Diversity is good for business - Promoting diversity is an added value for companies and society

European economies and companies must cope with demographic ageing, a shrinking workforce, paradoxically coexisting with significant unemployment, and increased pressure on public finances.

At the same time, European companies need to find ways to overcome skills shortages or mismatches whilst facing increasing global competition for talents. Promoting diversity can therefore play a positive role in addressing today’s and tomorrow’s challenges in the labour markets and in workplaces.

The business community is active and we believe diversity can bring direct and indirect benefits for companies in the form of creativity, innovation, reputation and competitiveness. Companies are resorting to different approaches to promote diversity at all levels. These individual voluntary initiatives, such as networks and internal targets, aiming to mobilise the potential of a wide range of diverse groups in a way that is tailored to individual companies’ realities.

With this document, BusinessEurope intends to showcase concrete examples by member federations or companies in the field of diversity that have already brought tangible results. These were presented to Ms Věra Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality on 4 February 2016 on the occasion of a high-level roundtable on "Business practices on how to improve diversity at all levels".

Of course, this is not the end of the story and there is no one single response to address diversity in employment and in the workplace. However, we think that companies of all sizes can join us in this agenda, along with policy-makers, governments, trade unions and other stakeholders. We trust these examples will serve as a useful source of inspiration.