BCG's LGBT+ community Pride@BCG wins Business Equality Award
Boston Consulting Group has been commended for its efforts to support LGBT+ rights in the business community. The strategy consulting giant was handed the 2020 Business Equality Award by PinkNews, at the news service’s annual awards ceremony.
Founded in 2005, PinkNews is a UK-based online newspaper marketed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in the UK and worldwide. Since its launch, the paper has gone on to become the world’s most widely-read LGBT+ publication – and each year the organisation uses this clout to promote the efforts of people across the world to support LGBT+ rights via an award ceremony in December.
Taking place remotely amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic, one of the categories the 2020 PinkNews Awards celebrated was the business community – lauding firms which had gone above and beyond to support LGBT+ staff and the wider community. The nominees of the Business Equality Award were each praised for having worked tirelessly to improve LGBT+ equality within their companies over the last year – for both employees and for clients. Law firms Latham & Watkins and Herbert Smith Freehills, biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences and advisory giant Boston Consulting Group (BCG) were each commended on these grounds.
Next up is our Business Equality Award. As an integral part to positive change within the workplace, @MrDuncanJames presents the award to @BCG. Congratulations! #PinkNewsAwardshttps://t.co/uowz8VOObf pic.twitter.com/xeOALo97qr
— PinkNews (@PinkNews) December 2, 2020
On the night of the awards itself, BCG walked away as the outright winner. According to a release from PinkNews, the firm has been advocating for the LGBT+ community in its workplace for more than 20 years, through its Pride@BCG initiative. Pride@BCG advocates for LGBT+ equality and inclusion in the workplace, with a presence in more than 50 offices across the world, while its London group has the biggest membership. At the same time, the company has also led on bi visibility campaigns and has been consistently intersectional in its outlook, ensuring there are opportunities at BCG “for everyone across the LGBT+ spectrum.”
After the award had been presented by pop-star and actor Duncan James, Global Leader of Pride@BCG Elliot Vaughn commented, “All of us at BCG are so honoured to receive this PinkNews award. Thank you. Inclusion has always been a core value at BCG, and Pride@BCG has been a game changer for many of us in the firm. Whether it’s part of recruiting or the mentoring we receive, the opportunities to have impact in the world, or as a source of lifelong friendships, we believe everyone should be able to bring their full selves to work.”
According to Vaughn, Pride@BCG feel a duty to show up for their community, and to express their values externally as a firm. This duty manifests itself in a series of different ways, including working with GiveOut – which Vaughn established to help distribute charity funds to LGBT+ causes around the world – Open For Business, a centre in New York, or with a range of other social impact clients around the world.
“We’re also hugely energised by the work ahead,” Vaughn concluded. “Work to become more inclusive ourselves – inclusive of women, of bisexual colleagues, of queer people of colour, of trans and non-binary colleagues. Pushing the envelope in the more challenging places that we work in around the world, and engaging allies deeply in our work.”
Elsewhere in the consulting industry, another firm to have recently been celebrated for its diversity efforts was Kearney. The firm obtained six spots on the Global Diversity List in November – an annual list published in The Guardian that celebrates leaders in the field of diversity and inclusion.
