Last year, we took great steps towards making Gympass a place where everyone feels welcomed, heard, valued, and supported in achieving their full potential through many diversity, equity, and belonging initiatives.
All these activities were made possible thanks to our Organizational Development & Belonging team and our employee-led Affinity Groups. These groups help people from the same underrepresented group build community (and recruit allies!) and share the same cause. Each group is unique in its goals and initiatives, but they all allow for a safe space for people to share personal experiences and bring new ideas to make Gympass a better place to work for everyone.
Here’s a recap of some of the important diversity, equity, and belonging activities that we organized during 2022!
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
On January 27th, we commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day. At Gympass we wanted to contribute to the #WeRemember campaign in honor of our Jewish Affinity Group. Our participation in this campaign was a way to help ensure everyone remembers the causes of the Holocaust and reflects upon its consequences.
US Black History Month & Brazil Black Awareness Month
We had a twenty-eight-day commemoration of African American achievements in the United States. Among the highlights, our Black Employee Network planned a team workout with a Black-owned gym. With this action, Gympassers had the opportunity to contribute to a Black-owned business and also move their body with exercise.
In Brazil, we held a fantastic event to talk about Black Awareness Month. Gympass Black Power, the Brazilian Affinity Group, invited Raquel Helen Silva, a specialist in international relations and human rights to present on racial consciousness and anti-racism.
International Women’s Day
We organized our second annual Global Women’s Week with a series of events and an awareness campaign to discuss and reflect on gender equality and women’s wellbeing. So in the first event, we had Gympass women leaders speak in a forum to discuss the challenges they face every day. Other sessions from the month included topics like “Men as allies in gender equality”, “Women and maternity”, and “Women in tech”, where we were introduced to Gympass women working in technology.
AAPI Month
In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Asian Gympassers led a panel sharing their personal experiences and how cultural diversity and inclusion have become a priority for companies like Gympass.
Pride Month
Pride Celebrations kicked of with an event focused on LGBTQIAPN+ impact in the corporate world. So it was a huge opportunity to learn about the importance of Pride and the need to join this fight as an ally of the cause. We also launched awareness campaigns encouraging Gympassers to use a special virtual background to celebrate all month long. Finally, we ended the month attending Prides parades together around the world.
Unconscious Bias Journey
As part of our Diversity, Equity, and Belonging commitment, all Gympassers were trained on Unconscious Bias with exercises and best practices to be more aware of decisions and actions in the day-to-day to make Gympass an even more inclusive and diverse organization.
Lesbian Visibility Day
On August 29th, National Lesbian Visibility Day was celebrated by Gympass in Brazil! LGBTQIA+ affinity groups prepared a round table session focusing on the fight against lesbophobia.
Affirmative Positions Program
Affirmative actions are covered by Brazilian law. They are measures adopted for the correction of racial inequalities and for the promotion of equal opportunities. Our recruitment program includes affirmative action roles for underrepresented groups: women in senior positions, Black professionals, and LGBTQIAPN+ professionals.
Global Gympass Volunteer Day
Our Gympass Volunteer Day is a global program with local actions to encourage Gympassers to participate in volunteer work that benefits our communities. We held 5 volunteer actions all around the world: two in the USA, one in Brazil, one in Germany, and one in Spain. All were organized by employees in their local communities!
Excited about the variety of diversity, equity, and belonging actions at Gympass? These were just some of the highlights. So stay tuned to our Instagram account @gympasscareers! Our Organizational Development & Belonging team is already preparing new initiatives in collaboration with the Affinity Groups.
We will continue our commitment to growing as an inclusive, supportive, and diverse company where all people are respected and can express themselves freely. Moving forward to 2023 full of news and surprises!