'Pride is all year round, you don't just show up for the month of June,' says director at Medavie
When Jennifer Taylor Oland joined Medavie, she recalls being surprised by the hesitation around Pride initiatives. While her previous employers had acknowledged Pride Month in some form, her new team seemed unsure of how to approach it.
This prompted the director of customer engagement and belonging at Medavie to underscore a critical challenge for employers and plan sponsors alike: how to recognize Pride without falling into performative habits. For instance, she emphasized that employers need to go beyond just putting up a rainbow logo or flag in the workplace.
“I always say ‘Pride inside’, because it's really important to make sure that you're actually speaking to your 2SLGBTQI+ communities. You're not just changing your logo without the actions behind them,” she said, emphasized that genuine support for the LGBTQI+ community must go beyond surface-level gestures, particularly during Pride Month.
Oland also highlighted that employers should avoid promoting 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion externally without first supporting internal programs.
Consequently, she believes efforts need to extend beyond just the month of June, acknowledging that Pride Month should evolve into Pride season. Too often, Pride becomes a once-a-year marketing event.
“It becomes a seasonal marketing campaign,” she said, warning that such shallow efforts are obvious and alienating. “Pride is all year round. You don't just show up for the month of June. Yes, it's great to have your executive team wearing their pride t-shirts and flying the flags and lighting our buildings but it’s important we do workshops and still support training.”
Not coming across as performative is the biggest mistake an employer can do, noted Oland. She believes most workplaces recognize Pride Month solely as a brand and marketing aspect because “think they have to.”
“I really do think you have to do Pride inside and ask those questions first before you are comfortable enough to fly your colours of pride. We're always connecting back to the community and making sure that they still have a voice.”
She also stressed the need for ongoing engagement with the 2SLGBTQI+ community. Not just through symbolic gestures, but through direct dialogue. That includes involving them in program development and benefit planning.
“Don’t exclude the community from the conversation,” she said, warning against the assumption that all LGBTQI+ individuals have the same needs.
Oland also suggests creative solutions to gather input, whether through focus groups, calls to action, or anonymous surveys, particularly for organizations that might struggle to support formal employee resource groups.
As for enhancing inclusive benefits, she believes gender affirmation coverage should no longer be treated as optional or supplemental, asserting it should be a standard part of any group benefits plan because “it enhances access to care for transgender employees and their journey to become their authentic selves,” she said, noting that provincial health plans in Canada vary widely and often fall short in covering essential procedures.
Oland also sees a growing need for family-building benefits, particularly as more LGBTQI+ Canadians turn to fertility treatments, surrogacy, and adoption.
Mental health support, she adds, is notably another area where employers can make a real impact. She pointed to the value of increasing mental health coverage caps and integrating digital therapy platforms that offer accessible care.
These tools, pointing to live therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and mindfulness training help remove barriers and are vital supports alongside fertility and gender affirmation benefits, noted Oland.
However, she’s also quick to argue that a truly inclusive benefits strategy requires an intersectional approach as many LGBTQI+ employees may also be living with disabilities, managing mental health conditions, or relying on non-traditional health services.
She believes plan sponsors need to look beyond high-level trends and instead focus on the lived realities of their own people.
“Inclusive benefits might support them in certain ways, but other benefits like extended health benefits or a personal wellness account might support them in other ways. There really is that deeper intersectional lens that you have to look at as well before you just slap on inclusive benefits like gender affirmation or family building,” she explained.
She emphasized looking at inclusive benefits means that plan sponsors are also looking at their representation of a business overall and considering how they’re supporting the underrepresented as well.
“Benefits have changed,” underscored Oland. “Even just by offering a customization opportunity and also listening throughout the year, when you're renewing your plan shows you’ve listened and you've done the work.”
This is where she sees a shift in the benefits landscape, with more employers realizing that a traditional benefits plan no longer meets the needs of a complex, intersectional community. Benefits selection has now included expanding coverage for gender affirmation care, hormone therapy and enhanced mental health support.
However, she cautions that unless inclusion is embedded as a formal strategy, part of a workplace’s core commitments progress will remain limited.
“If there isn't an inclusion and belonging strategy in place to support all aspects of representation in the workplace, employees in the 2SLGBTQI+ community aren't going to work want to work there because they don’t feel safe and they don't see themselves reflected in the benefits.”
That’s not to say that employers haven’t stepped up as Oland acknowledged they “have made strides and are doing the work. In her view, companies that aspire to be employers of choice are ultimately paying attention to the diverse makeup of their workforce and investing in inclusive strategies that reflect this diversity.
