Pride at Zen: find out more about us

June 2023 is Pride month, and to mark the occasion we caught up with one of the members of our own Zen Pride group, Phil, for a quick Q&A…

Name:

Phil (He/Him)

What is the Pride Group all about?

Pride@Zen is there to be a support network for LGBTQ+ employees at Zen and for those who may be questioning their sexuality or gender identity. But it’s also a network where we as a community can socialise with like-minded individuals, as well as continue to educate our allies (and be educated by other members in the group). And we’re also there to provide some fun to Zen employees, like in Pride Month for example.

How many Zen employees are in the group?

We have just over 50 employees in our Pride@Zen Yammer group, which is around 10% of our total employees. This is great, and we hope this number continues to grow.

What is your favourite Pride event or activity at Zen so far?

That’s a tough one, but my favourite so far has probably been the filming I did with Sean, the lead of our Pride@Zen network, back in February for LGBT+ History Month. We visited some historic LGBT+ monuments and locations in Manchester, discussing their history and why they are still important to our community. We received some great feedback too, which was nice!

What is Zen doing to celebrate Pride month?

At the end of this month (June), we have an exciting Pride Day planned in our Rochdale office. It’s a couple of hours of fun, games and entertainment for everyone in our building to come along and enjoy. Last year’s event went down really well, so we’ve put even more effort and resources into making this day one to remember. We can't wait to see it come to life and have some fun!

Has the Pride group got anything else exciting coming up?

We’ve got some exciting things planned for the rest of the year, including more collaboration with the other diversity networks at Zen. We’re especially keen to do some joint work with the Women in Tech group, and we also have Bi Visibility Day and Trans Day of Remembrance coming up, just to name a few.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Just that I think Pride Month is a great reminder of how far we’ve come as a community so far, but also that there is still a fight for equal rights for us all, both in the UK and globally.

To find out more about Pride@Zen and our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) groups, visit our site here.