WorkPride 2026 day four recap: bisexual inclusion, AI and belonging, and breaking barriers

Day Four of WorkPride 2026 highlighted themes of innovation, technology, identity, sector-specific realities, race, gender, and leadership, showing how fresh ideas and concrete steps could help build workplaces where more people felt a genuine sense of belonging.

The opening Day 4 session of WorkPride 2026 spotlighted Canada Life UK and its Proud network, showing how an employee‑led ERG can move from grassroots beginnings to shaping culture across a whole organisation.

Head of Strategic Talent Acquisition Gavin Withers reflected on co‑founding Proud five years ago and seeing it grow into a recognised force for belonging. For him, the win is when inclusive hiring and culture work together so people can be themselves and succeed.

“I love it when we connect people with a perfect role that helps them fully achieve their potential and be their best selves.”

Current Proud chair George Pandeliev described how clarity of purpose and real freedom from the business have been key to the network’s impact. Proud sets annual priorities – from visibility and social mobility to influencing HR policies and cross‑ERG projects – and is in constant dialogue with the people function rather than operating on the sidelines.

“It’s not just setting up an ERG and letting it be. We constantly chat… on hot topics of the day or more long‑term decision‑making topics.”

Customer service representative Xander Butterworth shared what Proud has meant on a personal level as a trans colleague and early member of the network. He highlighted the power of visible signals and everyday conversations, from Pride decorations to pins and flags that invite questions instead of lectures.

“People do just want to show their support… You’ll get people going, ‘Oh, I’ve never seen that flag before, what’s that?’… They learn a bit more, but they don’t feel like they’re being taught or lectured.”

AI and Belonging

The “AI and Belonging” panel at WorkPride 2026 explored how artificial intelligence is already shaping hiring, performance and careers – and what it will take to ensure these tools support, rather than sabotage, inclusion for LGBTQ+ and other marginalised employees.

Booking.com UX designer and Be Proud co‑chair Alice Collins said AI can lower the barrier for people to seek information or support they might not feel safe asking a human for – but its veneer of confidence hides serious risks.

“It will give you some sort of answer, no matter what you ask it… it can make anything sound quite convincing. When it comes to inclusion, it’s really important that that information is accurate.”

From AstraZeneca, commercial AI leader and Pride business partner Roeland van der Heijden stressed that bias is both the danger and the opportunity: AI can reproduce discrimination at scale, but also expose patterns that used to be invisible.

“For the first time, AI can actually make that bias more visible than ever… We really can’t unsee it. That might be uncomfortable for organisations, but it’s actually the first time we’re having that kind of mirror.”

Wipro director and global LGBTQIA+ charter lead Julien Brain focused on identity and access. Thoughtful use of AI and basic design choices – like collecting pronouns correctly or auto‑translating policies – can make global workplaces more navigable, but only if humans keep control of consequential decisions.

“You don’t want your AI to make decisions that have an impact on people’s lives and on your employees without really being close to the decision‑making process.”

IBM’s Kush Shah, co‑director at Represent AI, described how training data bakes in online stereotypes, from “purple‑haired bisexual women” in image models to subtle penalisation of certain pronouns or names in screening tools. Mitigation, they argued, starts with education and deliberate rebalancing.

“Those biases are then replicated within these AI systems… Some of the work is looking at your data sets and possibly creating synthetic data, so you’re removing factors of gender, sexuality and race as independent from how a person performs.”

Avanade global AI security lead and Represent AI founder Sarah Rench underlined that governance, ethics and inclusion checks must run through the whole AI lifecycle, not bolted on at the end. She illustrated AI’s promise with her own diabetes tech, then contrasted it with what machines can’t do.

“It’s extending my life… But what it can’t replace is if I trip over and someone kindly says, ‘Oh, you poor thing,’ and gives me a hug. Some believe it never will – and importantly, some believe it never should.”

Bisexual Inclusion: Navigating Identity at Work

The panel at WorkPride 2026 unpacked how bi+ employees face distinct challenges that are often erased both in mainstream culture and inside LGBTQ+ spaces. The speakers described constant assumptions, repeated coming‑out, and mental‑health impacts - and pushed organisations to move from a token “B” in the acronym to visible, specific, everyday inclusion.

Rowena Wilding from LGBT+ in FM highlighted how biphobia more often shows up as invisibility than open hostility. Married to a man since 21, she spoke about being “edited out” of both straight and queer spaces, and the emotional labour of deciding when and how to correct assumptions.

“I haven’t had a job where I haven’t experienced some form of bi‑erasure… it isn’t necessarily about hostility, it’s just about being edited out… The cost is exhaustion.”

Deutsche Bank engineer Kiitan Doherty underlined how “straight‑presenting privilege” is double‑edged: others may expect bi people to quietly opt out of queer life once they’re in different‑gender relationships, while mental health risks for bi women and bi+ people remain higher than for lesbian, gay or straight peers.

