Diversity and inclusion in companies. The President of Eurispes signs the preface to the new book by journalist Claudio Barnini
The new book by journalist Claudio Barnini has collected the experiences of 10 Italian and multinational companies on the topic of Diversity&Inclusion, one of the Goals of the UN Agenda 2030. The culture of inclusion can in fact be a seed to be cultivated everywhere, including in the company and in the workplace, where people spend most of their time and bring their individuality and diversity. Bitron, GXO, Mercer, Nespresso, Paramount, RINA, Technip, Thales Alenia Space and Unicredit, together with IGT, recounted their experiences and good practices towards workers with any kind of diversity. The book entitled Diversity & Inclusion. Corporate Success Stories by Mason&Partners is available as a free ebook on Amazon and Kobo.
Today, the topic “Diversity&Inclusion” has become a mission for many companies
Author Claudio Barnini explains the title and motivation for the book as follows: «Different. When I hear this word, an answer always comes to mind: different from whom? Because after all, we are all different from one another. Why do some still think that being different is a limitation, a lack? And above all, why is it that in the working world the issues of gender equality between men and women or those of race or religion still die hard? Fortunately, nowadays the topic “Diversity&Inclusion” has become a mission statement for many companies. We see how the topic of gender equality is most strongly felt in Western Europe, while religious differences carry the most weight in Arab countries, just as the issue of skin colour remains a priority in American countries. To better describe the situation, I thought of involving national and international companies, precisely because the issues are different. According to a recent survey, in Italy as of today only 49.6% of the population claims to be well informed about DE&I (yet 7% have never heard it mentioned in the public debate), while knowledge of these issues is higher in companies where the percentage reaches 53.7%».
Inclusiveness, Italy ranked 24th out of 49 states surveyed, last in Western Europe
Yet, there is still much to be done: Italy is behind when it comes to the protection of human and civil rights of the Lgbt+ community, ethnic and religious minorities, and immigrants. The data contained in the annual report prepared by the ILGA (International Lesbian and Gay Association) tell us that Italy is in 24th place in the ranking (out of 49 States taken into consideration), last in Western Europe. We have a 25% rate for the respect of the human rights of Lgbt+ people, compared to the European average figure of 48%. «Diversity, equity and inclusion are words we hear – and will continue to hear – more and more often,» explains Gian Maria Fara, President of Eurispes, who signed the book’s preface. «Over the years, these terms have been consolidated through the battles of activists and minorities to the extent that, today, inclusion is one of the key elements in choosing a job. At a social level, this step forward has been possible thanks to a series of contributory factors that can be identified in the demographic and labour market transformations; in the rise of “Generation Z”, i.e. those born between 1995 and 2010 – bearers of new values such as inclusiveness, multiculturalism and sustainability». «We chose this theme precisely because we are attentive to the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH): conditions of the environments in which individuals are born, live, work, and learn that have an impact on health and wellbeing,» explains Johann Rossi Mason, editor of the volume and sociologist: «We think about poverty, living in unsafe places, and environmental conditions, for example. From skin colour to gender, age, religious beliefs, health conditions. A closed circle if we think that discrimination, prejudice and stigma have been shown to lead to psychological and physical health problems».
Italy lags behind in the protection of human and civil rights of the LGBT+ community, ethnic and religious minorities
Fortunately, in Italy, the legislator with D. Lgs. 81/2008 has regulated “the duty to assess all safety risks, including those concerning workers exposed to work-related stress” and to particular categories that cannot be referred to the neutral subject that coincides with the healthy white-skinned adult male, an “ideal type” of worker that we have in mind, but that does not at all account for all individualities. Think for example of people who are frail for physical or socio-economic reasons, subject to discrimination because they are considered less productive, marginalised. According to APA (American Psychological Association) research, almost half of adults who have never suffered discrimination report good or very good health, a figure that drops to 31% among those who have been discriminated against. Lgbt+ adults who have been discriminated against also scored an average stress level of 6.4 points (on a scale of 10) compared to 5.0 for binary adults and have a depression rate of around 30%. And we know that stress affects health in the medium and long term. «There is a stereotype weight, a sociocultural factor with an emotional implication, identified by the social psychologist Steele, in 1999,» intervenes sociologist Luciana D’Ambrosio Marri. «It is the phenomenon whereby people belonging to a socially disadvantaged group experience a state of anxiety that stems from the fear of confirming the stereotype, of the expectation of discrimination». But there are also “virtuous circles”: as certified by the 2021 edition of the “Diversity brand index” on the great importance of the theme of inclusion also among consumers, 88% of the population is more inclined towards the most inclusive brands and the difference between the revenues of an inclusive brand compared to a non-inclusive one favours the former by 23%.
