We all have responsibility for championing social change
‘’Taking social responsibility seriously and acting on it should be a given for businesses. It’s our duty towards the people in the communities in which we operate – and it’s good for business,雅各布·安徒生说, 集团首席执行官, 国际空间站 when welcoming people from different companies and industries to 国际空间站’s headquarters in Copenhagen to discuss the social responsibility of businesses.
Sharing the stage with Jacob was Margot Slattery, Group Head of Diversity & 融入国际空间站. ‘’At 国际空间站, we believe that we have a responsibility to champion social change. 但没有一家公司能独善其身. Working together, we can make a significant positive impact in improving social mobility and equity. We want to discuss how businesses and social organisations can accelerate our efforts and work more closely together to move the needle on societal social issues.’’
Creating career opportunities for the disadvantaged
Marjolein Kurstjens, Demand Manager Facility Management at PwC 荷兰, and responsible for the Vested contract with 国际空间站, shared her experiences of a three-year ‘learning on the job’ programme that PwC and 国际空间站 are running to create career opportunities for disadvantaged young people in the 荷兰.
Marjolein highlighted the numerous positive outcomes of the programme, including the concrete monetary ‘social return on investment’ value, the great commitment from PwC employees and also the positive impact on the students. “They feel they are being treated as grown-ups and they learn what is like to be in a workplace. Many go on to be offered jobs at 国际空间站 or continue their education.’’
Accelerating efforts towards increased social mobility and equity
Joining a panel discussion were Corinna Refsgaard, Group Chief P&国际空间站C级人员, Hélène van Melle from the Tent Partnership for Refugees, 朱莉·尼科尔森, 国际空间站爱尔兰的大客户经理, 和彼得·豪加德, 安永丹麦人力资源总监.
“这里有巨大的潜力, and if we are unable to provide workplaces for people with physical disabilities and cognitive differences, 我们就失败了,科琳娜说. ‘’This is a business and societal imperative.’’
Hélène spoke about leveraging the talents of refugees. ‘’We see that when integrating refugees into a workforce, other employees appreciate that their company is demonstrating social responsibility. This increases employee engagement and loyalty and also helps attract new employees.’’
Julie explained the role of the Abilities Employee Resource Group (ERG) that she leads at 国际空间站. ‘’Our purpose is to help create an equitable future for placemakers at 国际空间站. We also support the parents and partners of placemakers living with disabilities,”她说。. ‘’We build awareness amongst all employees and help to develop processes, procedures and tools for hiring managers as well as employees who will be working with people with disabilities.’’
彼得指出, ‘’What we’ve seen over the past couple of years at EY is a major shift from purpose-driven being something nice on top of doing a good job to purpose-driven being absolutely integral to the way of doing business. 要有野心，要大胆，要有激情.’’
创造包容的文化
克莱尔·哈维, 全球包容, Engagement and Wellbeing Lead for TP ICAP and British Paralympian shared her inspiring personal story and insights on how businesses can create a culture of inclusion.
‘’It’s so easy when we talk about people who are different, 或者有障碍的人, to tend to think about giving them an opportunity. But we lose sight of the fact that they have so many skills, 才华横溢, that what we need to give them is a door – a chance to show what they’ve already got rather than give them the skills we assume they don’t have,”她说。.
Claire focused on the value of creating diverse teams and a culture of inclusion. ‘’We know that diverse and inclusive teams bring great benefits for business – that has been well researched.
“这真的很重要, because we can spend a lot of time talking about the people who need our help or focusing on how do to get one of every type of person on an organisation’s website homepage, but instead we need to spend more time thinking about what is it that we do that helps people truly thrive.’’
