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BMI colleagues were delighted to have the opportunity to volunteer with a global non-profit organisation, Dress for Success Worldwide, last week. Following a successful clothes donation campaign, held at our Reading HQ in Spring, six colleagues spent the day with the organisation in London, contributing to their mission to empower women to achieve economic independence. The volunteers from BMI Women’s Leadership Network (WLN) assisted with careers and interview skills coaching, styling clients for interviews, and helping in the wardrobe department. Mona He, BMI Group’s Deputy General Counsel and co-chair of the WLN, reflected on the visit: “I really appreciated the opportunity to contribute to a cause aligned to my values, seeing firsthand the positive impact on the women we met, who were from a broad range of backgrounds, and deepening the engagement with this charity supporting women in different ways.” Thank you to Dress for Success Greater London for giving us this opportunity, and also to our BMI volunteers.
Throughout June our Pride Under One Roof community held events to mark Pride Month, a time dedicated to celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, promoting equality, and fostering a sense of inclusivity and acceptance. Colleagues, allies and supporters got involved with Pride Movie Night, Cultured Culinary Potluck and an International Pride Day social gathering, all held at our BMI Group Head Office (Reading, UK). Everyone is welcome here.
Last weekend, colleagues from our Reading (UK) office held a charity walkathon and team building event to raise money for a local charity for the homeless, New Beginnings Reading. The team and their families spent a day walking together in the English countryside to raise funds and give back to those in need in our local community. Well done to everyone involved! #BuildingNewHorizons #BMIGroup #Values #OneTeam #Connect #Empower #Evolve #Inspire
Modern life can feel relentless and stressful, but with the right tools, we have the potential to be healthier and happier. At BMI Group HQ, we recognised World Meditation Day on Sunday 21 May by encouraging our teams to pause and take some time out to focus on our wellbeing. We have seen some fantastic Guided Meditation Sessions hosted monthly by Ellie Greensmith, a colleague in our Finance Team based out of our Reading UK Office. The live meditation sessions that Ellie hosts cover a variety of areas such as Breathwork, Visualisation and the Five Senses. Trying out a style of meditation suited to your goals is a great way to relax and reflect, even if you only have a few minutes to do it each day!
Happy International Women’s Day! This global celebration of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women has been taking place for over 100 years. The theme for this year is #EmbraceEquity. The BMI Women's Leadership Network (WLN) is providing a platform for empowering women and building connections with their allies. One of the many actions is professional coaching. In February, all BMI colleagues could join a session on Embracing Equity. The session covered a variety of topics including; personal bias, equality vs equity, the meaning of privilege, empathy, authentic conversations, and how to be an active ally. It takes all of us, working together, to implement the changes we need for a better, more equitable future.
Today BMI is participating in Time to Talk Day, one of the nation’s biggest mental health conversation, run by Mind and Rethink charities. The focus of the campaign is to raise awareness and open up the conversation on mental health. We acknowledge it isn’t easy, and it can sometimes be awkward, but just knowing someone is there, or by being there for someone else, it can make a difference. We’ve seen members of our leadership teams speak openly to remind us how important it is to come together with colleagues, friends, families and communities to talk, listen and change lives. Some of our Mental Health First Aiders also shared some top tips to encourage others to open up and how to respond effectively. Thank you to our BMI colleagues who got involved in our Time to Talk day and let’s continue the conversations.
This month, BMI Group launched a week-long Safe Workspace Campaign. The focus of the campaign was to raise awareness and create a conversation on psychological safety in the workplace including how to recognise and contribute to an inclusive and safe working environment. We launched videos which feature colleagues from across BMI talking openly about what inclusion means to them and how they are committing to foster an inclusive environment. We shared guidance on how to identify microaggressions, enabling us all to reflect on our language, how it may impact others and how we can adapt accordingly. We also provided tips on how to appropriately give feedback to a colleague that may have used inappropriate language in the workplace. Throughout the month of December we also launched an anonymous Inclusion Survey to gather feedback on how we can improve further and we are excited to continue this journey into next year. Thank you to our BMI colleagues who took part in our Safe Workspace Campaign and made it a great success.
A huge congratulations to Stacey Card, IT Director, for being named in the INvolve - The Inclusion People OUTstanding Top 100 LGBT+ Future Leaders Role Model List. We are very proud of Stacey and grateful for her work in support of BMI's Diversity and Inclusion goals, including her leadership of our Pride Under One Roof employee group. Well deserved recognition! Our thanks as always to Stacey and our many colleagues across the Group who are driving this important agenda. View the list here: https://lnkd.in/eMS_GEeC #ItsNeverJustARoof #BMIGroup #BuildingNewHorizons #Leadership #DiversityAndInclusion #Equality
At BMI, we recognise that a workforce that champions women is critical to our success and are proud of the work being done by the Women’s Leadership Network (WLN) in this important area. At a recent two day conference in the UK, WLN members from across our international businesses, along with some of our top leaders, had the opportunity to network, share ideas and plan the expansion of our already hugely successful WLN programme. Justin Skala (CEO) who attended the event, said: “A diverse and inclusive workforce is key to the future success of BMI and our wider industry. I remain incredibly proud of the progress we are making together across BMI to remove the barriers to women entering the building materials industry and demonstrating the opportunities the sector has to offer and more crucially, what women can bring to the sector”.
Pride Month Celebrations In June we have come together to celebrate pride month through many different activities and events. We value the importance of educating ourselves and our allies on LGBTQ+ rights. June 28th is the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots which saw the gay community finally stand up against police brutality to LGBTQ+ people, and the reason we celebrate pride in June. It's the perfect time for people to come together in love and friendship, to show how far LGBTQ+ rights have come, and shine a light on those areas that still have much work to be done. Whilst it has been an exciting month shining a light on LGBTQ+ topics, at BMI we work all year round to continue the drive of LGBTQ+ equality, challenging ourselves to do more to support our people and the communities we serve.
