Celebrating Pride Month with Our Own Inspiring LGBTIQ+ Community Members

As a cloud applications company, new ideas that feed innovation are critical, and that only comes with a diverse workforce. Without cognitive diversity we won’t find solutions for today’s problems, and we won’t grow and inspire our customers and partners. Helping our people thrive starts with a safe and inclusive work environment, where everyone feels they belong. At Unit4, we promote a culture of diversity and inclusion that allows us to balance different personalities, abilities, backgrounds, genders and sexual orientation.

Pride Month is a time to celebrate diversity. Each year in June, people around the world promote the equality of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer people. It’s an important time to recognize, reflect and celebrate the beautiful diversity of LGBTIQ+ people everywhere.

In this blog, some of our own inspiring people share their experiences in celebration of Pride Month.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Vic: Be genuine, be yourself and try to be the best possible version of you. Don’t waste time trying to figure out what others think about you - you cannot please everyone. 

Guillermo: Try not to be afraid to come out of the closet early. I am from a small town and I didn’t have any gay figures or role models around me. My younger self didn’t want to be seen at all. Now I wish I’d have fought more.

Pedro: Be brave, everything will be okay if you trust in yourself.

What does Pride mean to you?

Vic: Pride reminds me how much we have achieved as a community so far and how much society has changed over the years. It also reminds me that we still need to claim equality, freedom and respect as any other human being for as long as there is abuse and discrimination. Ultimately, I am proud of our community and who I am as a happy gay man in love with another man.

Guillermo: It means to show to the world nothing is wrong for being queer, it means to show we exist and demand to be treated with equal rights.

Pedro: Pride is to feel happy with who you are, and to respect everyone and all the different ways to love. It also highlights our fight to get the same rights for everyone independently of their gender, age, culture, sexual orientation or any other unique aspect of each person.

How important is it to work for a company that celebrates diversity?

Vic: It means the world. Having no discrimination at work due to gender, race, age, religion, disability or sexual orientation should be natural and personally, I could not work for a company where it wasn’t. Being part of a company that celebrates diversity and takes that to the next level, makes a difference in society and for the employees.

Guillermo: It would be very hard to work in one that didn’t. I wouldn’t be able to be myself and it would be very difficult to hide who I am.

Pedro: For me it’s a hugely important topic, because in your life you spend a lot of time working. It’s essential for me to feel that a company supports me and defends my rights, as well as any other person that’s working in it.

What has your experience as an LGBTIQ+ employee been like?

Vic: I have always had great experiences as an employee in the different companies I have worked for. I have been lucky to be part of a generation that had it way easier than the ones before. I believe that if you are open, genuine and true to yourself while trying to do your best at work and cause no harm, your colleagues will respect you for who you are.

Guillermo: I have never felt discriminated, and I have felt SAFE to be who I am ever since my first month at Unit4 in the Granada office, which was 5 years ago. When I travel to other offices in different countries, I do sometimes feel nervous to be who I am in a new environment. There are still moments I think twice if I should be myself or not in some meetings.

Pedro: I think that my experience has been the same as for any other employee. Exactly as it should be.

What has made you feel welcome and accepted at Unit4?

Vic: I have felt welcome at Unit4 from day one. I think people at Unit4 are genuinely interested in meeting new people, respecting their differences, making them feel welcomed and accepted. I’ve always felt like I could be myself for the full 100% here and felt the love from my colleagues. It is stated in our values: ‘People First’ and ‘Be Genuine’ - Unit4 is a great place to work for everyone.

Guillermo: There’s no judgement inside the office and I have never been treated differently. I appreciate all the different equality initiatives. Employee diversity is key to creating a safe environment.

Pedro: The most relevant thing to me was that we were able to create a Diversity group in Granada last year. In that group, we proposed many different activities to raise awareness with our colleagues, for example about all the different inequalities and discriminations that the LGBTIQ+ community still experience in Spain and other countries around the world. I appreciate that it’s not only the LGBTIQ+ community who invest time to raise awareness, but also colleagues outside of that community. And that’s where most change can happen.

We encourage everyone to give back in their LGBTIQ+ communities. Check out organizations like GLAAD, It Gets Better Project and others to get involved.

Read our blog “Top reads and TV you should see this Pride Month”.

Want to join our team? Check out our vacancies here.