To mark Germany's third Diversity Day on June 6, Deutsche Post DHL Group organised over 120 separate events spanning all continents on the theme of "Diversity in the Working World".
The events were aimed at raising awareness and underlining the value of diversity to the group's employees and staff. "Diversity inherently involves respect for others, and the ways in which we interact," said Melanie Kreis, Board Member for HR at Deutsche Post DHL Group.
Deutsche Post DHL Group signed a "Charter of Diversity" back in 2007. These actions to promote equal opportunity and diversity management have earned the corporate offices in Germany five Total E-Quality certificates, to date.
Deutsche Post DHL Group is present in over 220 countries and territories worldwide and employs over 480,000 people from a broad mix of cultures and nationalities. Its workforce include men and women of all ages, members of a great number of different religions, confessions and world views, people with different sexual orientations and employees with and without disabilities.
The group views the diversity of its employees as a business advantage. "Experience shows that successful teams tend to be diverse. The corollary is also true: diverse teams tend to be more successful," Kreis notes. "Unlike homogeneous teams, they view tasks from various viewpoints and form solutions that are more comprehensive, innovative and efficient." The group also sees proactive diversity management as a tool for raising its attractiveness as an employer, a crucial part of securing its long-term success.
The Diversity Day events within Deutsche Post DHL Group covered all dimensions of diversity management. They accounted for factors such as age, gender, sexual orientation, religion and world view, ethnicity and physical capabilities. The Rainbownet, a network for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersexual (LGBTI) employees within the Group, took part in the events.
The Group takes an inclusive approach to accommodating disabled persons within the workplace, for example. Deutsche Post AG employed 14,741 employees with disabilities in 2014, a rise of 571 over the prior year. The 9.1% employment rate is more than twice the average for the private sector in Germany.
