Creating an environment that embraces inclusivity and diversity isn’t just good practice—it’s essential for organizations aiming to make everyone feel valued and celebrated. In honor of PRIDE month, we asked our exceptional employees involved with Tandym’s PRIDE Employee Resource Group (ERG) to share their thoughts on the significance of having this and other ERGs at companies like Tandym. Next up, Rebecca Guerrero!
When the company first began rolling out the DEI initiatives (way before the PRIDE ERG was even established), we were trying to figure out what ERGs we should begin with. The first thing we did was consider all the different communities and populations represented within our company. From there, we started building from the ground up with employees speaking up and wanting to lead their respective ERGs.
I immediately felt drawn to the PRIDE ERG. As a bisexual person in a professional setting, I wanted to meet and work with people with similar mindsets and backgrounds. Everyone needs to have some sort of representation in their workplace, and I felt by establishing and leading the PRIDE ERG that I could be a representative for those within our community as well as a proper advocate and coworker to all.
It’s a way for companies to show that they care about their employees and to ensure that they have established a comfortable setting in the workplace for them. Creating an environment that embraces inclusivity and diversity isn’t just good practice—it’s essential for organizations aiming to make everyone feel valued and celebrated.
PRIDE is just one of the many resource groups we have here at Tandym and I’m proud to say that through this we’ve been able to alter things (terminology, perspectives, etc.) since its fruition only a short time ago.
Any event is a good event. We just teamed up with the Women’s Network and had Jerrica Kirkley, MD, the Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer at Plume, host a virtual event for our employees. Dr. Kirkley is a trans woman and board-certified family physician who spoke about her personal experience as a trans woman, the health inequities in our country, and how these factors led to her founding Plume.
For an encore collaboration event with the Women’s Network, we’re hosting a networking event that will provide advice and simulations on negotiating for your career (specifically for LGBTQIA+ and Females in the professional community) and how they should pursue raises and promotions.
But beyond that, I would love to see more events where our allies step forward and start getting more involved. That’s what the DEI ERGs are about – creating time and events to learn about each other as coworkers and, more importantly, as people. If we can get more people talking to their peers & bosses about these topics, then it doesn’t matter what type of event it is. The participation and conversations are enough!
