Rankings are a valuable instrument to measure our progress and support us in setting the agenda, however, there is more to DE&I than good publicity. It has been shown that diversity leads to a better bottom-line – but how so? Indeed, a diverse workforce holds the potential to create a strong company culture in which everyone can fully develop their talent. Diversity in skills, opinions, and backgrounds has been proven to enhance innovation, cohesion, and quality of work. But the magic only manifests if the people in question feel their knowledge, opinions and uniqueness are valued and diversity is not a tick-box exercise.
Instinctively, we are drawn to people who are like us. Homogenous teams feel more efficient, they progress faster and are quicker with their results. In a diverse team, it can sometimes take longer to find consensus but the results are more robust since they have been challenged from different angles involving a variety of expert backgrounds and ways of thinking. And once you have sampled working in a diverse team, you are unlikely to want it otherwise.
Building a strong culture of equal opportunity starts with us - with action and accountability. Therefore, Allianz has set itself ambitious representation targets for gender, nationalities or ethnicities, generations, LGBTQ+ and disability. Find out more details here (ADD LINK TO ARTICLE “The transformative power of diversity and inclusion”)
*The German Diversity Index is run by BeyondGenderAgenda – a network for DE&I in the German economy which currently covers the dimensions Disability, Ethnicity, Gender, Generation, LGBT+ and Social Mobility.
