How rainbow washing is harming your employer brand
Okay, let’s get this straight first of all: we should be celebrating and supporting diversity all year round. It’s part of a healthy culture, it brings innovation to your business and it improves recruitment and retention.
But at this time of year we’re all talking about diversity even more, and we’re getting used to seeing companies replacing their social media banners with rainbows for Pride month.
I’m also getting used to asking myself this question:
What are all these companies really doing to attract and support genuine diversity in their organisations?
Because here’s an uncomfortable truth: if you’re putting a rainbow on your LinkedIn profile but you don’t have policies, behaviours and networks in place that support people in all their differences, you’re speaking empty words.
Yeah, but this is harmless, right? At least by displaying that rainbow we’re showing that we support the principles of Pride?
Wrong. Signalling support without acting is far from harmless. In fact, if you’re ‘rainbow washing’ during Pride – or any month – you could be doing your employer brand more harm than good.
You could be rainbow washing.
What is rainbow washing?
Basically, it’s anything a company or organisation of power does to make itself appear inclusive and supportive without genuinely advocating for LGBTQ+ rights and equality.
In other words, it’s a performance – and it makes you look like you’re an ally when in reality, nothing you do as a company that backs that up. It’s like wearing a great big rainbow cloak when, underneath, you’ve got nothing on.
The problem with rainbow washing is that companies rarely get away with it. That’s because it doesn’t go unnoticed. Everyone from the people who work for you – both now and in the future – to the people who buy into your brand can spot it a mile off.
So far from being a bit of harmless fun, you’re about to be found out.
Then what?
Okay, first let’s look at what that does to your employees. At best, it makes them feel tokenised – no one wants their sexuality to be the subject of a marketing gimmick.
At worst, it leads to disengaged staff who don’t trust their employer and will look for a job somewhere else, pretty sharpish.
Picture this: if an employee walks into your office and sees rainbow flags everywhere during Pride month but feels so uncomfortable in the working culture that they can’t come out, they’re unlikely to feel loyal to you as an employer. In fact, they’re likely to feel less loyal than if you’d done nothing at all.
And believe it or not, in many companies it’s still the case that employees don’t feel able to share their sexuality. In fact, according to a study by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 46% of LGBTQ+ employees remain closeted at work. If that’s the case in your organisation, you have to ask yourself what you’re doing to make employees feel unable to be their true selves. Inauthentic signalling about diversity could well be the culprit.
If your messaging about diversity doesn’t reflect how your employees are made to feel daily, they’ll figure out pretty quickly that they work for an inauthentic organisation.
And that’s a whole lot of bad news for retaining great staff.
And what does it do to your business?
Well, that’s not great news either. A 2021 survey by Edelman found that 45% of consumers thought that brands who ‘performed’ during Pride month were only looking to profit from the LGBTQ+ community. That’s a serious amount of mistrust.
And when trust is lost, it’s hard to recover. In the same study, nearly half of consumers said they wouldn’t buy from a brand that engaged in rainbow washing. So if you think a bit of harmless virtue signalling is a great marketing tool, think again.
What about your employer brand?
Well, here’s where it gets serious.
Your employer brand isn’t just something you can put up on your careers site and hope the candidates will come. It encompasses your values, culture, policies and – you guessed it – your commitment to diversity and inclusion. So it needs to be the real you.
A Glassdoor survey found that a whopping 67% of job seekers value inclusivity when looking for a new role. And as we know, Millennials and Gen Zers can smell a whiff of inauthenticity a mile off, especially if it’s about diversity.
So if you’re rainbow washing to attract talent, stop. Your top candidates just went somewhere else.
So what’s the solution?
Alright, we’ve looked at why rainbow washing is bad news for your employees, your business and your employer brand. So what can we do instead?
Be authentic. Don’t even think about posting a rainbow or virtue signalling about Pride month unless you’ve made serious efforts to embed diversity and inclusion in your organisation all year round. Not just surface stuff – the real deal.
By that I mean:
- Reviewing internal policies
- Providing LBGTQ+ sensitivity training
- Creating employee resource groups
- Actively advocating for LGBTQ+ rights beyond Pride month
- Creating an environment where employees feel safe, respected and empowered to be who they are at work
Rainbow washing isn’t just jumping on a bandwagon – it harms your employees and your brand. So if you really want to do something to support the LGBTQ+ community this summer, look deeper into your organisation.
Authenticity in all its forms is the key to a vibrant and inclusive workplace culture – a place where all your employees feel seen, heard and valued.
Let’s make this happen, long term.
