Blog
Building a culture of well-being: Employee mental health support
Our team members globally celebrate Pride throughout the month of June to recognize and support the LGBTQ+ community. At Flex, we are committed to continuously strengthening our culture of inclusion and ensuring every team member feels seen, safe, and empowered to be their best self and reach their full potential.
We’re focused on removing stigma and biases within our walls and further creating space in our workplaces for team members to deepen their understanding, connect, and champion change through employee resource groups (ERG), policies, and actions while complying with safety regulations per local legislation and reducing risks to our employees. Many of our teams and employees around the world are promoting inclusive practices and getting involved locally.
We shine a light on our Brazil and Mexico teams, who have been named among the “Best Companies for LGBTQ+ People to Work For” according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation for two consecutive years. This certification is inspired by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s annual Corporate Equality Index, and is only bestowed when companies meet stringent diversity and inclusion requirements specific to the adoption of non-discrimination policies, LGBTQ+ organizational competencies, strategic training, and involvement in public activities that support LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Adoption of non-discrimination policies
Our teams in Brazil and Mexico are conscious of and align to our companywide non-discrimination policies and ensure that they specifically include terms such as sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression within their local policies.
These non-discrimination policies are available to all Flex employees in Brazil and Mexico, and the terminology is used regularly in the local languages.
LGBTQ+ organizational competencies
Both Flex Brazil and Mexico have a significant number of active Flex PRIDE ERG members, who are leading impactful activities and projects, both at Flex and in our local communities. In-country sites have gender neutral restrooms and encouraged the display of preferred pronouns on identification badges.
In Brazil, the team launched an employee support program that offers psycho-emotional support, legal and financial advice, and social assistance to LGBTQ team members, and others in vulnerable situations or who are going through a difficult time. Since its inception, the program has been well received by employees.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I understood myself as an LGBTQ+ person. This was a difficult moment in my life, and the Harmonia Program provided essential psychological support to help me navigate a challenging time in the best way possible.
— Gustavo Cardoso, Mid Marketing & Communication Analyst
Teams have also led internal and external awareness campaigns and developed a range of materials to help share and celebrate our employees’ stories and experiences, highlight the power of allyship, and reflect the diversity of the community and our global workforce.
Strategic training
Our Brazil and Mexico teams offer training to support LGBTQ+ inclusion in two key moments of the employee lifecycle.
First, during onboarding, employees are introduced to our non-discrimination policies, key terms, and the work of our ERGs, and how they can get involved in Flex PRIDE and other groups. The Brazil team also conducts webinars, training, and lectures throughout the year and communicates about relevant topics such as respect for pronouns, gender identity, sexual orientation, and more.
Additionally, through Flex Learn, our all-in-one, on-demand global learning experience platform, we offer over 1,200 self-paced training materials on diversity, equity, and inclusion topics for employees to build their understanding. We also have an LGBTQ+ learning pathway with 17 modules that are divided into three segments — historic overview, current global landscape, and future focus — and touch topics like intersectionality, inclusivity, allyship, and more.
Involvement in public activities that support LGBTQ+ inclusion
In Mexico, the team is a member of Pride Connection Mexico, an organization that provides information, spaces, and training on diversity and labor inclusion for people from the LGBTQ+ community and helps companies benchmark against and learn more about best practices. The organization aims to create a better work environment and social development for LGBTQ+ people in Mexico.
Additionally, our Mexico team is active in the local community. This year, building on previous years, more than 500 people joined the Flex team for the Pride Parade march in Guadalajara.
In addition to organizing efforts to partake in Pride celebrations, the team has also given back locally by providing donations to several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Mexico and is engaged with three non-profits including Impulso Trans A.C. in Guadalajara, Programa Compañeros A.C. in Juarez, and Centro COBINA in San Luis Rio Colorado.
In 2020, our Brazil team began a collaboration with Forum of Companies and LGBTI Rights with the commitment to promote LGBTQ+ rights in the team’s workplace, across the value chain, and surrounding community in Brazil.
Our Brazil team also continues to give back to the local LGBTQ+ community by donating clothes, blankets, personal hygiene products, and other supplies to local NGOs. To date, the team is engaged with Associação de Acolhimento LGBTQIAP+ Casa1 in São Paulo, Associação Transgênero de Sorocaba, Associação de Acolhimento CasaMiga in Manaus, and Centro de referência LGBTQIAP+ in Campinas.
We’re proud of our Brazil and Mexico teams for their demonstrated commitment to adopting inclusive policies and practices for our LGBTQ+ team members. At Flex, we believe that everyone plays an important role in cultivating and upholding a safe, inclusive work environment where every team member — irrespective of background, education, gender identity, race, ethnicity, working and thinking style, or ability — feels seen, heard, and valued.
