Celebrating Pride month 2021

In June each year thousands of people across the UK celebrate Pride month. This month is about people coming together to celebrate how far LGBT+ rights have come, to educate others to make sure improvements continue to be made and for everyone, no matter who they are, to be Proud.

I am particularly excited about Pride month this year, as I am have just taken on the role of Executive Sponsor for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).  As Executive Sponsor for EDI I will support our EDI Manager, our colleague EDI Networks and our resident groups to continue to celebrate the diversity of our colleagues and residents, and to identify ways we can continue to ensure we are a truly inclusive environment.  I will also encourage my peers on the Executive and Non-Executive Boards and our Senior Leadership Team, to have diversity and inclusion at the heart of our discussions.

This is an area I am passionate about as I truly believe that having a strong diversity and inclusion strategy is integral to delivering our business plan.  At Anchor Hanover we want to provide homes where all our residents can love living in later life, and where any colleague can be themselves at work and have the opportunity to develop and have successful careers. 

We know that diversity is important in all parts of the organisation – even those which may be less obvious! In March Anchor Hanover announced our innovative refinancing arrangements and I was pleased to include diversity and wellbeing measures as part of the KPIs to be reported on as part of our environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. It was important to us that the KPIs set as part of our finance arrangements were truly aligned to our business plan in this way so that we can ensure diversity and wellbeing remains a priority for Anchor Hanover.

This Pride month colleagues and residents across the organisation will be celebrating by enjoying rainbow cake baking, Pride Quizzes, Drag Bingo and a whole lot of other activities.  But we will also be highlighting the range of support available to our LGBTQ+ community. This includes groups such as our Rainbow Network, LGBT+ Resident Group and also guidance documents on subjects such as gender pronouns and supporting individuals transitioning.

We’ve done a lot of work already to make sure Anchor Hanover is a great, inclusive place to live and work, and I intend to give my full support to ensuring we continue on this journey.

Sarah Jones is Anchor Hanover’s Chief Financial Officer.