Diversity&Inclusion, inclusion starts from the workplace

The culture of inclusion can be a seed to be cultivated everywhere, even in the company and in the workplace, where people spend most of their time and bring their individuality and diversity.

The new book by journalist Claudio Barnini has collected and looked inside 10 Italian and multinational companies in search of how it is possible to decline the theme of Diversity & Inclusion among the Objectives of the UN 2030 Agenda.

Bitron, GXO, Mercer, Nespresso, Paramount, RINA, Thales Alenia Space and Unicredit, with the support of IGT, recounted their experiences and best practices towards workers with any type of diversity. The ebook will be available on Amazon, Kobo and on the masonandpartners.it website.

Why this title? We ask the author, the journalist Claudio Barnini: “Different. When I hear this word, an answer always comes to mind: different from whom? Because deep down we are all different from each other. Because there are still those who Do you think that being different is a limitation, a lack? And above all because in the world of work the issues of gender equality between men and women or those of race or religion are still hard to die for? Luckily nowadays the topic “Diversity & Inclusion” has become a mission for many companies. Let’s see how the theme of gender equality is felt more strongly in Western Europe, while religious differences have their weight especially in Arab countries, as well as the theme of skin color remains a priority in the American countries. To better describe the situation, I thought of involving national and international companies, precisely because the problems are different. According to a recent survey, in Italy still today only 49.6% of the population claims to be well informed about D&I (but 7% have never heard of it in public debate), while knowledge of these issues is higher in companies where the percentage reaches 53.7%”.

Yet, there is still a lot to do: Italy is behind when it comes to the protection of the human and civil rights of the LGBT+ community, of ethnic and religious minorities, of immigrants. The data contained in the annual report drawn up by ILGA (International Lesbian and Gay Association) tell us that Italy ranks 24th in the ranking (out of 49 countries taken into consideration), last in Western Europe. With a rate of 25% for respect for the human rights of LGBT+ people, compared to a European average of 48%.

“Diversity, equity and inclusion are words that we hear – and will continue to hear – more and more often” explains Gian Maria Fara, President of Eurispes who signed the preface of the book “Over the years, these terms have consolidated through the battles of activists and minorities, so much so that, today, inclusion is one of the key elements in choosing a job. On a social level, this step forward was possible thanks to a series of contributing causes that can be identified in the demographic and labor market transformations; in the advent of ” Generation Z”, i.e. those born between 1995 and 2010 – bearers of new values ​​such as the trend towards 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 well-being” specifies Johann Rossi Mason, editor of the volume and sociologist: “Let’s think, for example, of poverty, of living in insecure places, of environmental conditions. From skin color to gender, age, religious belief, health conditions. A closed circle if we think that discrimination, prejudice and stigma have been shown to lead to psychological and physical health problems.”

Fortunately in Italy the legislator with Legislative Decree 81/2008 has regulated “the duty to evaluate ‘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 adult male with white skin, 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 fragile for physical or socio-economic reasons, subject to discrimination because they are considered less productive, marginalised. According to research by the American Psychological Association (APA), nearly half of adults who have never experienced discrimination report good or very good health, as it drops to 31% among those who have been discriminated against. Discriminated LGBT adults 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 to long term.

“There is a weight of the stereotype, a socio-cultural factor with an emotional impact, identified by the social psychologist Steele, in 1999” intervenes the sociologist Luciana D’Ambrosio Marri “It is the phenomenon whereby people who belong to a socially disadvantaged group live in a of anxiety that comes 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 issue of inclusion even among consumers, 88% of the population is more inclined towards more inclusive brands and the difference between the revenues of an inclusive brand compared to a non-inclusive one favors the former by 23%.