Why does Salesforce need an LGBTQ+ community?
Equality has been part of Salesforce's DNA from the very beginning. Just 2 years after the company was founded, headquarters decided to launch diversity and inclusion communities (ERGs). That decision, made so early on, is tied to the 1:1:1 model: 1% of employees' time goes to volunteering, along with 1% of company profits and 1% of the company's licenses. As part of that initiative, we founded the LGBTQ+ community in Israel. In the community we built, LGBTQ+ employees can turn to one another on community-related issues at work. We wanted to create a community that makes an impact both inside and outside the company. A community that gives people a place and a sense of belonging.
How did the community get started?
The first LGBTQ+ community at Salesforce, Outforce, started in San Francisco. Beyond it, Salesforce globally had other equality communities: women, people with disabilities and more. The decision was made that the first community to be "imported" to Israel would be the LGBTQ+ community. The Israeli community was founded 5 years ago by Idan Liron Livne. In the early days, its first steps were reaching out to LGBTQ+ organizations such as Hoshen and IGY, marching in the Tel Aviv Pride Parade, and organizing volunteer activities.
From the very start, one of the community's goals was clear: to make a real impact. To create impact that connects to the values of 1:1:1 and of giving back, we decided to partner with nonprofits and organizations in the field, ask what they needed, and figure out how the community could help. We also launched volunteer initiatives and invited LGBTQ+ people to share their personal stories in talks for company employees, stories people wouldn't necessarily have heard any other way.
We encouraged people to join in all kinds of ways. We sent an open call to every employee, inviting them to join the community or take part in the various volunteer activities. We also reached people through company events. During the last Pride Month, for example, we ran an "excuse me for asking" style session with several LGBTQ+ employees who answered questions freely and openly. More people joined the community afterward. Holding events like these in the company sparks something in employees and encourages them to join and make a difference. It's worth noting that some of the people who join aren't necessarily part of the LGBTQ+ community themselves. They're employees who care and want to be part of this.
What is the Outforce community, and how does it work?
When a new employee joins the company, we tell them about its ERG communities. We walk through the different ERGs, explain who leads each one, and invite them to join.
The community runs on several levels and communication channels. The first is the broadest: every Salesforce employee is welcome. We reach out to all employees to raise awareness of the community and its work beyond the community itself, and we invite everyone to take part in activities and volunteering. The second level is the Slack channel, the day-to-day communication channel for community members, with content recommendations, event invitations and more. The third level is the smallest: the committee, a group of 6 people from across the LGBTQ+ spectrum who meet once a month to make decisions about the community's work.
Employees can join both external and internal community activities. The external ones are usually volunteering. Internally, the focus is on LGBTQ+ awareness within the organization. For example, we reach out to Hoshen and invite a speaker to share their personal story. You can learn so much just from the way a speaker introduces themselves: their preferred pronouns and where they place themselves on the LGBTQ+ spectrum.
This past Pride Month, we debated whether to march in the Pride Parade. Last year we marched and made shirts, but this year we hesitated, because we wondered what impact it really had. In the end we decided to throw an event at the office. For 2 hours people hung out, danced together, ate and watched LGBTQ+ stand-up. We wanted it to be fun, and we also wanted people to get value out of it and be exposed to new things. It worked great!
When did you know the community was working?
On a personal level, when I see we've managed to bring new people to our activities, I know we're headed in the right direction. The moments when we hold an event and I see new faces we didn't know before, that's success, for me and for all of us. Beyond the activities, more employees keep joining our shared Slack channel. It keeps growing, and so does the level of conversation there. Just recently I posted some cultural recommendations in the channel, and people shared at what stage of life, or at what point, they had come across a particular film or play. It was very moving.
Another thing that matters to us is LGBTQ+ employees taking part in meetups. When we see more and more community members joining meetups, talking about the community and sharing what the culture at Salesforce is like, more people get a window into it and become interested in working here. That's a huge win for us.
Cracking the win-win: how do you make sure both the community and the organization get value?
The win for the community: for me, the real win is that community members turn to their coworkers on LGBTQ+ issues. The community "broke through" the professional barrier at work. It creates space for identity and belonging at work, and that's something truly special that came to life here in the community.
The win for the organization: one of the organization's leading values is equality. The LGBTQ+ community, as one of the company's ERGs, brings the vision and the 1:1:1 model to life. Beyond that, one of the goals of both the organization and the community is to recruit LGBTQ+ talent, and through the community and its activities, the company makes itself accessible to members of the LGBTQ+ community.
When we see more and more community members joining meetups, talking about the community and sharing what the culture at Salesforce is like, more people get a window into it and become interested in working here. That's a huge win for us.
What challenges have you faced?
One of the biggest challenges was measuring the community's impact. At first, it was hard for us to figure out how to quantify impact. What helped was going back to the community's goals and targets, which made the impact much easier to quantify. For example, one of our community's targets is LGBTQ+ employees taking part in meetups (not necessarily on LGBTQ+ topics) in order to recruit talent from the community. In this case, we measure meetup participation and can track LGBTQ+ hiring in a more controlled way.
Another challenge is bringing new members into the group. Because the topic is sensitive, we don't approach employees directly to ask whether they want to take part. Our approach has 2 parts: 1. We send open calls to the whole company. 2. We create company-wide activities that raise LGBTQ+ awareness at work. Both ways expose employees to the community and its activities, and they can choose to join.
Tips for building a successful community
- Understand why you want to build an LGBTQ+ community in your organization. Once you have your "why," it will be easier to win support from management and from the relevant people in the company.
- Building a community without understanding its goals can lead to it shutting down. And closing a community like this hurts both its members and the organization.
- Build partnerships that help you develop and grow the community. Once a month we meet with all the Chapter leads (that's what we call the equality community leads) across EMEA. Everyone shares updates and what they're doing at their site. These meetings give us perspective on what else we could do and how things are run in other countries, and they can be truly inspiring. They also let us bring our content to a wider audience. When I shared one of the talks we'd brought to the Israel site, there was interest in running it again in English to reach a broader audience.