Employees, Companies and Employer Federations Explore the Way Forward to Foster Ethnic Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace
PRESS RELEASE
Brussels, 16 March 2022 - Today, employees, Belgian companies, and employer federations taking part in the project Business Uniting Talents (BUT) 2030 – initiated by the Prince Philippe Fund with the support of the King Baudouin Foundation and CSR Europe – came together for the high-level roundtable “Promoting business action on Ethnic Diversity” in the presence of His Majesty the King of the Belgians. The event took place between 9:30 and 10:45 CET at the Royal Palace in Brussels.
The King’s continued interest and engagement towards the project – demonstrated through meetings with companies – has been a key driver for the advancement of BUT2030.
During this event, the participants shared their experience in promoting ethnic diversity and the next steps to take, including how employer federations will play a key role in encouraging more companies to initiate practical actions towards racial equality. This was expressed in the Way Forward Statement here attached.
Spokespersons of the BUT2030 Employee Resource Group presented their recommendations to foster ethnic diversity and inclusion in the workplace to the CEOs of AXA Belgium, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Engie Belgium, Port of Antwerp, Telenet, L’Oréal Benelux, Solvay, AGC Glass Europe and representatives of Federgon, Comeos, Febelfin, Agoria, VBO, Unisoc, Unia, Essenscia, VOKA, and UWE.
The King’s openness to host this high-level roundtable highlighted the social and economic relevance of BUT2030 and the learnings developed by project partners. It showed the strong willingness to act concretely to address the national labour shortage by advancing cultural inclusion.
Ilham Kadri, CEO Solvay S.A., said:
If we want to make a difference, we must consider ethnic diversity and inclusion with the same sense of urgency as climate change. Transforming the culture requires strong collaboration with other companies, NGOs, associations and our employees. Let’s bond together to make it happen.
Stefan Crets, Executive Director of CSR Europe, said:
The promotion of ethnic diversity is our common challenge: it is beneficial to businesses to enlarge the pool of talents they have access to, and it is good for our society to thrive on a joint and inclusive social and economic development. BUT2030 provides companies with a unique framework and methodology to improve the management of diversity and an action-driven framework to engage with its employees and stakeholders.
Monica De Jonghe, Director-General at VBO-FEB, said:
FEB and its member federations play a key role in raising awareness of the importance of diversity and inclusion (D&I) among employers. Since every sector faces different challenges, it are the professionals in a given sector who are best placed to assess what steps are needed to promote and enhance D&I in their own industry. FEB wants to further expand these good practices and inspire all sectors to work on D&I.
About Business Uniting Talents 2030
BUT2030 aims to reduce inequalities in the access to employment opportunities and build inclusive business models by developing a practical management approach for companies. This pilot project was initiated by the Prince Philippe Fund with the support of the King Baudouin Foundation and CSR Europe between October 2020 and March 2022. This project is in line with the European Commission’s “Action plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021-2027”.
Media contact
Emanuela Pisanó, CSR Europe Project Manager