It’s a place where every individual can be themselves, can share stories of their weekend festivities, and can embrace being a part of a diverse space. An LGBT-friendly work environment is what many Canadian companies have been striving for as work inclusion continues to be an important component for each business.

As featured in a 2012 Minyanville report, we take a deeper look into at some companies in Canada that have pushed for equality in the workplace.

Telus

“The future is friendly.” It’s a slogan we’ve all heard before and Telus continues to be a recognizable brand in the telecommunications sector across Canada. In addition to its success as a mobile business, Telus also strives to create and maintain an inclusive workspace for its LGBT employees through company initiatives.

Just one way Telus has shown its support for the LGBT community was through its participation in the It Gets Better project. It Gets Better is a movement that started in 2010 through a YouTube video by columnist and author Dan Savage. Since then, it has inspired thousands of everyday people, celebrities, and companies (like Telus) to create their own short videos proving that through the struggle LGBT youth endure, “it gets better” in the end.

“We were one of the first corporations to get involved in It Gets Better,” says Shawn Hall, manager and media relations in Telus’ BC region. “That encouragement of being open where everybody is being treated with dignity and respect is just a part of who we are.”

In 2009, the company launched Spectrum, a resource group for Telus’ LGBTQ team members that was driven by employees for employees. “It’s about providing support for people who might need it,” says Hall, “[through] formal and informal mentorship, an opportunity to speak to people whose experiences might be similar to yours.” The Spectrum team also works closely with Pride at Work Canada events throughout the country. Hall explains the importance of having an inclusive work environment, to ensure each individual is confident in bringing their whole selves to their job, which ultimately strengthens the team.

Telus values diversity as a whole, says Hall. “It’s a key competitive advantage because it brings the broadest possible array of ideas and insight into what we do. If we reflect the customers we’re serving and the diversity, we’re going to be better able to serve them.”

Overall, the response to Telus’ LGBT support has been nothing short of positive. “I think people want to work for an organization that’s going to respect not just them and who they are, but everybody (their friends, their colleagues, their family members),” says Hall. “People want to do business with an organization like that.”

Google Canada

While Google employees worldwide refer to themselves as ‘Googlers,’ the company’s LGBT employees call themselves ‘Gayglers.’ Google Canada teamed up with Toronto’s Pride Parade in 2012, where they entered a float and also produced videos featuring a number of LGBT staff members sharing their personal stories. This effort is attributed to Google Canada’s product marketing manager Xavier Pepion, who is also a part of the LGBT community.

Royal Bank

You know your company is LGBT-friendly when they celebrate National Coming Out Day. Royal Bank started commemorating the civil awareness day in 2009 after CEO Gordon Nixon hosted an event alongside two RBC employees who shared their coming out stories. It was published on the company’s intranet in 2011, which reached RBC’s 74,000 employees worldwide.

TD Bank Group

To most, TD Bank is best recognized as the company with the two adorably humourous seniors in its commercials, but the company is also well-known for its continued dedication to work inclusion. “It supports our mission and vision to be the best-run bank,” says Hilary Woods, marketing planner with TD Bank Group. “The key to our success [is] that we stick to what we say we’re going to do, and it’s about creating a really inclusive employee culture.”

Woods rewinds to 2003 and recounts a time when internal results showed some employees were uncomfortable as an LGBT at TD. “We’ve been on this journey since then to make sure that the LGBT community feels extremely comfortable at TD, and then by extension customers would,” she says. There isn’t one initiative that stands out, but Woods says it started with focusing on the internal process and policies, and sustaining commitments through community-giving, thus explaining how TD expresses itself locally as a brand.

The response to the LGBT support is tremendous, says Woods. “That’s probably one of the greatest things about my job; my job is to use very human connections to build awareness for our brand. ...We get accolades from our employees about being inclusive, we get support from the community internally on our approach to the community, so it deepens the engagement piece.”

The Bank of Nova Scotia

Otherwise known as Scotiabank, the Bank of Nova Scotia opted to avoid advertising in gay publications and instead began its support through sponsoring. Since 2007, the bank has been the sponsor for Canada’s AIDS Walk for Life, and started an internal employee resource group called Scotiabank Pride in 2008.

Bank of Montreal

To show their commitment and support for the LGBT community, BMO hired Enza Anderson in 2008, a Canadian transgender political activist to work at a branch in Toronto’s gay district. In 2012, the bank hosted a discussion forum in honour of International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

The Home Depot

Although not listed in the Minyanville report but still a strong LGBT-supporter is The Home Depot. “Diversity has been a part of our company; it’s part of our founding values. Our company has been around since 1979,” says Ray Goral, store manager of a Home Depot location in Toronto. For Goral, who has been with the company for almost 13 years, he says maintaining an inclusive work environment and embracing diversity has always been instilled in The Home Depot’s associates through the company’s core values. “We’re [in] Canada; it’s part of our Canadian culture to acceptance and recognition of everybody’s diversity.”

Diversity programs at The Home Depot include: Orange Women’s Network, Power of Possibilities, and Orange Unity. As an LGBT chair member for The Home Depot’s Orange Unity, Goral along with roughly 40 other LGBT and ally associates exchange feedback and meet with four other LGBT subcommittees to discuss special projects, and the communication and celebration aspect within the company’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-identified employees.

Goral takes pride in his career as the “gay store manager with Home Depot” and shares his passion for workplace diversity through associate orientations. “[I say] this is what we have, this is what we do, and here’s our associate resource groups, here’s our commitment to diversity. Not only do we celebrate being LGBT, we celebrate being every different culture and everything within our organization.”

The internal and external response to The Home Depot’s ongoing demonstration of diversity and support to LGBTs has been positive, according to Goral. “I don’t see people backing away from anything—it’s just part of our culture, it’s accepted, it’s who we are. From the customers, I don’t see any negative response from them.”

He says in his 13 years, it was never an issue. “We have very great human resource practices, so if anyone ever felt they were being discriminated against by anything, there’s a process for that and would be dealt with swiftly—whether it’s LGBT, or any other religion, or anything else.”

Photo: Alex Belomlinsky/iStock