“People then think, oh, you’re in a straight relationship so you don’t have any issues anymore… I love being queer, I love being in queer community. I have no desire to remove myself from that community and leave everybody else to fend for themselves.”

Jennifer Wilkinson of Exolum pointed to bi‑erasure—especially the “it’s just a phase” narrative—as the single biggest challenge, and argued leaders must be visibly involved, not just sign off policies. She described the ripple effect when senior figures use inclusive language, show up at Pride events and model learning.

“It’s so important that people in leadership don’t just have policies in place… Once leaders start [using pronouns, attending events], it flows down, and people think, ‘Oh, that’s okay, I will too.’”

Citi’s Kelly Moffatt, who leads a bi+ rep role within her firm’s Pride network, stressed that genuine allyship begins with believing people when they name their identity, and then making space for bi+‑specific voices and days—such as Bi Health Month in March and Bi Visibility Day in September—throughout the year.

“If you cannot see bisexual employees in your data, in your leadership, in your culture, you’re doing something wrong."

Belonging in Logistics and Transport

In the next panel, speakers from across the UK transport sector explored how an industry built on safety, hierarchy and tight timetables can also become a place of genuine inclusion and psychological safety.

Heather McStay, Director of Procurement and Commercial at Transport for London, focused on designing inclusion into both internal practice and the supply chain. Drawing on TfL’s “equity in motion” plans, she stressed that belonging must be built in from the start and extended to contractors and smaller suppliers, not bolted on later.

“I think that makes the difference between whether or not something succeeds, and whether or not something's sustainable as well.”

Network Rail graduate mechanical engineer Ifeoluwa Akande highlighted how inclusion looks on the ground, moving between office, depot and track. As a young Black woman and LGBTQ+ engineer in a traditionally older, white, male environment, she stressed the power of employee networks and the need for them to collaborate around intersectional experiences. For Ifeoluwa, the foundation is simple but demanding:

"My main takeaway would be… inclusion really is understanding.”

Julian Phatarfod, Head of Commercial at Chiltern Railways, positioned transport and logistics themselves as engines of inclusion, enabling marginalized people to reach safe spaces and discreetly access goods and services. He argued that the same care must be applied inside companies, especially in safety‑critical operations where hiding who you are can become a safety risk.

“The movement of people and goods is core to making the world a more inclusive place,” Julian said, adding that in workplaces, belonging relies on “visibility… consistency… [and] trust.”

Pippa Armstrong, co‑chair of Journey and an engineering manager at East Midlands Railway, drew on experience across factories, offices and depots to show how cultures can differ wildly inside one organization. They stressed visibility - actually showing and celebrating the inclusion work already happening - and collaboration to avoid burning out network leads. Pippa’s closing message was deliberately defiant about “old‑fashioned” sectors.

“If we can change, anybody can, anywhere can. I really believe that there's no such thing as too old to learn new things.”

Technology’s Role in Inclusive Workplaces

In the following panel, speakers explored how digital tools can both deepen and damage inclusion, and how to keep people at the centre of rapid change.

Rich Thompson from Capgemini, who leads employee networks globally, focused on accessibility, data ethics and the limits of automation. He praised tools that speed up inclusive policy reviews and give managers just‑in‑time guidance, while warning against letting AI replace human care in moments of vulnerability.

"Accessibility shouldn’t be an afterthought, and it’s one of those things that could affect us all one day.”

Klaviyo sales leader and EMEA LGBTQ+ resource group lead Philipp Pliga highlighted how simple tools like Slack communities can provide instant belonging across borders, especially when people join a company. At the same time he warned against outing colleagues by adding them to identity‑based channels without consent and stressed the importance of in‑person connection in tech‑heavy environments. Philipp summed up that benefit by saying that “

"As soon as you enter the company, you have a family that welcome you.”

From Colt Technology Services, DEI advisor Andrada Popa argued strongly for “inclusion by design,” backed by impact assessments and granular data that expose who is still being left out. She described how Colt bakes an inclusion impact assessment into change management, then checks who is actually using new tools and who is not. In her words,

“It’s all about inclusion and accessibility by design. It needs to be weaving in the whole process from beginning to end.”

Product accessibility lead Allie Schulke of Crowe LLP connected accessibility, AI and psychology, introducing the idea of “egocentric anchoring” to explain why technology is so often built for people like its creators. She shared concrete examples, from Workday flows that automatically link disabled employees to accommodations teams to captions and transcripts that support her own auditory processing needs. Yet Allie insisted that the deepest shifts require something technology cannot supply:

“I just don’t think technology can really change hearts. Trying to make an impact in someone to kind of open up their world, that is stories.”

Bruce Li, founder of PrideHealth.care in Southeast Asia, spoke from a healthcare and global South perspective about both the promise and peril of digital tools. He sees telehealth and AI‑enabled platforms as ways to expand access to LGBTQ+‑inclusive care, work and investors across borders, but also warned that bias can be quietly coded into systems and then amplified at scale.

