Barry Dallman Workforce Planning Specialist E&R
Coming from a military background that was ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ when it came to sexuality and gender identity, Barry could have never imagined working in a company like Sodexo where employees are encouraged to bring their whole selves to work.
It was Barry Dallman’s dream as a young person in Midwest USA to be the ‘all American boy next door’. When Barry left high school, he enlisted in the US Air Force (USAF), in pursuit of this goal, as an Airman where he found himself supressing his sexuality to ‘fit in’ and remain ‘fit for service’.
Fast forward 20-odd years, and Barry is living openly in Perth with his husband while playing an active role in advancing Sodexo’s LGBTQIA+ network and courageously sharing his story with teams as part of Pride Month celebrations.
While I normally prefer keep my private life separate to my work life – to be acknowledged for the work I do rather than how I identify – I wanted to share my personal story to normalise and make Pride recognition more relevant to the team,” he said.
If people don’t understand your experience, they will not understand your perspective or why it’s important to be an ally.
As a Workforce Planning Specialist, Barry leads the scheduling department for one third of Sodexo’s mining operations. This means actively liaising between the recruitment teams and Village Managers and Third Party Labour suppliers to forward plan rosters and predict and prevent staff shortages on-site.
His oversight of these operations, combined with exposure to various positions within Sodexo and his natural empathy, has resulted in an acute understanding of the importance of people management and fostering productive and safe working environments.
