Frequently Asked Questions

1. How to submit supporting information or evidence?

We will only review evidence that is included in the GBM 2025 Evidence document. Any extra files will be disregarded; so please make sure all your evidence is included in the GBM 2025 Evidence document.

Use the file “GBM 2025 <Member Name> Evidence” that you received with your Global Benchmark Survey via email to upload a file, photo, or link for each question for which you are submitting evidence. The document is created with headers; choose the arrow to the left of each header to open it. There you will see each question, answer, and what evidence we are looking for you to submit. You can view more detailed instructions on how to upload evidence here.

When you have completed the Global Benchmark Survey and the Evidence document, send both documents via email to benchmark@workplacepride.org. You do not need to submit additional evidence in that email.

2. How much detail do you need to provide as evidence?

Your evidence should be brief and specific to the question and item. A snippet of a file is preferred to an entire document, and please indicate through highlighting etc. where the key information is to be found. Providing a large amount of text or information can impede evaluation and increase the chance that the specific evidence may not be completely evaluated.

Evidence will be submitted in a single file – an instruction file and template file will be provided for you to complete by adding your evidence documentation (screenshots, images, links etc.) to the appropriate area in the template. This will consolidate all evidence into 1 place so that it can be easily stored for reference and re-used as a starting point for you submissions in the following year.

3. How is evidence evaluated?

A panel of experts will review your submission and the evidence that you submit. If there are questions where evidence is not clear or specific enough, you will be given the chance to submit extra information to fully support the point in question. Following the second review by the panel we will finalize your scoring.

4. For which questions and items is evidence required?

All question items in Sections 1-8, Bonus, and Regional section, except where otherwise noted, where you have checked the box in column A require material supporting each point. See FAQ 1 for details about how to do this.

5. Can you check a box if you don’t meet the criteria in all of your (global) locations?

If you meet the criteria in 1 or 2 locations included in your submission, you may check the box for that point. We cannot ask you to submit evidence for each of your locations separately, nor could we review all of that evidence if it was provided.

The evidence you submit must show clearly that you do meet the specific criteria in at least 1 location. This indicates to us that you have done the work needed to make progress on this point and know what you need to do to implement it in the rest of your locations.

6. How can I compile my submission across multiple regions, locations, or divisions?

If you are gathering information from multiple regions, locations, divisions etc., we suggest that you send the survey to your contacts there and ask them first to return the survey to you with only the check boxes in column A. As you compile the information you receive, there is a chance for you to double check and validate the information and calibrate across the locations to make sure that all are interpreting the questions in the same way.

When you have compiled all the input, you can decide where you would like to source your evidence. As we don’t need evidence from multiple locations, you can distribute the collection of evidence among the locations so that the burden is less than if it were done centrally.

7. Can Workplace Pride score your submission separately for each of your locations?

No, to keep the burden of evidence collection submission, storage and analysis to a manageable level, we will do our scoring and analysis at the submission-level, which is to say using column A of your submitted survey and the associated file containing the evidence.

If you have collected data across multiple locations you can copy their input from column A (check boxes) and paste it into your submission sheet in column D,E,F and so on. When you do so, we will provide you with an additional report showing your overall submission score by section, and how each of your submitted locations would have scored in each section – providing you with a comparison ‘heatmap’ across all of your submitted locations.

This can provide valuable insight that is useful for identifying strengths and good practices in certain locations that may be helpful to other locations within your organization.

To see a sample report based on data from multiple locations click HERE.

8. How does evidence contribute to your score in the Global Benchmark?

Where evidence is required, you will only receive full points for that question or option if you submit evidence that clearly and succinctly supports the response.

9. How can we best organize the collection of evidence?

Here are some ideas that you could consider:

Keep track by question of the sources (who provided the information, the document or URL where you found the information) that you have used to answer the question and find supporting evidence. This will avoid you needing to search every year for that information.

1. Use your LGBTIQ+ employee network and allies to help gather the information. This increases engagement and shares the workload.
2. As you gather information, note significant achievements and things that you are particularly proud of. Consider using these to nominate yourselves or someone else for a member award at the annual Impact Awards Gala held in October/November- nominations open in fall of the year. Award categories are:
3. LGBTIQ+ Network Award
4. LGBTIQ+ Media Outreach Award
5. LGBTIQ+ Volunteer Award
6. LGBTIQ+ Ally Award
7. LGBTIQ+ Role Model Award
8. LGBTIQ+ Game Changer Award

For more information see

HERE.