LGBTQ+ Network

Our Equilibrium Employee Resource Group (ERG) was formed by employees in the UK  to champion safety and wellbeing for LGBTQ+ communities within our organization and across the industry. Through collaboration with colleagues and peers, Equilibrium helps shape inclusive company policies, especially those designed to support and protect LGBTQ+ employees. It also provides networking opportunities with internal and external events across the UK with other internal employee resource groups, and often partnering with affiliated industry networks.

Equilibrium

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Equilibrium

Equilibrium launched in 2016 at the IMechE headquarters in London to much fanfare. Key LGBTQ+ engineers attended, including Dr. Mark McBride-Wright, co-founder of InterEngineering, a professional network for LGBTQ+ engineers allies, and author of 'Homophobia costs engineering £11.2bn a year’.

Shaping a safe workplace for LGBTQ+ employees

It requires collective action. It would be impossible to achieve meaningful change without our queer and straight allies. Since its inception in 2016, Equilibrium has worked closely with cross-industry consortia to promote LGBTQ+ rights and best practice across our organization.

In this time Equilibrium has:

• Worked closely with Stonewall to provide policy updates, ranking in the top 50% of built environment organisations in the Stonewall UK Workplace Equality Index in 2019.
• Been mentored by, and provided mentorship to, engineering company peers through a variety of channels including cross-industry consortia such as Building Equality; InterEngineering and Journey.
• Helped to consult with consultant Clear Company to improve policies at AtkinsRéalis, becoming the first engineering firm to achieve Clear Assured Platinum Standard accreditation.

Events: uniting allies and advocates

Pride has kept its origins in protest, and Equilibrium has continued pushing for improvements to LGBTQ+ lives by joining our efforts and sharing our strengths and skills with our peers and colleagues. This has involved working with our community and allies to lead events and discussions about LGBTQ+ issues and experiences, helping to break down taboos faced by the community.

Equilibrium has:

• Taken part and led numerous LGBTQ+ community events in the cities we have offices, often alongside our industry peers and groups.
• Hosted our annual ‘Office Pride’ events with rainbow regalia in communal areas, aiming to educate on the history of LGBTQ+ rights in the UK and share positive stories of notable events and dates within our community.
• Successfully ran a series of pub quizzes and tea breaks to help raise awareness of issues facing our LGBTQ+ colleagues.
• Participated in a number of careers fairs to promote both AtkinsRéalis and the Equilibrium network to potential employees.
• Regularly hosted industry-wide seminars around mental health in the LGBTQ+ community.
• Ran a successful two-way mentoring programme with engineering industry peers and senior leaders, sharing the values of our network and community and helping to educate those who are willing to engage with the network.
• Created a repository of informative presentations available to all network members to share as a ‘values moment’ in their internal and external meetings.
• Recorded multiple episodes of our ‘Queer Conversations’ podcast and our ‘Reaching Equilibrium’ vlog, in which members of our network have shared their personal stories for our colleagues to better understand their struggles and experiences.
• Hosted two industry-leading networking events to celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month focusing on Queerness and Intersectionality to inspire, celebrate, and reflect on the LGBTQ+ movement in UK engineering. The events had representation from over 27 client organizations.

Join us: let's shape a better future

We're committed to making the world a better place, and that includes creating a workplace where every voice is heard and valued. Join us, and together, we'll achieve positive change in our community and industry.