The result: Jobless immigrants are much rarer than even a few years ago. But still they more often leave school without graduating than other citizens. Although more and more immigrants are integrated in society, there are some serious differences to the native Germans remaining. 

As the studies showed this is already apparent in early childhood education in daycare centers, which builds the fundament for good German language skills. Only 12.2 percent of immigrant families bring their under three year old child into childcare facilities (compared to 27.7 percent of other citizens). After three years this gap shrinks significantly (around 86 percent compared to 95 percent).

Also concerning school education a positive development could be observed. In 2005, 5.5 percent migrants didn’t have a high school degree. Compared to this result the percentage decreased to 4.4 in 2010. But this development is much slower than the government promised. Within the “National Integration Plan” the government assured to reduce school dropouts by 50 percent and adjust the performance by 2012 among immigrants. Looking at the results–five years after this promise–the goal seems to be unattainable. “I think we can not succeed. We need more speed”, Böhmer also noticed.

The report is primarily based on the micro-census data – a sort of small census, which annually collects data of one percent of the population. Since 2005, the specific topic of “migration background” was integrated into the survey. Therewith, all foreign nationals and those immigrated are included.

Due to the demographic change new target groups get the industry’s growing attention. For Kraft Foods the acquisition of talents in terms of succession planning will be the focus. But as Christian Reuver, Director of Human Resources, emphasized in the interview with the Lebensmittel Zeitung for Kraft talents are not only young employees. They also want to focus the target group 50plus.

Kathrin Menges, first female board member and Head of Human Ressources at Henkel, sees also international challenges to the personnel department as more than half of employees are working in regions where the Henkel brand is much less known than in Germany. “Externally, we recruit much more international than even a few years ago,” says Menges during the interview with the Lebensmittel Zeitung. Especially among managers companies are looking for candidates with international experiences who should be able to negotiate both, linguistically and culturally with managers from other countries.

Talking about demographic change, HR professionals are convinced that the intense current debate on the promotion of women in leadership positions will result in practical consequences in the upcoming year. Globus-Manager Sabine Ment expects first regulations at the political level. Although she is against a quota, she supports the overall goal to have more women in top positions. In her opinion this topic is limited on the private level as long as women and men do not feel equally responsible for parenting and family income.

The recent review of the Federal Labor Agency in Germany showed an increase by 2.8 points up to 47.2 percent employment rate. This increase of senior employees can be explained to some extent with the growing share of population of elderly and the ascending propensity to work. In return, a decrease of the numbers of pensioners could be observed. 

Concerning the debate about introducing retirement at the age of 67 these numbers are playing an important role, as critics say that there are not enough employment opportunities for older people. While leaders of the Grünen reject such a shift of retirement age, SPD General Secretary Andrea Nahles recently announced a draft law that schedules to postpone the reform until employment rate reaches 50 percent among the 60 to 65 year olds. 

Last summer 27.5 percent of people approaching pensionable age were employed. It seems that there is still a long way to go to reach the 50 percent. But with an increase of 3.4 points compared to last year employees over the age of 60 recorded the highest growth than all other age groups. Labor market observers attribute this development mainly due to the end of the early retirement policy. It had set quite strong incentives to go into early retirement at the expense of tax payers. The German pension insurance reported a rising retirement age since the end of the policy from 62.3 to 63.5 years.

The online bank ING Diba has already started to face the challenge of an aging society by including more elderly people into their business. For their initiative “Apprentice 50plus” they were just recently awarded with the German Diversity Award. With this program people over the age of 50 get the chance to complete an apprenticeship lasting several months. This follows not just the idea of integrating the whole diversity potential of people into the workplace but to qualify them for a new job and a permanent employment at ING Diba.

Five years ago the legislation on parental allowance and parental leave (Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeitgesetz – BEEG) was introduced in Germany. Since then also at Henkel more and more fathers are taking the opportunity to devote themselves entirely to their children for a while. How do they experience this role change? What kind of reactions they experienced from their own families, friends, colleagues and superiors? All these topics were discussed during a round table hosted by Markus Dinslacken, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion and Social Progress. 

