‘I have always had that feeling that you need to change things from within’

Oriol Lacorte of Zimmer Biomet talks to myGwork about inclusion at work and how we need to move things forward rather than relying on the luck of the draw.

Oriol Lacorte grew up in a small village, outside of Barcelona, and is now Director of Marketing for Upper Extremities EMEA, Zimmer Biomet. Growing up on the outskirts of Barcelona, Oriol knew he was gay, but didn’t feel he had a safe space to be out. “I was born in a rural area and Spain of the late twentieth century is not the same as it is today.” 

It wasn’t until he went to university, that the need to be out really pushed to the forefront for him. “When I was a student, I really felt like the need to be out was stronger than the element of danger that I had always felt. I had never felt that I had a safe space until then.” After coming out at university, Oriol became somewhat of an activist, becoming part of the leadership team for the International Students Federations. “Honestly, I have always had that feeling that you need to change things from within and that has always been part of who I am. That really came out during my early twenties.”

After graduating with a degree in pharmacy, and completing an MBA, Oriol joined Zimmer Biomet. Just as now, he worked on the commercial side of the business, although that was perhaps one of the only similarities. 

“I was not out when I first joined the company, and it actually took five years for me to come out in my professional life.” After minimising what he shared with colleagues and not being involved socially, Oriol became disheartened. “At a certain point I was just fed up and simply joined some of the conversations my colleagues were having. Instead of not talking about my weekend for so long, I just told everyone what I had got up to that weekend, where my boyfriend and I had been, and it was very natural. I felt that I had been preventing myself from enjoying myself and being social by not getting involved for all those years, so I decided to break that.”

Over the now twenty-two years that Oriol has been with the company he feels he has seen first-hand how it has evolved. “The culture here has changed in the same way that society has, both have moved on in the same direction over two and a half decades. Our current CEO has really made diversity and inclusion a key pillar at work and the way the company embeds that in a very sincere and frank way, it isn’t just a marketing line.” 

Oriol speaks from the heart when he reflects on this, as Zimmer Biomet supported his move back to Barcelona, from Switzerland, when he and his husband decided to extend their family. “We had a child through surrogacy and my husband is the biological father of our son.” Oriol needed to adopt his son for their relationship to be legally recognised and that isn’t something that he could do in Switzerland. Zimmer Biomet were very open to him moving back to Barcelona and Oriol was supported all the way. 

“I was very lucky that my manager was so understanding of my situation. There was a will to accommodate me and my needs. I’m lucky to live in a country where I don’t have to hide myself, my husband, and who I am, but there are a lot of countries where that isn’t the case. Even in Western countries there is still so far to go”.

Both experiences propelled Oriol into being involved in the EXHALE employee resource group at work, for LGBTQ+ employees and allies. He was the chair for the first year and is proud of helping to create a safe space. “I wanted it to be a place where we could lobby against anyone who wanted us to repress any aspect of our lives or expression. My life shows that it is not just a case of luck, it is about us all working and moving towards having uniform policies that support everyone and all types of families across the board.”

After eighteen months as chair, Oriol passed the reins over to Sarah McCluskey and joined EMPOWER for people with different abilities. “Our son was born extremely prematurely at only twenty five weeks and with a lot of health complications. My husband had to take over two years off to be with him and we went through an enormous uphill learning in terms of medical care and what solutions and help my son needed. My son is deaf and that is a personal reason why I wanted to get involved in the network to make sure that things move forward for the next generation. My hope for the future is that I can leave a better world for myself, and that he can be fully himself with all the resources he needs.”

Zimmer Biomet is a proud partner of myGwork, the LGBTQ+ business community. Find out more about job opportunities at Zimmer Biomet.