Diversity, HIV awareness and allyship take the spotlight at Foundever™ Pride Summit in the Philippines

Foundever™, a global leader in the customer experience (CX) industry, diversity is championed – it’s not just lip service.

 

The company has received a rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars for diversity and inclusion from the established job platform Glassdoor, a top 5% ranking for work culture by the compensation monitoring platform Comparably. It has been called a leader in diversity by the Financial Times and Statista in 2023. 

 

"Diversity has always been one of the great traits of Foundever," noted Asia Pacific Chief Operating Officer Ravi Iyengar during his opening remarks at the company's recent #PrideSummit in the Philippines. 

 

"Our customers come from various cultures, groups, and gender identities. So it's fitting that our people are equally diverse. This allows us to look at problems from various angles and provide better solutions," 

 

This was reflected in the company's recent My Associate Experience (MAX) survey, where 86% of Foundever employees said diversity is valued within the organization.  

 

Iyengar added, "To our associates who are members of the LGBTQIA+ community, please know that you're not just accepted at Foundever, you're celebrated. Here you can always create your best moments. Foundever will always be a safe place where you are free to love and express who you are." 

 

The Foundever #PrideSummit in the Philippines is part of the company's many CSR initiatives that aim to amplify LGBTQIA+ voices by supporting their culture and rights. This year, it was focused on the promotion of diversity in the workplace, as well as HIV awareness and allyship within the community.

 

A home, not a clinic

 

A strong advocate of HIV awareness and education, Foundever had LoveYourself Inc. founder and executive director Dr. Ronnievin Pagtakhan as a keynote speaker at the Pride Summit. A distinguished medical practitioner who worked in the United States for some time, Dr. Pagtakhan has dedicated his knowledge and expertise to creating a safe space where people with HIV or sexually transmitted infections can get support.  

 

LoveYourself began in 2011 as an outreach program, then opened its first community center a year later with the Research Institute for Tropical Medicines. Today, LoveYourself is the biggest self-sustaining HIV and sexual health treatment facility in the Philippines, with 15 locations nationwide. The center offers combination prevention which includes HIV testing, condoms, and lubricants, use of pre-exposure prophylaxis, post-exposure prophylaxis, and treatment as prevention. 

 

"I had a vision of creating a community center for men in the LGBTQIA+ community that's more like a safe space. When you go there, it doesn't feel like a clinic; it feels like a home. It feels like a community away from one's family," Dr. Pagtakhan said. "We want to create ripples of positive change, one free HIV test at a time.

 

LoveYourself now has a mental health care service called Flourish. Dr. Pagtakhan included the additional offering with the help of Mental Health PH when a number of community members developed anxiety and depression just before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Flourish by LoveYourself also supports those experiencing anxiety while undergoing treatment. On June 26, Foundever partners with LoveYourself PH for a company-wide free HIV testing activity. 

 

Allyship: More than cheerleading

 

According to Foundever Chief Marketing Officer Martin Wilkinson-Brown, in his speech, many claims to be an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community, but they're not aware that being one is not easy. 

 

"Being an ally is not just being a cheerleader, although promoting and cheering for the community is absolutely part of it. An ally takes time to see things from a different perspective, and provides support to LGBTQIA+ members who may not be as lucky or in the same position as them," Brown said.

 

He added that being an ally takes practice, something a person does not do once, and it's over. It needs to be something ongoing like the commitment Foundever has towards creating a safe workspace, giving associates equal access to equitable opportunities for career growth, and building a culture built on dignity and respect. 

 

"While our three global commitments alone do not create allies, they create a safe space where people can ask questions without being judged and where they can be themselves and freely share their stories," Wilkinson-Brown said. 

 

"It is from that an ally can really be born." 

 

The Foundever Pride Summit in the Philippines also held a panel discussion to tackle concerns specific to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and the LGBTQIA+ community. The panel was composed of Wilkinson-Brown, Dr. Ronnievin Pagtakhan, Pamela Donato, Miss Trans Global 2020 Mela Habijan, independent career coach and DEI consultant Chris Eugenio, and Outright Action International project coordinator for Asia Ging Cristobal. The discussion touched on the importance of celebrating Pride month and the hotly debated SOGIE bill.