With LGBTQ+ Pride Month coming up in June, I wanted to take this opportunity to shine a colourful light on everything that Boots and our team members have been doing to stand in solidarity all year round, with our LGBTQ+ customers and team members.

We stand for LGBTQ+ equity and inclusion in the workplace

• Our brilliant Pride Alliance Business Resource Group, established in 2019, has been working to raise awareness, breaking down stereotypes and building confidence on LGBTQ+ issues in our business, such as coming out, LGBTQ+ parenting, and highlighting dates on the LGBTQ+ calendar such as Trans Day of Visibility, Bi Visibility Week and International Asexual Day. This group was shortlisted for its incredible work at the British Diversity Awards for the ‘Outstanding LGBTQI+ Network of the Year’.
• We continue to support Stonewall through its Global Diversity Champions programme. Boots and No7 Beauty Company now benchmark through the Stonewall UK Workplace Equality Index - and use the feedback to understand our progress and opportunities to develop LGBTQ+ inclusion approach.
• We have undertaken a review of all our relevant policies and guidance notes for inclusivity – to ensure that our policies are explicitly inclusive of types of families, relationships, and identities. For example, our family leave and menopause policies and guidance.
• We have updated our Dignity at Work policy to ensure that we have a clear zero tolerance approach to bullying, harassment and discrimination based on gender identity, expression or sexual orientation.
• We have reviewed and updated our Trans and Non-Binary Inclusion Policy and developed guidance notes for individuals, their managers, and colleagues to ensure that we can all support trans and non-binary team members, including guidance on transitioning at work.
• We are creating a culture of allyship through a series of learning interventions – this has included our ‘Inclusion in Action’ leadership module and e-learning series, plus a suite of materials and resources on the Learning Hub.
• We have provisioned for over 3000 Boots Pride pin badges to be sent to team members so that they can visibly show their Pride at work and create a more visible safe space in our stores for team members and customers, with further work on adding pronouns to name badges underway.

We celebrate LGBTQ+ excellence through our brands and platforms

• The storyboard for our 2022 Christmas advert was developed in collaboration with LGBTQ+ team members and featured a drag artist as one of the leading characters.
• This year, 100% of the profits from the limited edition 17. Brights eyeshadow palette are being donated to Stonewall to further advance the causes for LGBTQ+ equality, which this charity works towards.
• We continue to focus on LGBTQ+ acceptance through our marketing and brands, specifically hiring LGBTQ+ models for No7 campaigns, and our brand 17 is marketed for all genders.
• Through our internal channels, we have also been actively storytelling on the themes of LGBTQ+ identities and inclusive language, parenting LGBTQ+ children/teens, and LGBTQ+ Leadership.

We are working to advance LGBTQ+ Equality in the community, providing relevant resources

• In Nottingham, the home of the Boots brand, we will sponsor the Nottinghamshire Pride Event again this year, with Boots team members supporting the march through the City Centre.
• Throughout June and July, our Pride Alliance Business Resource Group will be running a series of events for Boots team members, highlighting the work that we are already doing to support the LGBTQ+ community.

These results are a testament to the work of many individuals who contribute to LGBTQ+ equity and inclusion within our business, including our formidable Pride Alliance BRG; the voice for our LGBTQ+ team members, customers, and communities across the globe, who partner with our allies and promote a supportive and inclusive environment.  

As with everything there is more that we can all be doing and whilst June is a celebration, it is also a time to commemorate years of struggle for civil rights and making a statement about freedom to be yourself. It is a reminder of the rights that have been won, and those are yet to be afforded to the community globally - which is why it is so important that we are all on this mission together, with pride.  

Pete
Chief Marketing Officer
Executive Champion for Pride
Sponsor of the Boots Pride Alliance Business Resource Group.