"Technology does not have values by its own, but technology can scale the intention.”

Race and Belonging: Building Inclusive Spaces for People of Colour

In this session, moderator Aasha Tikoo from myGwork began the conversation discussing the reality that careers are still shaped by factors beyond an individual’s control, and that intent is not enough without structural change.

From Capgemini, tech consultant and Race and Equality Network chair Tok Ahmed focused on the “quiet” exclusions that erode belonging, such as unequal access to informal sponsorship, constant self‑monitoring and the need to over‑prove credibility. For Tok, true inclusion is inseparable from who is trusted with stretch roles and visibility.

“Don't just ask who feels included, really shine a lens on who's trusted with opportunity.”

Kantar’s culture and engagement specialist Sascha Cornelius illustrated inclusion through the lens of self‑expression and representation. She contrasted a past workplace where she did not feel safe enough to dye her hair bright pink with her current environment, where senior Black leaders visibly bring their full selves. Sascha argued that mentoring, especially when treated as a two‑way exchange, can help shift culture at the top as well as support individuals:

“I don't necessarily want my mentor to just think about what I can do better as a person, as an employee. I want them to think about how they can better support people like me in future.”

Coach and former tech ERG leader Khatoun Abdmasih shared how bias shows up even before employment, in who is allowed through the door. She described being consistently ignored by small and mid‑size firms whose teams looked uniformly white and local on LinkedIn, and only progressing once she targeted employers that openly valued diversity. For her, real change starts with clarity about the problems and follow‑through on action:

“The one thing to start with is really understand where are the pain points? What's currently happening? What's the picture right now? Because that's really where you understand where the bottleneck is, where the issues are happening, and from that point onwards, you can start to draw an action plan.”

Deutsche Bank associate engineer and Pride ERG events co‑lead Kiitan Doherty underlined how systems and bias combine to restrict access to clients, senior leaders and advancement for people of colour. She highlighted the power of joint ERG events and hard‑coded representation rules, such as requiring at least one person of colour on every panel, to normalize intersectional inclusion. Looking at data as the basis for accountability, she warned that trust must come first:

“Sometimes we don't have the data is because certain people maybe don't want to answer the questions, because maybe they don't trust what you're going to do with the data. It's really important to make it feel like a safe space where people don't feel like that information is going to be used against them.”

EDI strategist and Confronting Change founder Yassine Senghor brought an intersectional lens, reminding the audience that the concept itself emerged from workplace failures to protect Black women. Yassine described navigating predominantly Black spaces where queerness felt unsafe, and queer spaces where race left them isolated, and cautioned against “strand‑by‑strand” diversity work that ignores whole people. Intersectionality, they argued, is about widening the frame, not narrowing it.

“What we're doing is that anybody who has any of those characteristics, all of them, has a mix of those things, can find themselves represented, can find themselves supported within your organization and within your policies.”

Women at Work: Techniques for Breaking Barriers

The closing WorkPride 2026 panel, “Women at Work: Techniques for Breaking Barriers,” brought together women leaders from finance, energy and distribution to examine what it really takes for women to thrive at work rather than just endure it. Panelists explored promotions, bias, sponsorship versus mentorship, flexibility and intersectionality, sharing candid stories and concrete actions for systemic change.

From Canada Life UK, Dili Origbo shared how being written off for a promotion before even being considered crystallised the gap between actual ability and how decision makers perceive it. She argued that women are often over‑mentored and under‑sponsored, and that progression depends on visibility, advocacy and transparent criteria, not just hard work.

“While excellence builds credibility, you need the visibility and relationships, and the influence is what really often determines whether opportunities find you.”

Sandra Mould of St. James’s Place described how she has thrived when managers treated her as a whole person, creating space to talk honestly about big life choices such as moving from the US to the UK. For Sandra, flexibility and trust, from hybrid work to shared caring responsibilities, are central to women’s confidence and growth.

“Where your colleagues, and particularly your line manager, recognizes that work is just a part of you and who you are in your life, and not the only thing in your life, it helps create a space where you can build the confidence to thrive and be more at work.”

RS Americas’ Ashley Pickett recounted returning from maternity leave to find a role she had effectively been doing given to a recent graduate, and being told leaders doubted she would come back after having her son. That experience turned into a personal mandate to speak up about bias and pull others through behind her.

“I knew that I could have been upset with the person who replaced me, I could have been upset with the company, but at that moment, I knew these types of things have to be voiced by us as women.”

Exolum’s global D&I lead Agnès Estay connected gender progress to broader systems of power, especially in a male dominated sector like oil and gas. She highlighted the need for concrete measures such as diverse shortlists and women’s leadership programmes, but also insisted responsibility cannot sit only with underrepresented groups.

“In my industry, for instance, that means engaging white heterosexual men as part of the solution, because men should be truly part of the solution.”

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