At Impala we've just introduced a Transitioning in the Workplace Policy for Pride month - along with an internal Guide to support folks transitioning, and the team around them.

Our policy includes, amongst other things, a total of 10 paid days leave for any Impalan transitioning, to attend any transitioning-related appointments, or for any recovery time needed. We wanted to formalise a policy to remove uncertainty and ambiguity on the topic, hence lowering the barrier to anyone raising the topic.

We wanted to ensure that Impala celebrates Pride month in a meaningful way.

Although there has been significant progress toward equality for the LGBTQ+ community in recent years, a long road to equality remains ahead.

The collective LGBTQ+ community continues to face exclusion and discrimination in various forms.

Whilst Pride month is a great time for celebration, events and rainbow flags; it's more so important for generating discourse, supporting the community, and moving the needle towards a better and more inclusive world.

Which was why we reviewed what was important, where the biggest knowledge or acceptance gaps exist in the world, and what we're in a position to do as a company for the community. Transitioning is just one small part of the wider LGTBQ+ community make-up and experience - however trans people are still more likely to be attacked, mentally abused, or suffer from mental health issues, so we thought this was a good place to start for making change.

The need for normalisation, awareness and support is why we've chosen to share this new policy publicly. We hope that small changes like this which get shared can add to the critical mass that creates meaningful change in society.

We also hope that this policy helps normalise the topic internally at Impala, to create a more inclusive and safe environment, for all trans people at Impala, and Impalans who identify as LGBTQ+ too.

How this fits in with our wider Inclusion approach

Our approach to inclusion at Impala is that:

We endeavour to cater for all employees at all stages of life, across any life situation

This underpinning approach is embedded into many existing processes, policies, flexible working arrangements, and activities at Impala. So we took this lens when looking at what meaningful change we could enact for Pride month.