“Ensuring the reconcilability of family and career belongs to the self-understanding of Henkel,” explains Dinslacken the meeting’s occasion. “Why? Because we pay special attention to the greatest possible diversity within the workforce. Mothers and fathers might see some things differently than childless people – but it is precisely the different perspectives that capture the spirit of teamwork and innovation.”

Thanks to parental leave and flexible part-time employees are able to take care of their young children and thereby can easier reconcile both: family and career. But with the end of parental leave working couples have to face new challenges: daycare centers for children under three years are still scarce in Germany. But above all: day care centers usually close in the late afternoon. Many mothers and also some fathers have been working part time for years, so that they – usually in exchange – can bring their children to the kindergarten and pick them up again in time. “Fathers like me have to leave the office on two or three afternoons per week earlier than the others,” says one participant of the discussion group. “These are the days when I am responsible for the “Kita pickup service”, so that my wife can work longer. Probably many couples are in the same situation: after the children are sleeping we sneak into our home office and work for a few more hours. Sure it’s tiring. But currently there is no alternative and we are able to handle it somehow.”

Another father reported that especially his boss encouraged and supported him half a year after his daughter’s birth to stay at home for two month. “My boss has already grown up children – and, therefore, a natural understanding for my situation.”

Fathers on parental leave in Germany are still quite rare and therefore not an implicitness – at least not in public opinion. “This will probably still take a few years,” estimates Markus Dinslacken. “A lot also depends on the direct supervisor and the courage to try something new. The round table with the fathers has clearly shown that we are on the right track at Henkel, even if we still have to do a lot of convincing to meet our demand of a good balance between family and career.”

Is there a kind of magic formula for a successful career for women? For Kathrin Menges this question is quickly answered: “I personally have always exercised my job with great enthusiasm and was fascinated by the various responsibilities and challenges,” she says. For her, each leeway was a major component as the stimulus of responsible positions is to be able to make a difference. Since October 2011, Kathrin Menges is Chief Human Resources Officer at Henkel – the first woman on the Board of Henkel ever. On behalf of the invitation of Henkel’s internal network “Women in Leadership” she talked in front of 140 female Henkel Managers about her way to the top, motivation, experiences, and of course her plans as Personnel Director. 

The women discussed openly, focused, and with humor about career strategies, opportunities, and flexible working patterns. A topic that is very important to Menges: “We judge our staff for their performance and the results and not based on their presence in the office, therefore, new ways can be found to improve the flexibility of work and time,” she appealed. Although telework can not be offered to every employee in any position, Kathrin Menges shares the opinion that good examples can be communicated to encourage imitation.

The results revealed clear deficiencies in both sexes. Boys often lack of the today’s much-needed capacity for cooperation and teamwork because their strong desire for personal recognition stands in their way: 69% of the boys like when things look especially cool and radiate strength and power. In contrast to this, only 31% of the interviewed girls value these attributes. Additionally, 67% of the boys want to be one of the best. This is 16% more than the figures of the opposite sex showed.

The strong need for harmony, consensus and the empathic desire for intact relationships often stands in the way of girl’s future viability. For these desires and needs they often give up on the fulfillment of their own, legitimate requirements.

Sustainability today means to find balance between competitiveness, a healthy egoism, the boldness to stand out while still having the ability of integration and co-operation. The study showed that neither boys nor girls are adequately prepared to meet these requirements. Girl stuck in a trap of consensus and boys are victims of their “race gene”.

For the author of the accompanying book of the study, Axel Dammler, it is important to leave the stereotypes behind. The current gender discussion on the influence of genes or the environment does not lead further, but rather blocking the necessary changes. “The basic needs that we carry within us are fixed. However, it depends on what you make of it”. These inborn needs can lead to the perfect motivation to escape the trap and break down traditional gender stereotypes as well as role assignments. A truly gender-appropriate education can be achieved only in accordance with these requirements and not against them.

Henkel also supports the gender-neutral upbringing in education. In spring 2011 the Little Researchers World has been opened at Henkel, Düsseldorf, which allows children in preschool and primary school age, to discover and develop their intellectual curiosity in an early stage of life.

