Best Practices
Our mission is to help promote best practices for member firms, LGBTQ+ employee resource groups, and policies impacting LGBTQ+ employees. Take advantage of the resource guides we have at our disposal.
Anti-Racism Resource Guide
The OPEN Finance Best Practices Committee created this non-exhaustive resource guide in June 2020 to help people interrogate how they may inadvertently be upholding white supremacy. OPEN Finance is committed to advocating for the rights of its member reps. We hope to help our member firms understand that intersectional progress is the only way true equity is possible. As Maya Angelou said, "The truth is, no one of us can be free until everybody is free." We have included resources for personal use and for use within the workplace and other anti-racism & allyship guides.
Self-ID Best Practices Guide
The OPEN Finance Best Practices Committee created this self-ID best practices guide in August 2019 to aid member firms who are updating their self-ID options to be LGBTQ+ inclusive. This guide includes sections discussing the benefits of offering LGBTQ+ inclusive self-ID options, suggested language (pulled from research on current self-ID best practices from HRC and Stonewall guides as well as input from transgender member reps), and an FAQ. OPEN Finance BPC understands that language evolves and plans to update this document periodically in conjunction with the self-ID current state survey OPEN Finance's member firms complete.
Self-ID Current State 2019
The OPEN Finance Best Practices Committee surveyed member reps in May of 2019 to determine the current state of self-ID practices at member firms. Forty-three (43) member firms participated in the survey. OPEN Finance BPC plans to survey member firms periodically to determine what (if any) improvements have been made in self-ID practices at member firms. The next self-ID survey is tentatively scheduled for late 2021/early 2022.
LGBTQ+ Family Planning Benefits: Current State Analysis
The OPEN Finance Best Practices Committee launched a Family Planning Benefits benchmark survey in Q4 2019/Q1 2020 to advocate for better care across all member firms. The goals of this project were as follows:
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Raise awareness of the types of family planning benefits that exist, and who is typically eligible
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Drive discussion around ways that benefit language can be adapted to be more inclusive
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Empower employees to advocate for enhancements to make their firms’ family planning benefits more inclusive and accessible.
The survey focused on the following key areas impacting family planning:
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Fertility benefits
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Pharmaceutical benefits
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Surrogacy benefits
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Adoption benefits
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Parental leave benefits
Political Giving: Managing Reputational Risk through Proactive Engagement
The OPEN Finance Political Giving project was created to answer the following questions:
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To what extent do our member firms contribute to politicians who have a poor track record of supporting LGBTQ+ equal rights?
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How can we assess which contributions to focus on (evaluating both the gravity of the track record and the feasibility of effectuating change) when attempting to influence our firms’ political giving?
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How should ERG/BRG leaders approach these conversations with their firms’ leadership?
There is no “one size fits all” guide to a productive discussion – this guide is a collection of the best practices available through our research and interviews with subject matter experts. OPEN Finance encourages member reps to use their executive sponsor, D&I leadership, etc. to tailor these materials to their firms.