Celebrating Pride at Paxton
30th June 2023
At Paxton we are proud to acknowledge the diversity of our brilliant team, from engineers to customer support technicians, product trainers, HR, finance, and sales and marketing professionals alike. We all contribute to making Paxton a great place to work and bringing word-class products and services to our customers.
In June like many companies, we celebrated Pride month with a team event for our people to come together to share their stories in support of the LGBTIAQ+ community.
Kate Hotson, our Project & Events Manager organised this year’s Pride event. She said: “The event is about celebrating inclusivity and diversity. It is an opportunity for Paxton employees to educate each other on why Pride is important to them, and a chance to celebrate the LGBTIAQ+ community and allies.
“We hosted a lunchtime event where we shared important Pride history and had discussions on questions like what does LGBTIAQ+ mean, an explanation of the Pride flag, and talked about the use of pronouns. We also had an after-work gathering where people hung out, played games, and had fun.”
Whilst researching content to share at the event, Tom Saunders from our Facilities team read research conducted by Stonewall, a UK-based charity that stands for the freedom, equity and potential of all LGBTIAQ+ people. It stated that almost one in five LGBTIAQ+ staff have been the target of negative comments or conduct from the work colleagues in 2021 because they’re LGBTIAQ+.
Tom said: “At Paxton we have a culture where everyone is free to express themselves and we show each other respect as individuals. It’s great to have events like Pride to promote this culture in a safe space for everyone to contribute freely.”
Jamie Jessica Martin from our Technical Support team, who is part of the transgender community, said: “Pride is not only a celebration but also about understanding what makes Pride, relaying information, telling stories, exploring history, protesting inequality and providing personal experiences that may show others a completely different side of things.”
“Hearing first hand other experiences shared by our colleagues, makes the events at Paxton valuable and effective.”
Ben Knight, from our Engineering Department, looked forward to contributing to the discussion: “I am a non-binary presence and there are a lot of people in the community. It’s important to represent the community with events like this, making sure voices are heard where possible.
“We get to hear what people are going through, what people are experiencing, and raise awareness of those kinds of issues.”
An important forum that Paxton uses to help identify company celebrations that promote employee wellbeing is the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Group. The group consists of people from across the company who are committed to engaging with colleagues to understand their needs at work, and seeking to establish, recommend, implement, and oversee initiatives to continually strive for an equitable, diverse, and inclusive work culture.
Tom Saunders, Jamie Jessica Martin, and Lyle Kilbey from our Engineering Department are part of the EDI Group.
Tom joined the group for multiple reasons, he says: “The EDI Group gives us a place to inspire each other, educate on inclusive language and discuss opportunities without judgement. At the same time, the group helps keep a track on our own biases.
“There are always improvements to make a difference that can further develop our company culture.”
Lyle Kilbey, who self-identifies as queer, joined the group to share their unique perspective: “It feels important to be able to put across my voice and to express the wants and desires of people in the community for a better place in a way that’s meaningful to everyone. The EDI Group allows us to have conversations with our colleagues and bring those back to people that are at the position to make changes.”
One of the campaigns that the EDI Group have been pushing forward this year is attaching pronouns in email signature.
Jamie said: “Pronouns are about being informative, polite, and respectful to each other. Whilst it seems such a simple thing to do, for transgender and non-binary people it is really important because it gives them the opportunity to be themselves and to not feel anxious or awkward that someone is going to misgender them.
“A lot of the times as well, it helps people who care to not make a mistake unintentionally. Pronouns bring so much positive impact.”
Lyle explains further: “My friends weren’t asking me to do things because there was an assumption I would not, based on my assigned gender, for example girl sleepovers. This has stopped happening since I have been able to introduce my pronoun, giving people words to understand who I am.
“The ‘they, them, their’ non-binary pronouns have brought flexibility and comfortability to so many people.”
Tom continues to share his experience working at a company that recognises individuality: “Being out at Paxton enables me to come to work as my true self and get on with my job. I can have normal conversations like what holiday I just went on with my partner.”
Ben adds: “I just get on with the job and don’t have to worry about negativity getting in the way or distracting me. At Paxton it’s always been a case of trying to understand first, having discussions, then promoting positive changes.”
Lyle shares: “My nature does not affect my competency to do the job, and it has not changed the work that I am tasked with. It’s been nothing but ordinary, which is beautiful.”
Jamie concludes: “There’s genuine care and interest in supporting Pride at Paxton. The mutual drive and interest help develop company culture even more.”