After the birth of a child a woman clearly needs time for recovery and for finding a child care solution. But being to long away from work can also lead to out-dated skills and problems by settle back into the job. In Germany, the government lately even encouraged women to stay at home with their children up to three years by offering extra money.

This might raise the question: How quickly should women return to their work? And what is the best for the children?

Academic studies proved that children who did not stay one year after birth at home had slightly slower cognitive development. And even worse: The more the mother works the worse this correlation can get. So, does that mean that there is really a meaning of being a “Rabenmutter” (bad mother)?

The answer is no: It doesn’t have to be the mother who stays at home with the child to ensure that the cognitive abilities develop in the right way. Grandparents, the father or another well disposed person can do an equal job.

In Denmark, however, women usually return to their job within only a few months. The main reason for making this possible without risking a slower cognitive development is the high quality public child-care opportunities. Among observed children in Denmark, no ill effects could be found on their behavior within their first year of life. But this is not a surprising result as a study of the ILO concerning child care showed that Denmark puts the most money into their child care offers and that there are huge national differences in provision. And also France and the other Nordic countries rank high on the list of birth rates in comparison to other European countries. The Écoles Maternelles – the French nursery school – plays an important role in allowing women to return to their job and in Finland government guarantee a day care place for every child under the age of three.

In contrast to these best practices, the study found that most countries have still a serious problem concerning good-quality child care for children less than three years. Governments have to subsidies it as it is often way too expensive for the parents. And even when the children start school, there are huge lacks of facilities for keeping them in school in the afternoon. Especially parents in Germany have to face this problem as most schools finish at lunchtime, hours before parents usually get home from work.

Still having such bad circumstances in some countries lead to a growing numbers of women forsaking motherhood altogether. Overall 18% of the women born in 1965 are childless (large variations among the different countries). Some of these women might not have been able to have a family due to specific reasons, but most often this was their own choice. One proposal given by the ILO for a beneficial solution to overcome the barrier of child care and to support women having children is a company or on-site facility.

Henkel already recognized the need of providing better child care opportunities for their employees and opened the first company owned kinder garden in 1940. The second one followed just three years ago, in 2008. For further support, Additionally, Henkel ensures by the consultancy of the Social Services department that all employees will find an appropriate solution. And Henkel has introduced a parental leave passport that helps parents to stay in contact with the company during their maternity leave. With all these supportive activities Henkel aims to create a carefree and family friendly work to help women to better reconcile family and career.

“The Diversity Charter is a written commitment that can be signed by any company, regardless of its size, that wishes to ban discrimination in the workplace and makes a decision to work towards creating diversity. It expresses a company’s willingness to improve the degree to which their workforce reflects the diversity of society.”

For Henkel, a company that operates in 125 countries, Diversity & Inclusion is an essential success factor. “We find lots of diversity in our own ranks. And this success, we want to develop and implement strategically,” said the CEO of Henkel, Kasper Rorsted, when he signed the “Diversity Charter” in March 2007 for Germany. 2009 Beltrán Francesc, Vice President HR of Henkel Ibérica and Latin America, followed Kasper Rorsted and signed the Spanish version of the Charter on November 4^th in Barcelona.

In France currently 3,320 major companies show their commitment to diversity and have already signed the Charter. Beginning with an auditing one year ago by IMS, a well-known French non-governmental organization that helps companies fulfilling their social responsibilities, Henkel France has started stepping up its effort concerning the topic. With the help of IMS Henkel developed a diversity action plan focusing the aspects “disability”, “generation gap”, “flexible working conditions” and “social and ethnic minorities”. Creating role models by training all managers in diversity-related topics to demonstrate an exemplary behavior was a fundamental aspect of the plan. With this approach Henkel France wants to further support the general approach of Henkel as a socially responsible company.

Moderatorin des Abends war Barbara Schöneberger, die gleich zu Beginn mit launigen Worten den Abend eröffnete „Mit dem Deutschen Diversity Preis werden Teams ausgezeichnet, von Menschen, die ganz unterschiedlich sind und trotzdem miteinander klarkommen. Also geht dieser Preis auch stellvertretend an alle Ehepaare“, erklärte sie ihre ganz eigene Interpretation von vielfältigen Teams.

