ING’s true colours on display at EuroPride 2016
9 August 2016
ING’s commitment to diversity and inclusion has again come to the fore with ING in the Netherlands and employees, participating in a host of EuroPride activities culminating in the world famous Canal Parade in Amsterdam on Saturday.
Watched on by an estimated crowd of 500,000, it was the 11th successive year that ING employees had organised a boat in the parade. Participation in the parade has grown to become an expression of not only Dutch and European but also worldwide diversity .
While those on the boat performed their choreographed dance moves tirelessly, other colleagues from around the world gathered at a café to watch the parade together. One of those was ING board member Patrick Flynn who had earlier helped to prepare ING’s boat.
Most of the 80 boats in the parade had a strong message about the importance of understanding what makes us different, whether those differences relate to cultural, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, different sexual orientation or gender identity.
But while the Canal Parade is the most well-known activity of the 15-day festival (23 July to 7 August), ING hosted many other activities under the broad theme of diversity and inclusion.
‘Colour your life’
ING in the Netherlands adopted the theme ‘colour your life’, which even saw the Bank’s famous lion changed from orange to a rainbow-coloured lion for the first time. ATMs throughout the country were also modified while passers-by were invited to colour in a range of murals in rainbow colours.
EuroPride was also a great opportunity for ING employees from around the world to come together for the first time to discuss making ING an even more diverse and inclusive company. Representatives came from as far away as Australia, and vowed to create a ‘community of experience’ to tackle diversity issues.
Speaking at the café where he watched his daughter on ING’s boat, Patrick perhaps summed up the feelings of many when he said it was important that employees feel themselves when they go to work, whatever their race, gender or sexual orientation.
“It’s great to see so many colleagues from different countries. I’ve seen people from Italy, Germany, the UK and of course the Netherlands.
“The atmosphere is very energising. The whole event just breathes positivity. To me, it links ING to YES, in the sense that this way we promote thinking in possibilities and offering perspectives,” he said.
ING’s commitment to EuroPride was such that its activities were the most viewed online of any company in the Netherlands. This was helped by the Bank’ global head of HR Hein Knaapen appearing in a number of newspaper articles including the Dutch daily newspaper De Telegraaf.
