New Diversity Charters in Poland and Finland

Diversity Charters are written public statements of self-commitment to D&I that can be signed by companies, public employers or not-for-profit organisations that want to underscore their engagement and leverage activities for positive image. Since the first charters were created in France and the Brussels Capital Region in Belgium, several follow. Now, the first Charter was launched in an Eastern European country.
On 14 February 2012, 14 companies have signed the Polish version of the Diversity Charter at the Chancellery of the Polish Prime Minister. Works on the Polish Diversity Charter were started in 2011 by the Responsible Business Forum. The Diversity Charter is under honorary auspices of the Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment and the Office of the Polish Human Rights Defender. The Polish Diversity Charter is thus connected to a platform promoting good practices in the area of equality. The design of the Charter text was discussed with public administration, non-profit organisations, trade unions and business representatives throughout the development process and now exceeds the regulations of the Polish Labour Code.
The Diversity Charter in Poland was signed by Presidents or Board Members of the initiating companies: Aviva, British American Tobacco Polska, Danone, Deloitte Polska, Grupa Orbis, Grupa TP, Grupa Żywiec, Kompania Piwowarska, L’Oreal Polska, Nutricia, Provident Polska S.A., PwC, Totalizator Sportowy sp. z o.o. and Unilever. Together, these enterprises employ almost 50,000 people in Poland.
One of the upcoming Diversity Charters is in its launch process in Finland, which will be the second Nordic country with a self-commitment initiative. The Finnish Business and Society (FiBS) aims at also establishing a diversity network for businesses at the same time. Diversity and inclusion are key issues in the country given the ageing of the Finnish labour force and the business need to reform recruiting and work / well-being policies accordingly. The Diversity Charter Finland will encourage businesses to develop diversity management capabilities and capacities, and of course to promote diversity and inclusion in Finland at large. Organisers say their main challenge is to raise awareness for the benefits of Diversity management. They thus want to include employees, customers and other stakeholders in the discussion. The Charter and the network will officially be launched in October but companies are already able to join.
The Polish and the Finish Diversity Charters will also be represented on the EU-level exchange platform for Diversity Charters funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Justice.

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