FEATURE Coming Out On Top


Following the announcement of the Out at Work & Telegraph Top 50 LGBT Executives earlier in the year, Tomorrow’s Cleaning Ireland caught up with Margot Slattery, Managing Director of Sodexo Ireland, to congratulate her on being named number 10, and to discuss the importance of encouraging equality and inclusivity in the workplace.


At the start of the year, Margot Slattery, Managing Director of Sodexo Ireland, was named number 10 in the Out at Work & Telegraph Top 50 LGBT Executives. The list aims to pay tribute to some of the most influential Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender business leaders in the world, but Slattery was the only representative on the list from the facilities management industry.


Top of the pile was Chief Executive of HSBC UK, Antonio Simoes, while Vice President and Managing Director at IBM, Claudia Brind- Woody, and Chief Creative & CEO of Burberry, Christopher Bailey, rounded out the top three.


Slattery is heavily involved in the promoting and championing of LGBT equality across the world, and is an integral member of Sodexo’s global LGBT network leadership team. She also chairs the UK and Ireland sexual orientation work stream, which is just a part of Sodexo’s approach to diversity in the workplace.


Following the announcement of the Top 50, she said: “I’m very honoured to be included in an exceptionally heavy-hitting list of high profile business leaders. People are at the heart of making organisations successful so it’s essential that there are more visible role models out there to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive.”


Eager to find out more about the work that Slattery does to encourage more people within the LGBT community to come forward, particularly in the cleaning and Facilities Management industry, we managed to have a catch up with her, in the middle of a very busy schedule.


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Tomorrow’s Cleaning Ireland (TCI): First of all, congratulations on being included in the Top 50 LGBT Executives. Do you hope that your inclusion in this list will make you something of a role model to the LGBT community?


Margot Slattery (MS): “It’s very important to me that I’m regarded as a good role model. We’re a people business, and having somebody who is openly ‘out’ at work makes it much more acceptable and easier for people who are going through that journey.


“If I’d have had that support maybe 20 years ago, I think it would have made it an easier journey for me. Being gay, being anything, it’s all just a part of life, but people struggle with coming out in their workplace, and the more encouragement and openness that we can offer, they’ll see that it’s accepted, and they can then be free to get on with business as normal.”


People are at the heart of making organisations successful so it’s essential that there are more visible role models out there to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive.


TCI: So do you think it’s important for these people to have someone to look up to?


MS: I think it’s very important for there to be role models in the LGBT community, because times are changing. And I think our younger folk are not going to sit down and wait for anything, but they’ve got to feel confident, and they’ve got to know that it’s OK for them to bring their true selves to work with them.


TCI: And what are you doing to help promote equality in inclusivity in the workplace, not just in Ireland but around the world as well?


MS: I think most importantly, we need to be visible. I’m involved with and give a lot of my time to an NGO called GLEN (Gay and Lesbian Equality Network) here in Ireland, and I get involved in conferences and things when I can, so that I can give a voice to things. I lobby, and I think I just try to be somebody who is seen as being a very rational business person. Obviously the business is very important to me, but LGBT life is very real as well. And I suppose I live my life in a very open way as well, which helps.


I’m very lucky, I’ve got a great team and I feel very well supported – Sodexo is a great organisation to work for in this way, so I’m kind of giving a little back, more than anything else.


TCI: You were the only representative from the FM industry in the Top 50 – is this because you are the only openly gay executive, or do you think more needs to be done to encourage others to come forward?


www.tomorrowscleaningireland.com


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