Growing Diversity

What are meaningful diversity measures?

We consider interventions that are aimed at developing a new awareness of all employees to be appropriate and important. Diversity training, diversity checks, and positive communication about diversity as an expression of accepting social responsibility can help form the legal mission of the AGG through proactive measures. These measures should be embedded in a comprehensive strategy in order to allow true change and a new awareness. This means an open and critical approach to questions such as:

  • How important is diversity awareness in current managerial behaviour?
  • Are the employees ready for change and for the issue of diversity?
  • What strategic implications does diversity have for the company?

Initiatives such as the »Diversity Charter« are a great way to identify social, corporate and economic developments. We have signed and committed ourselves to a respect and appreciation of diversity as well as the prevention of and fight against discrimination. However, paper doesn’t blush, and so we strive after what is even more important.

What does »diversity« have to do with business?

The spectrum of diversity categories includes both visible and invisible, task-oriented and relationship-oriented features: thinking and behavioural patterns, education, language, values, origin, occupation, marital status, personal preferences, and countless other features characterise an individual and his or her personal uniqueness. The directives of the European Union and the Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (German General Equal Treatment Act, AGG) are based on six dimensions: age, physical abilities, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual identity.

Companies and organisations are fundamentally obliged, from a labour perspective, to prevent or eliminate inequality and discrimination due to these core dimensions in their organisational areas. This is not about tolerating different lifestyles, but accepting and integrating them. This acceptance can be expressed in different ways: For companies, this means (among other things) putting suitable personnel policies and structural changes into practice.

One example is a common condition of personnel decisions in companies: Tit for tat. In homogeneous structures, however, changes rarely occur. The new objective in the sense of diversity should therefore be to enable real change in favour of equal opportunity and diversity.

There are thousands of reasons for companies to deal with diversity

In addition to reasons concerning labour law, there is also social responsibility. The development of non-discriminatory organisational structures and cultures offers many opportunities. Moreover, employees who work in a respectful working environment are more productive, motivated and creative. They stay healthy and can contribute and develop their individual talents and potentials more fully.

Megatrends also affect individual companies. Those who are aware of these trends and take them into account make the organisation fit for the future.

  • Globally: competitive pressure is increasing as a result of international integration.
  • Demographically: the number of people of working age is decreasing, while the number of older people who are gainfully employed is increasing.
  • Pluralism: the increasing diversity of society and the reinforced self-confident appearance of subcultures.

Our goal is to accompany you and your organisation in developing and implementing a proactive diversity strategy. Contact us, and we can discuss together what steps might be interesting for you and your workforce.