Do you find yourself dusting off rainbow flags and updating your social media to show support every June? You’re not alone, but here’s the thing: if that’s all your company is doing, it might be more about performance than progress. A study by an HR firm, Randstad, showed that only 9.5 per cent of organisations (out of all surveyed) in India made efforts towards making their workplace genuinely LGBTQ+ inclusive. The number is embarrassingly low. But if you, as an employer, are wondering how to make your workplace LGBTQ+ friendly, here are some ways that can help.

1. Stop the performance

First things first, tokenism changes nothing. The LGBTQ+ community can spot the emptiness in your performance a mile away. That doesn’t mean you stop with the flags and rainbow symbols. It means you need to do more. These symbols help LGBTQ+ people feel safe and seen, but don’t expect applause for it, or worse, expect people to come out to you just because you displayed a flag.

2. Actually hire people from the LGBTQ+ community

The second most important is obviously to hire people from the community. If you genuinely want to make the workplace LGBTQ+ friendly, inclusivity in hiring is an important step. And hiring shouldn’t be limited to just fresher roles. The Randstad study also found that most LGBTQ+ people are hired in the fresher to 5-year work experience category, seldom for senior roles.

3. Inclusive policies

If you don’t have inclusive policies, hiring people from the LGBTQ+ community is exploitation. Providing good healthcare policies to your employees is not enough. These policies should also include the problems faced by LGBTQ+ people. From gender affirming care to parental leave and adoption, rephrase the company policies so that they don’t go against the very community you want to uplift.

4. Train your staff

You have hired LGBTQ+ people and made policies for them, but what now? Well, if your the rest of your staff isn’t welcoming and inclusive, nothing is going to change. So, host workshops for your employees to educate them about the LGBTQ+ community and train them in appropriate communication.

5. Mind your language

Communication makes all the difference. If you’re not careful about how you address people, you might cause them harm even without trying. Replace all your gender-specific terms in everyday language as well as official language. Instead of saying “Hey, ladies and gentlemen”, switch to “Hey, folks”. This small change will make a huge difference.

6. Scrap that dress code

A lot of organisations follow a dress code, and these dress codes are usually very gendered. It’s time to scrap such dress codes. Even if you want to maintain a dress code in the organisation, make sure it’s gender-neutral. Instead of telling people who should wear a skirt or pants, let people decide for themselves.

7. Educate yourself, have an open conversation

This is obvious but educate yourself. Do your research before initiating any conversation. Instead of relying on them to tell you the difference between asexual and pansexual, do a little research. Yes, you might not become an expert but having the basic knowledge will make the conversations easier and smoother. Once you know enough about the community, just have a conversation with them. One of the best ways to make your organisation LGBTQ+ friendly is to ask them what they actually want. Instead of assuming their problems and offering a solution, do your own research and then have a conversation. Let them tell you what they expect from a workplace, and then work on implementing it. Nothing works better than open communication.

So, this Pride Month, go beyond the flags and performance and do something the LGBTQ+ community actually needs!

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Related: Why Is Pride Month Celebrated? Here’s A Quick Lesson On LGBTQIA+ History