PRESS RELEASE

• On 28 May, representatives of 30 Belgian Companies and 9 Employer Federations met with the King of the Belgians at the high-level roundtable, marking the conclusion of the “Business Uniting Talent (BUT) 2030” project.

• This initiative, led by CSR Europe and funded by the Prince Philippe Fund in collaboration with the King Baudouin Foundation, facilitated dialogue between employees and executives.

• The project culminated with the adoption of the Way Forward Statement, aiming to advance MD&I practices in the workplace of participating companies.

Brussels, 28/05/2024 – Today, 39 industry representatives participating in the Business Uniting Talents 2030 project convened for a high-level roundtable on multicultural diversity & inclusion (MD&I) in the workplace with His Majesty the King of the Belgians at the Palace of Laeken in Brussels, between 16:00 to 18:00 CET.

The event, co-organised by CSR Europe, the Prince Philippe Fund and the King Baudouin Foundation, aimed at bringing together representatives of 30 Belgian companies and 9 employer federations - VBO- FEB, Agoria, Assuralia, Comeos, Denuo, Embuild, Essenscia, Febelfin, and Federgon – to discuss the outcomes of the Multicultural Diversity & Inclusion Assessment conducted between 2020 and 2024.

The Assessment aimed at identifying and addressing current gaps in corporate DEI practices that hindered the employment of individuals with non-EU backgrounds in the Belgian labour market. The event opened with the CEO Roundtable, in which employees of the BUT2030 Employee Sounding Board shared their workplace experiences and gave feedback to participating CEOs and Executive Directors. Amongst the top challenges and priorities identified to advance corporate efforts on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) were:

• ensuring the DEI is integrated as strategic priority.

• providing cultural education for HR and leadership, and ensuring clarity and equity in HR processes and career progression.

• setting up effective measurement practices to track DEI progress and assess the effectiveness of initiatives.

In response, Executives identified the potential solutions and provided examples of how they adopted new practices related to the BUT2030 project. In the second session, the multistakeholder dialogue widened to include employer federations, who highlighted the current strengths and weaknesses of their sectors in terms of Multicultural Diversity & Inclusion and outlined their plans to further support member companies in advancing racial equality via the adopted Way Forward Statement.

Overall, the event underscored the critical social and economic relevance of projects like BUT2030 to advance cultural inclusion and National labour shortages.

ABOUT BUSINESS UNITING TALENTS (BUT) 2030

Business Uniting Talents 2030 (BUT2030) has been initiated by the Prince Philippe Fund with the support of the King Baudouin Foundation and CSR Europe to reduce inequalities in access to employment opportunities in the Belgian labour market and build inclusive business models by developing practical management approaches for companies. After a successful pilot project between October 2020 - March 2022, the initiative expanded to collaborate with sector federations and their member companies. CSR Europe enhanced the impact of the project’s methodology by extending the assessment to more companies across various sectors, forming Sectoral Working Groups for collaborative problem-solving and idea exchange, and establishing an Employee Sounding Board to gather employee feedback. The ultimate goal is to leverage these sectoral insights for continuous improvement and contribute to the development of an equal labour market in Belgium by 2030.

For more information: Lisa Simons, Project Manager, CSR Europe (lis@csreurope.org)

Media contact: Daria Delnevo, Communications & Network Manager, CSR Europe (dd@csreurope.org)