‘Get involved’
Throughout this week we’ll be sharing stories from around the business to highlight our inclusion campaign - Altogether Different.
Antony Sanders is a deployment lead for our Final Mile Optimisation programme. He is also a member of our LGBT+ & Friends steering group.
‘I’ve worked for Royal Mail for three years now in projects and programmes,’ said Antony. ‘On the diversity front I’ve been a member of the LGBT network at Royal Mail for two-and–a-half years and have helped organise our attendance at a couple of Pride events including Glasgow and London. If you went to either of these events and saw someone in one of our famous Royal Mail “Delivering with Pride” t-shirts running around and looking really stressed, then that was me!
‘Diversity for me, means understanding and recognising what makes us different and why these differences make us stronger as people and as a business. I think it’s really important to celebrate diversity at work because initiatives like Inclusion Week present an opportunity for the various steering groups to remind the wider Royal Mail Group world of the great work they do all year round, why what they do is important, and how colleagues can help if they’re not already involved.
‘My personal experiences in the workplace have been very positive. Having finally had enough of the inevitable after work pub conversations, being asked if I have a girlfriend, and people generally making assumptions about my sexuality at previous jobs, I resolved to come out to my close Royal Mail colleagues from the very beginning. Only once did I have any issues with this and I’ve been lucky enough to have had fantastic support to go to whenever I have needed it.
‘I think we can all improve our areas of work by being open with each other and being careful about making assumptions about our colleagues. If I was asked what one thing anyone reading this could do to support diversity, I would simply say: “Get involved”. There are a lot of different diversity groups within the business, all of which as far as I know, are run by volunteers who are happy for help from friends and allies as well as those who identify as part of their particular community.
Watch our video below to hear more on what it feels like to be included.
Supporting LGBT colleagues
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Making our business a place where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender colleagues can achieve their potential remains a priority.
Our LGBT+ & Friends steering group was established in 2015 with the goal of creating an accessible network for LGBT+ colleagues and supporters to come together and share their experiences.
The group aims to celebrate our diverse workforce, help colleagues be themselves and establish Royal Mail as the best LGBT+ employer and a true champion of LGBT+ colleagues and the wider LGBT+ community.
