On June 30, at the invitation of the Responsible Business Forum and the National Chamber of Statutory Auditors in Olivia Sky Club there took place a meeting dedicated to the Management of Diversity. During the meeting, the participants found out, among other things, what the Diversity Charter is and how it can be signed, why it is good to manage the age in an organisation and how to use mentoring for this purpose. What is more, during the meeting new signatories signed the Diversity Charter: Mentors Forum, Gdańsk Business Club, Lechia Gdańsk, Farm Frites Poland. Olivia Business Centre was the partner of the event in Gdańsk.

What is the Diversity Charter?

The Diversity Charter is an international initiative supported by the European Commission and implemented in such EU countries as: Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Hungary and Italy.

The Charter is a commitment signed by the organisations which decide to introduce the prohibition of discrimination at work and actions to create and promote diversity and express company’s readiness to engage all employees, as well business and social partners in this action. Organisations which decide to implement this tool, act in support of coherence and social equality.

The initiative to create a Polish version of the Diversity Charter emerged during the meeting of the representatives of companies with French capital, which was held in May 2011.

The inauguration of the Polish Diversity Charter was held on 14 February 2012 during the conference in the Prime Minister’s Office.

This year, the Polish Ombudsman took the honorary patronage over the Diversity Charter in Poland.

The signing of the Diversity Charter in Poland is voluntary and free of charge.

The origins of the project

The initiative to create the Polish Diversity Charter appeared during the meeting of the representatives of companies with French capital, which was held in May 2011. At that time, the document has already existed in France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, Finland, Estonia, Luxembourg and other countries. Currently, the Charter is valid in 17 EU countries (state as of 15.02.2017).

The Responsible Business Forum initiated the process of creating the Polish Diversity Charter in September 2011 together with then strategic partners – such companies as Aviva, British American Tobacco Poland, Danone, Deloitte Poland, Orbis Group, Żywiec Group, Kompania Piwowarska, L’Oreal Poland, Orange Poland, Provident Poland, PwC, Totalizator Sportowy sp. z o.o., Unilever and Nutricia.

As a result of the meetings, in which the representatives of companies, organisations and institutions representing the interests of different social groups exposed to discrimination took part, the contents of the Charter were formulated. The meetings took place from September to December 2011. The following persons participated in the meetings: Krystyna Mrugalska from the Polish Forum of Disabled Persons, Tomasz Szypuła from the Campaign Against Homophobia, Joanna Piotrowska from Feminoteka Foundation, Krzysztof Śmiszek from the Polish Society of Anti-Discrimination Law and Magdalena Gryszko from Office of the Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment.

The contents of the Polish Charter’s version were created in the process of consultations with the representatives of organisations representing the interests of different social groups exposed to discrimination, the interests of public administration and business.

As a result of the consultations, the Polish Diversity Charter was created and is available here.