Diversity Management « Henkel Diversity Blog

Success-Story Diversity Management / Erfolgsgeschichte Diversity Management

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

The online-magazine Wirtschaftwoche recently dedicated an article to a new study conducted by the network „Synergy by Diversity“. It focuses on Diversity Management and the advancements that were made within the past few years.

Four years ago, only 42 percent of all German companies had a Diversity Management in place while 77 percent of all European countries had already established a Diversity Management. Today, 16 out of the DAX 30 companies have a Diversity Management, for example Henkel (since 2007), Deutsche Telekom (since 2004), Lufthansa (since 2001) or Siemens (since 2008). The implementation strategy of a Diversity Management is different in each company. Some companies entrusted a Human Resources manager with Diversity tasks. Other companies appointed global Diversity Managers who directly report to the CEO. This is also the Henkel approach where the Head of Global Diversity Management, Anke Meier and her team are responsible for the strategy and implemention of the Diversity concept. She is supported by a worldwide Diversity Ambassador network, consisting of fourteen international ambassadors.

Most Diversity activities focus on gender-equality and demography. At Henkel, we also focus on supporting women in management-positions as well but additionally we defined seven diversity dimension that we focus on. Diversity is a common understanding of all Henkel employees and an integral part of our Corporate Culture. By the way: Interesting to me was the fact that 14 of 16 German Diversity managers are women… good or bad? [DE]

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Diversity-to-Go: Mediaplanet Special “Diversity Management”

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

Diversity-to-Go: This is what the new Mediaplanet publication “Diversity Management” offers. There might be enough good reasons for a strategic diversity approach – practical tips with focus on the diversity dimensions gender, disability and cultural diversity is what you get packed on 15 pages in that newspaper.

Gender diversity:

Starting with Monika Schulz-Strelow foreword, who is president of the FidAR initiative (women for the board), to the dialogue between Wilhelm von Haller, CEO Sal.Oppenheimer Private Bank and Ana-Cristina Grohnert, Partner at Ernst & Young and an article about a father during his parental leave – there are lots of arguments and information about gender diversity, the need for a balanced workforce and the increase of women in leadership positions.

Disability:

95 percent of all disabled people are getting disabled within their professional lives. To save recruitment costs and to get highly motivated and loyal colleagues, Ford AG introduced for the first time a disability manager in Europe, who is responsible for the integration of disabled people at the working place. That saves money and increases productivity.

Cultural Diversity:

The mother dimension of diversity. But nowadays as important as in the past is the intercultural harmonization at the working place. Within this article you get some practical advices to take care of to gain economic advantages out of the cultural diversity a company has in place.

All in all the publication is as readable as informative to get an insight in the reasons why and the benefits of diversity management.

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The Diversity Manager / Das Diversity Management

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 by Astrid Bosten

The German radio station Deutschlandfunk reports on political, economical and cultural issues. On their website they recently wrote an article about a topic that relates to all of them: Diversity Management and the job of a Diversity Manager.

For big global companies, diversity has become normality. On the one hand it’s exciting and makes a company attractive to potential employees. On the other hand it can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts. Most employees are not familiar with all foreign cultures of their colleagues. Supporting international teams is one of the main tasks of a company’s Diversity Management.

In Germany the concept of a diversity management isn’t as common as in other countries, for example the US. However, if a company works a lot with mixed teams, it should tap their full potential. To make diversity work, companies need a strategy. This is where the Diversity Manager starts. Diversity Manager is a job with potential for the future. However, in Germany there are no specialized university programs. Diversity Managers have different backgrounds, the one might be an economist, the other one a psychologist, the third one a philologist – definitely true diversity! [DE]

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