Recently I have become more aware of the term rainbow washing, which according to the Urban Dictionary means “The act of using or adding rainbow colours and/or imagery to advertising, apparel, accessories, landmarks… in order to indicate progressive support for LGBTQ equality (and earn consumer credibility)—but with a minimum of effort or pragmatic result”.
This term really resonated with me, as I believe that it’s not enough to slap a rainbow sticker on something to demonstrate that company is inclusive. Instead, we need to let a company’s actions do the talking.
With this in mind, I started to think about how BAM was performing. Each June during Pride month, BAM hoists the rainbow flag over its offices and sites, updates its logo on social media and says all the right things. However, once the flags have come down, how are they continuing to support the LGBTQ+ community throughout the rest of the year?
When we are looking at diversity and inclusion in our workplace, it can sometimes appear that we are making little progress, but that’s not the case. I have been part of BAM Construct’s Proud@BAM Employee Resource Group for four years and while I would be the first to admit that we have been slow to make noticeable changes, we have taken some positive steps. We are now collaborating with the BAM Nuttall’s more established Proud@BAM team, sharing resources, plans and ideas. And, despite the covid pandemic, we have still managed to raise awareness, hold Q&A sessions and create a place where people can find more information. BAM has also attended Pride events in association with Building Equality and has created a confidential email distribution list to enable us to share useful information and events with people.
