Panel SA: Participating in the LGBT Parade helps to have a more egalitarian work environment, says multinational

Fabio Costa, the executive who runs the Brazilian operation of the software company Salesforce, meets with employees and partners of the company this Sunday morning (19) and then goes with the group to the LGBT Pride Parade, on Avenida Paulista.

The company’s presence at the event, according to him, contributes to the effort to increase diversity in the office and debate in society.

Why is it important for the corporate world to be present at such an event?This has to do with representing the society in which we operate. If you have diversity that represents society in the organization, you create better products and are in a position to better serve that society. Without diversity, there is no innovation.

If you want a society that evolves and companies that progress, it is essential to have an open debate. And it only comes with different perspectives, something you achieve with diversity. It’s not just for the company. It is society as a whole. In open debate, everyone has a voice.

When did Salesforce first put itself on the line, and what has changed since then?We have had a group dealing with the topic at Salesforce since 2014. We participated in the parade in 2019. It was important, it changed the ability to listen within the company.

Bias issues in the workplace were eventually reduced. You increase the possibility of people positioning themselves the way they are and, above all, advancing their careers within the organization. It generates a more educated population on the subject internally. If we think that this is a factor to see the other and be listened to, I think it was a giant step for us.

The consequence of this is that if there is greater awareness of the biases that occur in the organization and in society, and you internalize a more egalitarian environment, the fairness for promotions becomes much greater. You create a more transparent and fairer organization in opportunities.

Another thing: if you have this happening within the organization, people become multipliers outside of it, in society. The objective is not just to educate in the organization. It is to make each employee a multiplier.

Is this movement pulled from the outside? Does Brazil have the conditions to be the engine of this?The examples from Brazil are very interesting. In Brazil, there is still a remnant of the stereotype of being an inclusive society, without racial polarization, sexual orientation, etc. And this is false.

On the other hand, when we look at how the topic has been approached within organizations that pay more attention to it, it has been a constructive approach, which still does not happen so much in other countries where there is still polarization. In the United States, for example, there is a tension with the theme, I would say, greater than in Brazil, despite the moment we are living today.

In Brazil, it has an enormous capacity for dialogue within organizations.

Some industries are far behind in this debate. Are there more attentive sectors? Is the technology sector one of them?I have no doubt that the technology segment, even due to its origins on the American west coast, has this theme very advanced compared to others. But there is no segment today that does not pay attention to the topic. You can’t say anyone is less sensitive.

Now, it’s one thing for you to be in favor of the cause. It is another thing for you to be able to implement, in your daily policy and in your operation, ways to make this a reality. The technology segment, at least so far, is more audience-friendly than other segments. I would say that everyone has to develop more, including the technology industry.

Brazil has the challenge of working on the issue of inclusion, sexual orientation, gender and racial, at the same time as it has to face important issues such as hunger and education. We will have to merge it into a single block. Our care is to put the issue not as something isolated, but as social inclusion.

The Sunday parade is a very important flagship, not only to defend the inclusion of this group, but to serve as a very strong banner, and this group is very articulate, to defend the inclusion of everyone. Economic, social, in education.

In Brazil, as we have several problems to solve, this type of articulation is extremely important.

Did the arrival of the Bolsonaro government and then the pandemic, which took the stop to virtual, have any impact? What do you expect from the event this year?We spent two years stuck at home. We thought we were going to come out better from a human identity point of view, about what it means to be human. Perhaps this agenda has not advanced as much as we expected after a global experience as impactful as the pandemic.

It was a bubble life. With electronic communication, you are invisible to the other bubble. The return of the event also makes it visible to those who are not from the bubble. People only have a voice if they exist. If no one sees them, they have no voice.

There’s still no better place than the real world for you to be seen. The return of the face-to-face event is important for this group to show that it is still present, that it is voluminous, that it will not disappear and that it will grow even more.

X-ray

General Director of Salesforce Brazil, where he has worked since February 2019, the executive has a bachelor’s degree in data processing from PUC-RJ, a PhD and a master’s degree in business administration from the same institution, as well as a degree in the General Management Program at Harvard Business School.