At Ascenti we believe in equal and fair opportunities for all, and take great pride in our diverse workforce. As part of our Social and Sustainability Strategy we want to enhance the livelihoods of our people and make Ascenti a more inclusive place for all.
To help drive this Ascenti ran an internal Pride campaign in June. As part of the campaign we invited staff to share their own stories and experiences with peers through our internal communications channels. Administration Assistant, Lex Hayman, wrote an article for our e-newsletter where they discussed gender identity and the importance of pronouns.
Lex commented: "Sharing my experiences with my colleagues has been easy but, it’s not about me. I wanted to show others who aren’t as open that they don’t have to be scared to be themselves at work. Ascenti is a good company when it comes to acceptance and I feel like this Pride month has really highlighted that."
All Ascenti staff have been encouraged to include their pronouns on email signatures and intranet profiles to help recognise and respect all employees' gender identities.
For the last year Ascenti has been running 'Voices for Change', a series of online talks for staff where we have invited external speakers to discuss a range of social issues and protected characteristics including race, disability, mental health and family friendly working.
In June Ascenti invited LGTBQ+ activist and diversity and inclusion advocate Tash Thomas to join our staff for a Voices for Change session about Pride. Tash explained the different flags used by the LGBTQ+ community and what they represented, discussed how the associated terminology has developed over the years, and encouraged staff to think of one change they could make to be a better ally to the LGBTQ+ community. The event was hugely successful with over 60 employees in attendance and excellent feedback from staff.
Head of People and Culture at Ascenti, Helen Cave, commented: "We are so grateful to Tash for joining us, this was an extremely informative and engaging session and I'm sure everybody who attended learned something new - I certainly did!
"At Ascenti we are well aware that supporting the LGBTQ+ community needs to happen all year round and not just during Pride month, so I look forward to continuing to deliver on our Social and Sustainability Strategy and making Ascenti a more inclusive place for our staff, patients and partners."