Watch this video to see what our people have to say about working at Paxton.
Celebrating Pride at Paxton
30th June 2023
At Paxton we are proud to acknowledge the diversity of our brilliant team, from engineers to customer support technicians, product trainers, HR, finance, and sales and marketing professionals alike. We all contribute to making Paxton a great place to work and bringing word-class products and services to our customers.
In June like many companies, we celebrated Pride month with a team event for our people to come together to share their stories in support of the LGBTIAQ+ community.
Kate Hotson, our Project & Events Manager organised this year’s Pride event. She said: “The event is about celebrating inclusivity and diversity. It is an opportunity for Paxton employees to educate each other on why Pride is important to them, and a chance to celebrate the LGBTIAQ+ community and allies.
“We hosted a lunchtime event where we shared important Pride history and had discussions on questions like what does LGBTIAQ+ mean, an explanation of the Pride flag, and talked about the use of pronouns. We also had an after-work gathering where people hung out, played games, and had fun.”
Whilst researching content to share at the event, Tom Saunders from our Facilities team read research conducted by Stonewall, a UK-based charity that stands for the freedom, equity and potential of all LGBTIAQ+ people. It stated that almost one in five LGBTIAQ+ staff have been the target of negative comments or conduct from the work colleagues in 2021 because they’re LGBTIAQ+.
Tom said: “At Paxton we have a culture where everyone is free to express themselves and we show each other respect as individuals. It’s great to have events like Pride to promote this culture in a safe space for everyone to contribute freely.”
Jamie Jessica Martin from our Technical Support team, who is part of the transgender community, said: “Pride is not only a celebration but also about understanding what makes Pride, relaying information, telling stories, exploring history, protesting inequality and providing personal experiences that may show others a completely different side of things.”
“Hearing first hand other experiences shared by our colleagues, makes the events at Paxton valuable and effective.”
Ben Knight, from our Engineering Department, looked forward to contributing to the discussion: “I am a non-binary presence and there are a lot of people in the community. It’s important to represent the community with events like this, making sure voices are heard where possible.
“We get to hear what people are going through, what people are experiencing, and raise awareness of those kinds of issues.”
An important forum that Paxton uses to help identify company celebrations that promote employee wellbeing is the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Group. The group consists of people from across the company who are committed to engaging with colleagues to understand their needs at work, and seeking to establish, recommend, implement, and oversee initiatives to continually strive for an equitable, diverse, and inclusive work culture.
Tom Saunders, Jamie Jessica Martin, and Lyle Kilbey from our Engineering Department are part of the EDI Group.
Tom joined the group for multiple reasons, he says: “The EDI Group gives us a place to inspire each other, educate on inclusive language and discuss opportunities without judgement. At the same time, the group helps keep a track on our own biases.
“There are always improvements to make a difference that can further develop our company culture.”
Lyle Kilbey, who self-identifies as queer, joined the group to share their unique perspective: “It feels important to be able to put across my voice and to express the wants and desires of people in the community for a better place in a way that’s meaningful to everyone. The EDI Group allows us to have conversations with our colleagues and bring those back to people that are at the position to make changes.”
One of the campaigns that the EDI Group have been pushing forward this year is attaching pronouns in email signature.
Jamie said: “Pronouns are about being informative, polite, and respectful to each other. Whilst it seems such a simple thing to do, for transgender and non-binary people it is really important because it gives them the opportunity to be themselves and to not feel anxious or awkward that someone is going to misgender them.
“A lot of the times as well, it helps people who care to not make a mistake unintentionally. Pronouns bring so much positive impact.”
Lyle explains further: “My friends weren’t asking me to do things because there was an assumption I would not, based on my assigned gender, for example girl sleepovers. This has stopped happening since I have been able to introduce my pronoun, giving people words to understand who I am.
“The ‘they, them, their’ non-binary pronouns have brought flexibility and comfortability to so many people.”
Tom continues to share his experience working at a company that recognises individuality: “Being out at Paxton enables me to come to work as my true self and get on with my job. I can have normal conversations like what holiday I just went on with my partner.”
Ben adds: “I just get on with the job and don’t have to worry about negativity getting in the way or distracting me. At Paxton it’s always been a case of trying to understand first, having discussions, then promoting positive changes.”
Lyle shares: “My nature does not affect my competency to do the job, and it has not changed the work that I am tasked with. It’s been nothing but ordinary, which is beautiful.”
Jamie concludes: “There’s genuine care and interest in supporting Pride at Paxton. The mutual drive and interest help develop company culture even more.”
