnt or done differently as a result of their pledge.
You can use this template as inspiration:
List 10 steps you could take to be an bi ally. Then pick 4 priorities from your list.
For example:
- Read 1 book on issues affecting bi people
- Listen to 2 podcasts about bi activism
- Speak to colleagues about bi inclusion in a team meeting
- Set up a bi inclusion discussion thread in my LGBTQ+ network group
- I will...
- I will...
- I will...
- I will...
Pick steps that are specific to you and your role. Try to set a deadline for when these steps should be completed.