SBA Research @ re:think diversity
On October 23, the Diversity Think Tank team hosted the re:think diversity congress at the Vienna Chamber of Commerce. Jeanine Lefèvre, project lead of Fem4CyberSec and research coordinator, and Gregor Roschitz, Human Resources, were there for SBA Research.
© Jeanine Lefèvre
According to Gregor and Jeanine, the main highlights were the presentations on
- Simple Tools for Building Psychological Safety by Kyrs Burnette from ARC Projects,
- the focus on disability as a diversity category with the presentations “Inklusion ist kein Gnadenakt sondern smartes Personalmanagement” (Inclusion is not an act of mercy but smart personnel management) by Johanna Kleinfercher-Alberer from the Federal Ministry of Labor & Economy and
- “Ich mach das mit Links” (German proverb that means you can achieve something blindfold, but here it refers to the speaker’s disability as well) by Fidi Braun, rapper and inclusion ambassador.
© Marcel Lehner
“There is still little focus on psychological safety in German-speaking countries,” says Gregor. “It is an important factor in creating an inclusive working life that employees feel comfortable and free to introduce new ideas, which ultimately benefits everyone.” Jeanine sums up: “It was exciting to shed light on dimensions of diversity that otherwise tend to receive less attention, such as disability. The passion with which the speakers approached the topic was inspiring.“
The aim of the congress is to place diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) at the center of social and economic discourse and thus shed light on it from new perspectives. To this end, the organizing team is focusing on a combination of presentations on various topics from this diverse range of topics, panel discussions and also offers networking opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange between stakeholders from business, science and society. Particularly noteworthy is the inclusive nature of the event, which ranged from free admission and free childcare to the provision of sign language interpretation. Therefore, the congress impressively demonstrated how important it is to focus on new and diverse perspectives and to take a holistic view of DEIB.
SBA Research is proud to have been part of this inspiring and forward-looking event and looks forward to incorporating what our colleagues learned into current and future projects and initiatives to actively contribute to the promotion of a diverse and inclusive corporate culture.
Links
re:think diversity program
European Year of Skills – Newsletter