What does it take for a company to receive the Human Rights Campaign’s Equality 100 Award?
Just ask the team at MassMutual. The mutual life insurance and financial services company, which earned the aforementioned award for its support of LGBTQIA+ team members, has been at the forefront of driving representation for years.
According to one of its leaders, Colin Burns, this focus on representation is rooted in one central aim: building community, both externally and internally. He said that MassMutual partners with local organizations, such as LGBTQIA+ healthcare provider Fenway Health, to empower members of the community, regardless of whether they work for the company.
And as the organization heightens its communitywide impact, it also ensures its own people have the resources they need to thrive. Burns shared that, in addition to receiving gender-affirmation support and other holistic benefits, the company’s LGBTQIA+ individuals can participate in its PRIDE business resource group, where they get to cultivate inclusivity while building out their skill sets.
“Our longest-standing (and one of our largest) business resource groups, PRIDE, empowers members to lead many of our activities, from an internal pep rally to parade coordination to educational resources about our community and intersectional identities,” he said. “These projects allow employees to build skills in project management, design, people leadership, and much more.”
While MassMutual’s support of the LGBTQIA+ community is palpable, its team members believe that there’s always more to be done. For Burns, the PRIDE BRG encapsulates these efforts by continuously driving equity, regardless of the time of year.
“Because we represent so many different gender identities and sexual orientations in our community, education to better understand one another is incredibly important to our BRG, because we believe that representation matters for every employee,” he said.
Built In Boston caught up with Burns to learn how MassMutual celebrates and advocates for the LGBTQIA+ community during the month of June — and all year long.
How is MassMutual celebrating Pride Month?
MassMutual prides itself on its ties to the communities in which we do business. As such, we have partnerships with the Pride organizations in Springfield and Boston, where we have offices. Both Springfield Pride and Boston Pride for the People are organizations we are proud to support.
We are also partnering with Fenway Health through an economic grant to build awareness of physical and mental well-being challenges specific to the LGBTQIA+ community. In addition, we’re building educational programs and tools that help financial professionals who choose to affiliate with MassMutual and support LGBTQIA+ Americans and their financial well-being, not only during Pride month, but also throughout the year.
“MassMutual prides itself on its ties to the communities in which we do business.”
In addition to the PRIDE BRG, how else does MassMutual support and empower its LGBTQIA+ team members?
We support our LGBTQIA+ employees in several ways, from our suite of holistic, flexible benefits such as gender-affirmation support and access to free counseling, to training and resources to help them achieve their full potential. We also partner with Out & Equal, a leader in workplace equality, to provide formal education and training on leadership, inclusion, and overcoming workplace obstacles as an LGBTQIA+ employee and leader.
Beyond the month of June, how does MassMutual support or advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community?
MassMutual is a proud recipient of the HRC Equality 100 Award: we received a score of 100 out of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index for our leadership in workplace inclusion. Our PRIDE business resource group is active all year supporting LGBTQIA+ employee engagement and development.
One of our signature programs is Pride 365, where we utilize different days of remembrance and celebration to highlight different letters of our alphabet. We humanize those stories through individual members openly sharing their identity and helping community members and allies understand them more deeply, which grows our connections with and support for each other.
Because we represent so many different gender identities and sexual orientations in our community, education to better understand one another is incredibly important to our BRG, because we believe that representation matters for every employee.
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