UK 
United StatesKyndryl UK & Ireland’s ‘Out Role Models’ programme was created to shine a spotlight on LGBTQ+ employees. It is both a place for them to speak openly about the fight for equality and a platform to share their stories, professional and personal, of being in the world with an LGBTQ+ identity.
The programme is a part of Kyndryl’s ambition to bring together voices at every level of seniority, creating a diversity of experience and insight that is crucial to the way the company does its business.
Sharon Treanor, Human Resources Director at Kyndryl, says Out Role Models is “all about making sure that people entering the business – or the industry – have someone to look towards to know that people have successfully made this journey before them and to know they’re not isolated.”
Treanor speaks to HR Grapevine to outline how Kyndryl created the programme, and why it has become a critical driver of inclusion, engagement, and productivity.
Sharon Treanor
Human Resources Director
What is the Out Role Models programme?
When Kyndryl became an independent entity after being spun off from IBM’s infrastructure services business in 2021, the company was in a somewhat unique position.
The company had a global presence, but its culture was a blank slate. This created a rare opportunity to build intentional and cohesive inclusion initiatives from the ground up, free from convoluted cultural barriers or historic schemes and programmes.
As such, Kyndryl has several complementary elements to its inclusion strategy. “Globally, we have established Kyndryl Inclusion Networks (KINs), creating space for colleagues to seek out help, advice, and allyship around their work and home lives,” explains Treanor. The KINs are established within country-level groups, making them local to everyone, but ladder up to executive sponsorship to ensure issues raised by the groups are heard and discussed at the highest level.
Kyndryl designed the Out Role Models programme to complement the work being done by the KINs. The purpose of the programs is to ensure the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ employees aren’t confined to the resource groups.
“Our Out Role Models act as visible ambassadors for the LGBTQ+ KIN, for both internal and external events and communications,” Treanor continues. “Having designated people act in this capacity really gives them authority to speak out more widely on issues and champion equality as a shared mission.”
The role models also run a listening service allowing colleagues from all backgrounds the opportunity to confidentially discuss LGBTQ+ topics, thereby providing a platform for frank discussion and honest conversation that is all too often lacking within the corporate world.
