A win for everyone: Diversity Day 2024 at DW

PEOPLE TO PEOPLE CONNECTIONS

The Diversity, Equity & Inclusion department aims to increase understanding of diversity within the company by working together with various partners at DW. As Zahra Nedjabat, Head of DEI, emphasized, we want to “welcome differences in order to draw strength from them”. Many of these partners were represented at the busy information stands in Bonn and Berlin. For example, Health and Social Affairs and Learning and Development were involved in shaping the Diversity Day with information on psychological counseling services and information about our cooperation partner Employers for Equality (E4E), as were the Disability Representatives, Conflict Managers, the Anti-Discrimination Officer, the Multigeneration Project Team and the Pride Network.   

Open discussions from person to person - this is how the broad range of diversity topics was made directly tangible. But of course, it also works digitally. The Diversity Day was also reason enough to present the completely redesigned Diversity SharePoint site. A fresh look, subject information, simple and easy to understand. And if you prefer to watch a movie, no problem: all employees can find out more with just one click in the newly produced video. To accompany this, Corporate Communications also published greetings from the DW Diversity Ambassadors. 

FOCUS ON INCLUSION AND PARTICIPATION 

Because that's what it's all about. Understanding why diversity is important and affects us all. This year's Diversity Day at the #ARD broadcasters and at DW was all about #inclusion and #participation. There were two exciting panels. First, the ARD Diversity Board panel on inclusion in the workplace with the title “Who is disabling whom?”. In the subsequent best-practice session, DW reported on the Innoklusio model project, which is already in operation at the Berlin broadcasting center and will also make a stop at the Bonn location in December.  

In the afternoon, DW Minds hosted the event “More Awareness, Less Stigma – invisible disabilities in the workplace”. The session was moderated by DW's Head of Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Zahra Nedjabat. Jessie Wingard and Tareq Nascharwere invited on behalf of the permanent and freelance employees at DW, Felix Steiner as the representative of people with disabilities and our Managing Director Business Administration Barbara Massing. “Above all, it's about creating a space of opportunity,” emphasized Barbara Massing. People with invisible disabilities should not be forced to “come out”. Or as Tareq Naschar from People added: “We would like to encourage them. Nothing bad will happen. It's a diverse enrichment rather than a burden.” 

CULINARY DELIGHTS AND SCAVENGER HUNTS

What do Ethiopia and Hungary have in common? It's simple: both countries’ cusines have been integrated into the culinary world of DW canteens. And not only them. Under the motto “Bock auf Diversity”, the finest dishes from all over the world were served for a whole week. The Doro Wot, an Ethiopian chicken dish, was a delight for Bonn's palates, while the hearty Hungarian goulash was a mild burn in Berlin's throats.   

You could definitely work up an appetite for a delicious meal in Bonn after an intergenerational scavenger hunt. Teams of younger and older employees swarmed through the long corridors on a special scavenger hunt tour and got to know each other.   

Anyone who does and talks a lot will get thirsty at some point. So, the long day ended with a Diversity Day get-together in Bonn and Berlin. Guaranteed with “diverse” drinks!