Wie die Idee des Deutschen Diversity Preises entstanden ist, erläuterte Roland Tichy, Chefredakteur der WirtschaftsWoche. „Die ursprüngliche Idee ist in einem Gespräch mit Tina Müller, Kasper Rorsted und mir entstanden.“ Bald kam McKinsey als drittes Gründungsmitglied dazu und die ursprüngliche Idee, gesellschaftlichen Einfluss auf die Offenheit und Wertschätzung von Vielfalt zu nehmen, entwickelte sich weiter bis hin zum Deutschen Diversity Preis.

Ziel des „Deutschen Diversity Preises“ ist es, herausragende Beispiele für praktizierte Diversity zu prämieren, um die Relevanz des Themas zu unterstreichen und andere zur Nachahmung zu ermutigen. Der Preis wird von der „Charta der Vielfalt“ unterstützt, einer Unternehmensinitiative zur Förderung von Vielfalt in Unternehmen in Deutschland.

Der deutsche Diversity Preis wurde in vier Kategorien vergeben: „Vielfältigster Arbeitgeber“, „Bestes Diversity Image“, „Innovativste Diversity Projekte“ und „Diversity Persönlichkeit des Jahres“.

Die Entscheidung über die Gewinner in den Kategorien „Vielfältigster Arbeitgeber“ und „Diversity Persönlichkeit des Jahres“ traf die hochkarätige Jury, bestehend aus Prof. Dr. Renate Köcher, Geschäftsführerin des Instituts für Demoskopie Allensbach, Frank Mattern, Deutschland-Chef von McKinsey & Company, Kasper Rorsted, Vorstandsvorsitzender von Henkel, Dr. Christine Stimpel, Deutschland-Chefin von Heidrick & Struggles, Prof. Dr. Rita Süssmuth, Bundestagspräsidentin a.D., und Roland Tichy, Chefredakteur der WirtschaftsWoche. Die Finalisten der Kategorien „Vielfältigster Arbeitgeber“ und „Innovativste Diversity Projekte“ wurden anhand objektiver Faktoren unter den eingegangenen Bewerbungen ausgewählt.

Sieger in der ersten Kategorie „Vielfältigster Arbeitgeber – Großunternehmen“ war BASF. „Diversity & Inclusion ist bei der BASF Geschäftsstrategie“, erklärte Saori Dubourg, die den Preis für BASF entgegen nahm. „Diversity ist wichtig, um Potenziale zu erkennen; Potenziale unserer Mitarbeiter, aber auch Potenziale unserer Kunden. Inclusion bedeutet für uns eine Unternehmenskultur der Einbeziehung zu schaffen“, erläuterte sie weiter. „Wir, bei der BASF, haben das Thema mit viel Freude und auch etwas Humor im Unternehmen verankert.“

Der Preis für das „Beste Diversity Image“ wurde von Henkel CEO, Kasper Rorsted verliehen. Gewinner in dieser Kategorie war Google. „Unsere Mission ist es, die Gesamtheit der weltweit verfügbaren Informationen allen Menschen auf der Welt zugänglich zu machen“, erläuterte Frank Kohl-Boas, der den Preis für Google entgegen nahm. „Das gelingt nur, wenn unsere Belegschaft unsere Benutzer reflektiert. Und es bedarf natürlich einer Unternehmenskultur, die der Vielfalt offen gegenüber steht. Dabei ist jeder unserer 28.000 Googler weltweit ein Botschafter unseres Unternehmens.“

In der Kategorie „Innovativste Diversity Projekte“ verlieh Dr. Christine Stimpel, Deutschland-Chefin von Heidrick & Struggles gleich vier Preise in drei Unterkategorien. „Dies ist meine Lieblingskategorie“, verriet sie „denn diese Projekte leben unglaublich vom Engagement der Mitarbeiter und Initiatoren“. Ausgezeichnet wurden in den drei Unterkategorien „Unternehmensprojekte“, „Soziale Projekte“ und „Initiativen“.

