LGBTQ-inclusive procurement isn’t just about processes, it’s about working collaboratively to achieve inclusive practice.
LGBTQ-inclusive procurement means creating inclusive environments for a wider network of individuals, including the people who provide services for your organisation through supplier contracts.
This is where you can begin to go the extra mile.
Engaging your suppliers
There are a range of ways that you can work collaboratively with your suppliers, year-round. These include:
- Diversity & inclusion roundtables with your key suppliers. Running these regularly (e.g. quarterly or annually) can help ensure that diversity and inclusion stays at the top of the agenda
- Offering meetings to help steer their work. This can be particularly impactful if they’re a small organisation and/or don’t have a diversity and inclusion function
- Attending training programmes together, or extending invitations to your in-house training to supplier staff
- Sharing your good practice. For example, if you’re particularly proud of your family leave policy, consider sharing it with your suppliers. This can be a great way to start a conversation about LGBTQ+ inclusion
- Brief your suppliers when you introduce new inclusive practice. For example, you might have introduced a new policy or process that you’re particularly proud of
- Celebrate your suppliers who are doing good work! It’s easy to get lost in process, and to forget to celebrate the good work that you do. For example, you could give out diversity and inclusion awards to your suppliers
Supporting supplier staff
Contractual differences mean that in-house employees and supplier staff may have a significantly different experience of working with your organisation. Yet for some supplier staff, your organisation is their only workplace, despite being employed by another organisation. Your internal diversity and inclusion practices affect them every day, and they contribute to your workplace culture.
It’s important to put the right structures in place to make sure that LGBTQ+ inclusion applies to all.
Here are some key areas to consider supplier staff:
- Policies – the same standard of LGBTQ-inclusive policies should apply to all staff working towards your organisation’s goals. This would, for example, make sure that supplier staff are adequately protected if they are the victim of homophobic, biphobic or transphobic bullying or harassment at work. You may choose to include in your supplier contract that your internal policies apply to their staff working within your organisation.
- Diversity & inclusion training – consider sharing your training materials with suppliers, or making your internal training available for supplier staff. It can be helpful to provide specific training for staff with frontline responsibilities – for more detail on this, see Service Delivery & Community Engagement.
- LGBTQ+ employee network group – this can be a great way to support supplier staff to find support and community while working with your organisation.
- Complaints mechanisms – it’s vital that supplier staff have a clear route to make complaints if they experience homophobia, biphobia or transphobia within your workplace. We’d recommend having a clear process for how your organisation and the supplier that employs them work together to resolve issues like these.
- Internal communications – supplier staff may not have access to your organisation’s internal communications tools. You may need to get creative or work in collaboration with their employer to make sure they know about everything that’s in place to support them.
Whatever your approach is to extending LGBTQ+ inclusion to supplier staff, make sure to clearly communicate it with all staff – especially supplier staff who may be directly affected. This supports everyone to feel safe and included in your workplace.
Jacobs
‘At Jacobs we co-developed and co-delivered our ‘Building Equality’s Allies Toolbox Talk’, which we deliver to our workforce and suppliers. This training supports allyship of the LGBTQ+ community within the construction, engineering and the built environment industries. It is aimed at educating and empowering our workforce and colleagues across the industry to become active allies.
This training explores the importance of allies and how individuals and businesses can make a positive difference through adopting small changes. Alongside this, the training explains LGBTQ+ inclusive terminology to widen understanding and knowledge of the community, including the day-to-day challenges and issues that we still need to overcome.
The training explores how you can 'LIVE' being an ally (listen, influence, visibility and educating and empowering), as well as providing useful hints and tips on being an accepting, listening, learning and year-round ally.’
Want to advance your work even further by developing your procurement team’s inclusivity?
We run 90-minute Empowerment workshops on embedding LGBTQ+ inclusion in your supply chain. Reach out to prospect@stonewall.org.uk now to book your session.