When it comes to receiving the official Rainbow Tick certification, Vodafone's Rainbow Whānau – a staff led LGBTQI+ committee is extremely proud, but also adamant that it's just the start.

The Rainbow Tick is the culmination of a year-long effort from a wide group of committed people led by Brendan McLeay, the Rainbow Whānau’s South Island lead from Vodafone's Reporting team and Marcus Shepherd, community lead from the Discover Graduate programme.

Why is the Rainbow Tick important to Vodafone?

Brendan: Our vision is to have a deeply embedded culture of inclusion that values and leverages the diversity of our people, to better serve our customers and the communities we operate in.

Tell us about the Rainbow Whānau, and what it’s done for you.

Marcus: The Rainbow Whānau is an employee-driven network, which is supported by Vodafone to best support LGBTQI+ staff. For me it has not only acted as a network to get to know other like-minded people in the business but it also was a platform for me to be proactive and feel empowered in my workplace, able to help events like Spirit Day, our Pride Parade participation, and of course getting the Rainbow Tick.

What did you find going into this journey, and what did you get out of it?

Brendan: At the beginning, it was a daunting task, fortunately, a small group of us got stuck in, and what we found, we’re already doing great things in this space, both locally, and globally. A year on the team have achieved what we’ve set out to achieve, and coming from the rainbow community, it was truly humbling to have so much support from people right across the business.

Being new to Vodafone, was it a challenge to help on this journey?

Marcus: Vodafone, I say to my friends, is my first career job. And it was challenging at first to find what I needed, but then off the back of some great advice I started asking for help and people were more than happy to stand up. The best thing out of this was not only was I able to meet amazing people, gain insights, and learn what they do day to day, but I also made some great friendships.

What’s next for the Rainbow Tick at Vodafone?

Brendan: This is only the beginning. We are committed to working with the Rainbow Tick organisation in coming years to further refine our policies and procedures, to support our staff so they can bring their full selves to work. Ultimately, an empowered workforce helps us to better serve our customers.