“Diversity and diversity in the work environment contribute to attracting people with unique abilities and talents and strengthen corporate trust,” said the President of the Republic. Katerina Sakellaropoulou during her greeting at the conference «The Upfront Initiative. Visibility in Practice »in Roof of the Onassis Foundation.
The President welcomed with great satisfaction the conference of the initiative Upfront on equality, inclusion, diversity and visibility in the workplace, noting that this is a very important initiative, which underscores the need to break down prejudices and stereotypes that hinder equal access and development of work treated with suspicion due to gender, race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, disability.
As he argued, “despite the important steps that have been taken in recent years, the discrimination and inequality faced by women, LGBT people, people with disabilities in the workplace, are still present and strong. It is characteristic that the percentage of women in senior management positions in Greece fell by 5 percentage points in 2022, reaching 28% compared to 33% last year. At the same time, the percentage of companies that do not employ any woman in a senior management position increased to 22% compared to 13% in 2021. These data, which emerge from a survey of Grant Thorntonhighlight an important issue that I would like to address, in relation to the request promoted by our meeting today “.
At the same time, he stressed that diversity and inclusion in the workplace are two interrelated concepts, which, however, do not always coexist. “Diversity refers to the representation in the composition of a working entity. Inclusion is assessed by the extent to which the contribution and prospects of different groups of employees are calculated and integrated into the work environment. “A work environment in which different genders, races, nationalities, sexual orientations and identities coexist, but only members of certain groups are valued and therefore have power or influence, may be diverse, but it is not inclusive.”
He went on to point out that a workplace that exhibits diversity and integration allows everyone, regardless of who they are or what they specialize in, to feel that they are not there because of mandatory quotas, because it is necessary to meet some inclusion targets, because, at least, the company considers it its obligation to hire employees from underrepresented groups. “Because in a company, 50% of the employees may be women, but none of them have a managerial position. A LOATKI person may have claimed and gained visibility in his professional environment, but at every step he stumbles on prejudices that hinder his development, or that threaten his longevity in his workplace. A company may employ people with disabilities, but keep them in positions of limited liability and lower pay, regardless of their talents and abilities. Let us ask ourselves, for example, how easily a company would trust a differential person, despite the hard work, unconventionality, appeal to new ideas, perfectionism, attention to detail, consistency and devotion that characterize people with high-functioning autism, “like Asperger’s syndrome,” she added.
In the same context, he observed that a genuinely inclusive environment is not enough to employ a diversity of employees, but also to enable them to participate, to grow, to be empowered. “To rearrange the relations of power and participation. To remove the barriers, to highlight the unique background of each person, to listen to his voice. Strengthen the sense of belonging, so that everyone is confident that their talents and skills will be recognized. “To consolidate their belief that their diversity is not a disadvantage, but an advantage that gives a variety of perceptions in life and work, opens the horizons, prepares the ground for innovation,” he stressed.
Referring to the current situation, he said that we live in an ever-changing world, where decades of certainties are being dispelled, and clarified that the war, which for years was an anachronism, a chapter in history, is making its painful appearance again with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
At the same time, he argued that “the working environment is becoming increasingly complex. Technological and social changes are transforming the landscape in every industry. “Every organization, public or private, will need the judgment, empathy, passion and creativity of all people, without discrimination, to increase its flexibility and ingenuity and to face the challenges of an increasingly demanding and complex age.” .
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