Inclusion

Bloomberg Sydney Office Lights Up In Celebration of Diversity

May 17, 2017

One Bligh in the heart of Sydney’s CBD will display rainbow colors at the roof top to demonstrate Bloomberg’s commitment to LGBTI inclusivity in the workplace


Sydney – Bloomberg, the leading technology company that provides global business and financial information and news, will be conducting a rainbow lighting of its Sydney office rooftop at One Bligh Street for two weeks from today.  This light up will commemorate the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia (IDAHOT), which is observed on May 17, and will also celebrate New South Wales’s leading LGBTI health organization ACON’s Pride Inclusion Programs’ 2017 Australian LGBTI Inclusion Awards on May 19.

ACON’s Pride Inclusion Programs include Pride in Diversity, Australia’s not-for-profit employer support program for LGBTI workplace inclusion, which publishes the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI).  The index is Australia’s national benchmark for LGBTI inclusion, which has acknowledged top employers for LGBTI people since 2010.

Along the same vein, the Bloomberg Financial Services Gender Equality Index (BFGEI) was launched on the principle of providing data transparency around gender equality and other social and governance policies, practices and metrics at some of the largest financial services firms globally.

Erika Irish Brown, Bloomberg’s global head of diversity and inclusion said, “There is little doubt in my mind that paradigms are shifting as companies are increasingly focused on diversity to drive productivity and profits.  Bloomberg is proud to be a part of this important movement, especially here in Australia where we have made considerable strides in ensuring a conducive and inclusive environment for all our employees.”

In the past year, over 4,500 Bloomberg employees were trained on unconscious bias and more than 1,500 new participants joined Bloomberg Communities, the employee-led resource and networking groups.  BPROUD, the community that leads Bloomberg’s efforts in LGBTI inclusion, has seen its membership grow significantly over the past year since its formal launch in Sydney in 2016, furthering a safe and comfortable environment for LGBTI employees and their allies.  BPROUD has also worked with Pride in Diversity to provide LGBTI and ally awareness training to staff across Australia.

ACON’s Pride Inclusion Programs Director Dawn Hough added: “LGBTI workplace inclusion has historically been little understood or acknowledged in Australian workplaces but today stands as one of the fast-growing areas of diversity and inclusion practice. The AWEI is acknowledged internationally as a gold standard benchmarking instrument with participation from 116 employers and over 16,000 individuals this year. I would like to acknowledge Bloomberg for their visual show of support for IDAHOT and the Australian LGBTI Inclusion Awards. This speaks to the importance of the work we all do and is something Bloomberg and all employers can feel extremely proud.”

 

 

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About Bloomberg

Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting them to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas. The company’s strength – delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology, quickly and accurately – is at the core of the Bloomberg Professional service. Bloomberg’s enterprise solutions build on the company’s core strength: leveraging technology to allow customers to access, integrate, distribute and manage data and information across organizations more efficiently and effectively. For more information, visit www.bloomberg.com or request a demo.

About ACON

ACON was established in 1985 as the AIDS Council of NSW and is now Australia’s largest HIV prevention, HIV support and LGBTI health organisation. An important part of ACON’s mission is to help make the places where our community members live, work, study and play more inclusive of LGBTI people, improving the mental health and wellbeing of our community through the reduction of stigma, discrimination and social exclusion. ACON’s Pride Inclusion Programs consist of Pride in Diversity, the national not-for-profit employer support program for LGBTI workplace inclusion and Pride in Sport, the only national sporting inclusion program specifically designed to assist national and state sporting organisations and clubs with the inclusion of LGBTI employees, players, volunteers and spectators.

 

Media Contacts

Bloomberg: Jenny Yeo, jyeo58@bloomberg.net, +65-6499-2926

ACON: David Alexander, dalexander@acon.org.au, T: +61-(02)-9206-2044, M: +61-(0)-428-477-042