Als Diversity Persönlichkeit des Jahres erhielt Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel den Deutschen Diversity Preis. „Sie hat ein Kabinett der Vielfalt zusammengestellt“, erläuterte Laudator Roland Tichy die Entscheidung der Jury. Da die Bundeskanzlerin aufgrund des Bundesparteitages der CDU nicht persönlich bei der Preisverleihung anwesend sein konnte, übermittelte sie ihren Dank in einer Videobotschaft. Dabei würdigte sie die Initiative des Deutschen Diversity Preises und rief dazu auf, die Vielfalt in Deutschland weiter zu fördern.  

Die Preisträger des Deutschen Diversity Preises 2011 im Überblick:

1. Kategorie: Vielfältigster Arbeitgeber

Unterkategorie Großunternehmen                                                         

Preisträger 1. Platz:                                                       BASF                         
Auszeichnung Exzellent:                                     Deutsche Post DHL und Ford-Werke

Unterkategorie Kleine/mittlere Unternehmen     

Preisträger:                                                                   twago

Unterkategorie Öffentliche und soziale Institutionen                   

Preisträger:                                                                   RWTH Aachen

2. Kategorie: Bestes Diversity Image

Preisträger:                                                                   Google

Unter den Top 5:                                                          Adidas, IKEA, Bosch, SAP

3. Kategorie: Innovativste Diversity Projekte

Preisträger Unternehmensprojekte:                    ING.Diba 

Preisträger Initiative:                                          CJD e.V. Eutin und Hamburg 

Preisträger Soziale Projekte:     Berufswege für Frauen e.V. und TIO e.V

 4. Kategorie: Diversity Persönlichkeit des Jahres     

Preisträgerin:                                                     Dr. Angela Merkel

 Weitere Informationen finden Sie im Internet unter http://www.diversity-preis.de/ 

Today, the first “German Diversity Award” ceremony will take place at a gala event in the prestigious Langen Foundation in Neuss. About 200 guests from business, politics, society and media are invited to this event. Barbara Schöneberger will host the awards ceremony.

The aim of the initiators – Henkel, McKinsey & Company and WirtschaftsWoche – is to encourage a culture of diversity by rewarding outstanding achievements in this area, highlighting successes and encouraging imitation. The awards will be hand over in four categories: Most Diverse Employer in Germany, Best Diversity Image, Diversity Personality of the Year and Most Innovative Diversity Projects. The high number of applications shows how important the diversity topic in Germany is; for both, society and economy.

Starting at 7 p.m. CET you can follow the ceremony via our twitter account: www.twitter.com/henkeldiversity. Be the first one who gets to know who the winners in the four different catagories are!

Diversity und personelle Vielfalt – unterschiedliche Nationalitäten, Geschlechter und Erfahrungen – sind entscheidende Erfolgsfaktoren für Unternehmen und Organisationen. Zum ersten Mal wurde nun auch in Deutschland ein offizieller Preis ins Leben gerufen, der Arbeitgeber, Einzelpersonen und innovative Projekte würdigt, die sich durch eine Kultur der Vielfalt auszeichnen.

Der von Henkel, McKinsey&Company und der WirtschaftsWoche initiierte „Deutsche Diversity Preis“ wird heute im Rahmen einer festlichen Gala in der renommierten Langen Foundation in Neuss verliehen, zu der rund 200 Gäste aus Wirtschaft, Politik, Kultur und Medien erwartet werden. Durch den Abend führt Barbara Schöneberger.

Mit dem „Deutschen Diversity Preis“ wollen die Initiatoren zu einer Kultur der Vielfalt anspornen, herausragende Leistungen auf diesem Gebiet prämieren, Erfolge hervorheben und andere zur Nachahmung ermutigen. Die Preise werden in insgesamt vier Kategorien vergeben: Vielfältigster Arbeitgeber Deutschlands, Bestes Diversity Image, Diversity Persönlichkeit des Jahres und Innovativste Diversity Projekte. Die hohe Zahl der eingereichten Bewerbungen zeigt, welchen Stellenwert das Thema Diversity bereits jetzt in der deutschen Gesellschaft und Wirtschaft hat.

Folgen Sie unseren live tweeds über unseren twitter account: www.twitter.com/henkeldiversity und seien Sie die ersten, die erfahren, wer die Gewinner in den vier verschiedenen Kategorien sind.