NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Out in Tech, the world’s largest community of LGBTQ+ tech professionals, today announced the launch of Qorporate, a membership program for companies committed to improving opportunities for LGBTQ+ people and other underrepresented groups throughout the global tech industry. Founding members of Qorporate include Automattic, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), HP (NYSE: HPQ), PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) and Snap (NYSE: SNAP).
Finding, hiring and retaining women, people of color and LGBTQ+ people – especially tech talent – is one of the biggest human resources challenges facing companies today. While most large tech companies have established diversity and inclusion programs, technology startups often lack the scale at which diversity initiatives are a priority or employee resource groups can be formed.
“Diversity in tech is one code the industry has been slow to crack,” said Andrew Lowenthal, executive director of Out in Tech. “By harnessing the collective experiences of member companies and our community of more than 25,000 LGBTQ+ techies around the world, we can advance the tech sector and create more equitable and inclusive workplaces for all underrepresented groups. When companies have the tools to empower all employees, progress happens.”
Qorporate will bring together LGBTQ+ employee resource groups and executive champions from member companies to create resources to help all companies, regardless of size, recruit and retain employees from underrepresented groups. Resources will address a wide range of topics, including establishing and supporting employee resource groups, implementing data-driven human resource practices to support diversity and inclusion, and employing an intersectional approach to create a culture of belonging.
“Inclusion is both a moral imperative and a business necessity. Diverse teams, sustained by an inclusive culture, foster innovation and lead to better performance,” said Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal. “PayPal is proud to support Out in Tech, and we hope that companies everywhere will continue to take part in opportunities like Qorporate to create more welcoming and diverse workplaces for us all.”
“When we understand someone’s journey, it gives us empathy for them as an individual. And when someone trusts that they can share their story, be who they are and be accepted, they can fully bring themselves to work,” said Lesley Slaton Brown, chief diversity officer of HP. “By helping to launch Qorporate, Out in Tech’s corporate council, and encourage everyone to be who they truly are, we’re poised to truly support LGBTQ+ employees around the world.”
Employees of Qorporate member companies will receive access to a proprietary global digital community of LGBTQ+ tech employees to foster belonging for remote employees or those for whom membership in physical communities is not possible. In addition, a job board will connect LGBTQ+ candidates with job listings from Qorporate member companies that are actively seeking to build a stronger pipeline of diversity for the future.
“As an early supporter of Out in Tech, we’ve seen their wholehearted approach to social impact firsthand,” said Matt Mullenweg, founder and CEO of Automattic. “We’re proud to help launch their corporate council to advance LGBTQ+ inclusion.”
“We are thrilled to become a founding member of the Out in Tech corporate council,” said Lara Sweet, chief people officer of Snap Inc. “We are excited about the value this important new collaboration will bring in developing tools, resources, and best practices to break down some of the systemic barriers that often lead to people feeling excluded. Ensuring Snap’s culture represents the diversity of the global Snapchat community is critical to our success, and we look forward to creating a more inclusive environment for the LGBTQ+ community.”
“We are a proud partner and founding member of Out in Tech’s corporate council with a goal to improve diversity,” said Craig Froelich, chief information security officer of Bank of America. “The business community needs our collective expertise to attract and retain talent from those underrepresented groups.”
Founded in 2013, Out in Tech now has more than 25,000 members in cities around the world, including Austin, Bangalore, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, with more chapters on the way. Out in Tech volunteers have collectively devoted over 8,000 hours to help groups fighting for LGBTQ+ equality worldwide and work at companies including Airbnb, Amazon, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Netflix, and Slack.
For more information about Out in Tech and joining Qorporate, visit outintech.com/qorporate.
About Out in Tech
Out in Tech is the world’s largest non-profit community of LGBTQ+ tech professionals, uniting its more than 25,000 members by creating opportunities for career advancement and leveraging tech for social change. For more information, visit outintech.com.
