When Diversity Really Is Global: Human Corporate Responsibility for LGBT Colleagues

[moyalynne]

SAP, empresa modelo en inclusión y diversidad -- SAP, a model company in inclusion and diversity

You probably know that SAP is a global company with offices in over 130 countries.  In this new interview with Gayles TV, online television programming for lesbians, gays, transgender, and bisexual people (LGBT), colleague Miguel Castro, who coordinates SAP’s global LGBT group HomoSAPiens, speaks to us in Spanish from Madrid, Spain.

“For SAP, diversity and inclusion are very important policies, within everything that is our culture,” Miguel says, citing the benefits of being inclusive of employee differences, including growth in innovation and employee retention rates.

And yet even as we’ve made gains in human rights in one of SAP’s major global homes, the USA, "The world is in a much more explicitly polarized place around gay rights than ever before," said Julie Dorf, an activist based in San Francisco, in this SFGate article from May http://www.sfgate.com/world/article/With-gains-in-U-S-gay-rights-fight-goes-abroad-5486716.php. According to the article, “An estimated 76 countries criminalize homosexuality, often with long prison terms. Six countries and parts of several others impose the death penalty.”

While it may be getting better in Latin America and other Spanish-speaking countries that may watch this video, in some places in the world where our SAP colleagues work, they live in potential danger if they come out as LGBT (this is why it was important that we subtitled It Gets Better: SAP Employees in 13 languages).

Until it does get better worldwide, global employee resource groups such as HomoSAPiens at SAP help lead the change on behalf of employees, as a matter of human and corporate responsibility. “We like to see how we can help improve the social situation... The main goal is to achieve the best working environment possible for all our community,” says Miguel.

“We are located in western countries, and we are located in countries where homosexuality and transsexuality are prosecuted. Everything we can do to help those who cannot fight for themselves because of their circumstances, we do it gladly,” he says.  We strive to model our diversity and inclusion values to all employees, regardless of where they work.

How does global diversity support your employees worldwide, even in less-than-hospitable circumstances? Drop us a note in the comments and let's collaborate.