How the world best beer company became a part of the PRIDE 2019 in Czech Republic
Michael, Senior Insurance Specialist at AB InBev, is the single point of contact for insurance matters across Europe and made sure the company he works for became a part of the PRIDE 2019 in Czech Republic. He tells us how he made sure AB InBev became a part of PRIDE 2019.
“After attending the 2018 PRIDE parade in Prague to support my friends walking in the parade, I noticed several big companies in the parade that were openly supporting and celebrating their LGBTQ+ employees. It was wonderful to see colleagues coming out together with the support of their companies to be their authentic self, whatever their beliefs may be.”
“It was surprising to see that AB InBev was not part of the PRIDE parade and coming back to work the next day the question became clear: Why are we, as the best beer company for a better world, not part of the PRIDE parade in Prague?”
Things developed quickly from that point on, within a week the idea of joining the PRIDE parade was presented to our Diversity & Inclusion panel and our management team with overwhelmingly positive responses. A team of colleagues, allies from the LGBTQ+ community and management was created to make our contribution to PRIDE 2019 a success.
“It was a challenging learning experience, learning it was not just a matter of organizing a parade float. Our responsibility of educating our colleagues on what PRIDE means and how to be an ally became obvious. With workshops, an article in PRIDE magazine, videos, custom PRIDE materials and presentations during PRIDE month we improved the LGBTQ+ awareness of our colleagues and gained many new allies within the company.”
“The parade we had been working towards finally arrived and, even though it rained most of the day, everyone had an amazing time. We are proud of our workplace and what it represents for us. I am proud to work for a company that fosters such diversity and inclusion across the world and is able to support its employees in what they find important in life. Our colleagues, customers and clients need to feel free to express who they are, at all times. We’ve made great strides internally creating a diverse and inclusive workplace and naturally the next step was to go external and to show the world who we are and what we have: PRIDE!”
