23 June 2022

We believe in gold at the end of the rainbow

We all have gold in our hands, but everyone must have the opportunity to shine, regardless of gender or sexuality. That’s why at Serviceplan Brussels, we celebrate Pride Month and support our LGBTQ+ colleagues all year round. Because as legend goes,there is gold at the end of the rainbow. Join us.




23 June 2022

Pride at work 

Pride at work is important to us. Not just in our skills, but also in being able to be who we are. We had a talk with our HR manager Tanguy Georis about his views on inclusive interviewing.

SP: How do you try to be inclusive in your job interviews?
“Well, first of all, there’s a big difference between diversity and inclusion. To me, diversity is something that you can actually decide by yourself, e.g.: I want this and this percentage of men, women, religion,... in my company. Inclusiveness is really more about a feeling and it’s about people who feel inclusive. Diversity you can decide on, inclusiveness you have to create. It’s much more difficult and fragile.
So, when it comes to diversity, I have zero bias when I read resumes and interview people. As someone who is gay, this openness towards anyone is very important to me. And the results are there: we are a diverse agency in terms of nationalities and gender, sexual orientation and so on. I’m definitely proud of that.” 

“When talking about inclusivity, as I said, it’s more of a nuance. I have to look for people who have an open mind. This means I have to balance between what I’m legally allowed to ask and what I feel is necessary to understand the viewpoints of the person in front of me.  So it’s really trying to understand how open-minded and welcoming someone can be and if they will continue to do so with their colleagues. “

SP: What do you do to make people feel at ease, let them know they can be honest?
“Firstly, with all candidates, I spend a lot of time talking about Serviceplan. I talk about what we do, who our clients are, who we are and what our values are, and how we prefer to treat people. I usually pinpoint three principles:

The most important to us is that you have the skills and willingness, your background and private life are of no importance in our hiring decision.”


SP: Have you yourself been in work environments where you felt you couldn’tbe yourself or you knew your position would be jeopardized if you were fully honest? 
Yes, I have. In the nineties when I started working, I didn’t want to say out loud that I’m gay but never lie about it either. I just didn’t mention it if I wasn’t asked. But then I became a team leader and I was responsible for a team of sales people on the road. We always talked on the phone, which was the landline as we didn’t have mobile phones at that time. Of course it occured that my partner picked up the phone instead of me. So at one stage, many people started knowing I was gay because I lived with a guy. I feel like I was probably the only one out of a 150 that wasn’t lying about it. At some point I made a big promotion, but was asked by one key figure in the company to keep my “lifestyle choices” private. That was tough, but I took the job regardless. Over time, their attitude changed and became more open towards all kinds of employees. Definitely a positive change. So a happy ending to that story (laughs).  The moral of it is: it made me realize to make it clear to people that all that matters to us is if they have the right skills and attitude. Everything else doesn't matter. 

Thank you, Tanguy! 

According to our colleagues

We asked some of our lgbtqi+ colleagues about their experience at the workplace and put the results in a chart. See below!

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