Diversity matters – also at LOBECO

“Diversity” is on everyone’s mind. But what does diversity mean, especially in the workplace and at LOBECO?

Bringing diversity into a company can enrich the corporate culture and thus have a positive influence. Diversity is defined as a conscious approach to variety in society. Behind the word lies both a sociopolitical and an organizational concept: discourses, measures and political concepts are created in order to achieve greater equality of opportunity and justice. And this should also apply to business. For example, people of all genders, races or lifestyles should be treated equally in the workplace. No one should be given preference based on their origin, gender and social status.

However, diversity has many dimensions. For example, diversity can be expressed not only in terms of gender, social origin or sexual orientation ¬- but also in terms of a person’s age, physical and mental condition, socio-economic background, and religion.

The goal of diversity is to reflect the multi-faceted nature of society and to provide equal access to all people. Diversity aims to reduce discrimination and prejudice – all people should be treated with equal opportunity; the individual person is the focus and should be individually supported.

What can diversity look like in the work environment?

Diversity also plays a major role in the working world. Diversity in companies leads to more satisfied and motivated employees and should enable employees to better develop their skills. Diversity also leads companies to greater success, for if employees reflect society in all its facets, they will find themselves closer to their customers.

For example, the managing director of “Charta der Vielfalt,” Aletta von Hardenberg, explains: “If you have to hand over part of your personality at the entrance to the company, you will never be able to produce sparkling ideas. Companies need to understand that they get the whole person as a workforce with all their personality traits.”

However, among average companies, 60 percent still believe that sexual orientation and work, for example, should be kept separate, according to a Charta survey.

Diversity also gives people access to the job market who otherwise would not have it due to a wide variety of restrictions. This starts with disability-friendly office equipment, continues with flexible working models for parents and extends to services such as addiction counseling. During the Corona crisis in particular, home office options gave people new access to the labor market who would otherwise have been excluded due to office duties, including people with visible and unseen disabilities.

LOBECO Values – What are we already doing to increase diversity?

According to a study by Page Group, 62 percent of respondents believe that Germany has some catching up to do in terms of diversity compared to other countries.

That is why LOBECO is particularly committed to diversity and variety. Thus, in addition to team spirit, appreciation, enthusiasm, performance and reflection, diversity is also a value of LOBECO and part of the corporate culture: “We value our personal and cultural diversity and use it for innovative solutions,” says Lorenz Beringer, Founder and CEO of LOBECO, “Only with a variety of people you get a variety of different, outstanding ideas”.

The age range of LOBECO employees is between 18 and 44. A total of 12 nationalities work together in teams every day – and women make up almost 54 percent of our workforce. Diversity is also lived at LOBECO in the form of our commitment. Through our long-standing cooperation with the NGO “Jambo Bukoba” for example, which we support through its visionary path to improve the quality of education, gender equality and access to clean water and sanitary facilities in Tanzania. Furthermore, we have taken up the issue of menstrual hygiene and together with “Wash United” we want to help remove stigmas around the topic of female menstruation.
LOBECO Founder and CEO Lorenz Beringer is particularly committed to this issue, as well as to the area of public value. At the Bavarian Business Advisory Council, he is responsible for the area of “Public Value”, and in his role, develops approaches for what added value companies in Munich can provide for society.
In addition, we are proud to have a close relationship with our colleagues in Shanghai and to fully respect and integrate each other’s culture. Chinese holidays, such as the Chinese New Year or Dragon Boat Festival, are celebrated together with our colleagues from Munich and Zurich.

At LOBECO, we are by no means perfect when it comes to diversity, but we are constantly working to become even better. We not only want to draw attention to diversity during Pride Month, but also live diversity in our everyday work – Pride Daily!

 

Sources:

Diversity: Was ist damit eigentlich gemeint? – Utopia.de
Studie Diversity Trends. – Für Diversity in der Arbeitswelt (charta-der-vielfalt.de)
PageGroup_Diversity_Studie_2017.pdf (michaelpage.de)