European Diversity Barometer;
The platform for all organisations signatory to the IMS diversity charters has announced the launch of the European Diversity Barometer.
IMS initiated this 24-month project with ten European partner charters. This platform aims to allow all signatory companies to follow the evolution of their Diversity & Inclusion policy at the national and European levels. The companies will also be able to train via e-learning and have access to numerous resources. This project was funded by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme of the European Union. All European charters could eventually be present on the tool. This announcement was made during an IMS event on diversity management, on Tuesday 5 December 2023, during which the Belgian, Italian and Luxembourg charters shared their practices.
Among their commitments, the signatories of the Lëtzebuerg Diversity Charter should report on their practices in the field of diversity management, once every three years. They will be able to do this by responding to a questionnaire. This self-assessment is followed by a publication which takes stock of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) activities among the signatories at the national level.
For 2024, the Lëtzebuerg Diversity Charter gives a European dimension to this barometer. This innovation aims to bring together the signatories of all European charters around a single tool, allowing them to respond to a common questionnaire, in addition to the obligatory national questionnaire. Each organisation will situate itself in the diversity landscape on a European scale and will follow its evolution over the years at national and European levels.
The tool also includes comprehensive training on the theme “How to build your D&I strategy” created by expert Christina Constantidinis, professor at the School of Management Sciences at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM).
IMS Luxembourg noted that it supports and encourages all signatory organisations to use this platform to collectively record and report trends in diversity management at the European level, thus creating a European D&I observatory.
The Lëtzebuerg Diversity Charter, supported by IMS Luxembourg, will support the signatories in getting to grips with the platform (how to use it, how to complete the questionnaire, etc.). From January 2024, all signatories of the Lëtzebuerg Diversity Charter (and other signatories of European charters) will receive an email providing access to the platform inviting them to create their accounts. They will be able to connect to the platform at any time, access the resources, and complete the questionnaire during opening periods. They will then have access to the results of the questionnaires directly on the platform.
The platform will be accessible from 22 January 2024 via the following website: https://diversitybarometer.eu/en
Ten languages will be accessible (French, English, German, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Romanian, Slovak, Greek, Estonian) to ultimately be available across all countries of the European Union. The available languages will adapt according to the charter to which the signatory is affiliated.
Signatories will receive access to the platform by email for the first connection to create their account. Then, they will receive an automatic e-mail from the European Diversity Charter to which they are linked to notify them of the opening period of the European and/or national questionnaire.
Signatories will have to respond to two questionnaires: the European barometer and the national barometer. The European barometer will be administered every three years for all signatories to a European diversity charter. It is a common EU-wide questionnaire comprising around ten questions. It contains four modules: “Profile of the Signatory”, “Implementing Diversity and Inclusion Activities in the Workplace”, “Understanding EU Policies” and “Future Improvements”.
The national barometer, administered and defined by each of the charters, is a questionnaire for the signatories of the charter in question. Temporality is defined by the latter. For Luxembourg, the national barometer is also administered every three years, at the same time as the European barometer. It includes around 20 questions, exploring in more detail the policies and actions relating to diversity in the signatory organisations.
On the platform, Luxembourg signatories will find a range of resources aimed at fostering diversity and inclusion within their organisations. This includes access to national and European barometer questionnaires, providing a comprehensive understanding of the diversity landscape. The platform enables quick visualisation of results and allows for comparisons by country, sector, and organisation size. Furthermore, signatories can access resources for continuous training on diverse themes related to inclusivity, drawing from European charters. E-learning modules are also available, guiding organisations through the entire spectrum of diversity management - from preliminary diagnosis to measuring the impact of implemented action plans.
For each European Diversity Charter represented on the platform, a range of functionalities is provided to enhance their engagement. Charters can create customised national questionnaires tailored to the unique needs of their signatories, allowing for targeted data collection. This personalised approach extends to the export of results, enabling charters to offer more tailored monitoring based on individual organisational requirements. Additionally, the platform serves as a hub for collaboration among European Diversity Charters, facilitating the sharing of resources and fostering a collective approach to advancing diversity and inclusion efforts.
