ICAEW celebrates LGBT+ history month with collaborative social media campaign

28 February 2020: celebrating and recognising LGBT+ history month in February, ICAEW carried out a multi-channel collaboration to raise awareness of LGBT+ issues in accountancy and the workplace more generally.

Led by the social media team, the month-long campaign featured stories and experiences of members and staff of ICAEW. This important initiative brought people together both in-house and across the industry.

As EY’s LGBT+ network, Unity, celebrated its 25th anniversary, ICAEW spotlighted Together, its own inclusive community focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT+) issues. Together’s mission is to create an open, progressive and informed working environment to support ICAEW's employees and stakeholders.

The campaign also included blog posts on mental health, poetry, personal stories, and Michael Izza’s support of the campaign. Check out the links to these pieces below:

Jonathan Worrell, co-chair of the Together community, discussed mental health and openness in the workplace, along with his own experiences.

Polly Bull, content designer at ICAEW, wrote a poem, “Working on love”, as a reflection on being LGBT+ in the workplace and what the future may hold.

Isabella Segal, a general practice partner at Nyman Libson Paul, Chartered Accountants (NLP) and activist in the business community, described her transgender journey in chartered accountancy.

Michael Izza, CEO of ICAEW, wrote of the importance of increasing visibility and raising awareness, as well as the business case and human case for supporting those in the LGBT+ community.

Tim Jarman, an experienced Diversity and Inclusion professional and a member of EY's D&I team since 2007, celebrated the 25th anniversary of EY’s LGBT+ network, Unity, one of the first of its kind in the private sector.

The social media team’s creative Instagram features was a highlight of the campaign, including bespoke imagery and innovative stories. These promoted sharing the love for your business, whoever you are, on Valentine’s Day and highlighting different sexual orientations through key messaging. Content for this campaign was supported by Grace Gayle, Together LGBTQ+ ally, and chair of Embrace, ICAEW’s community focused on diversity and inclusion themes.

The Instagram campaign can be found on ICAEW’s account: @icaew

ICAEW has also set up a Facebook poll ending on 29 February 2020 asking the general public if they feel their industry is inclusive, diverse and supportive to the LGBT+ community.

Further social polls went out with the following results:

Two polls on Instagram:

1. Do you feel your industry offers enough support to the LGBT community?
   YES 53% and NO 47%
2. Do you feel your workplace is diverse enough?
   YES 42% and NO 58%

One poll on Twitter

1. Do you feel your industry offers enough support to the LGBT community?
   YES 52% and NO 48%

Finally, a vlog was sent out this week featuring Simon Blake, Chief Executive of Mental Health First Aid England, talking about mental health and LGBT in the workplace, and bringing your whole self to work.

See what Simon has to say here.

If you’re interested in further diversity content from ICAEW, please follow #icaewDiversity on your social networks.