Diversity & Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion, an important item on the agenda of every boardroom. A fairer society with equal opportunities for everyone, regardless of gender, origin or lifestyle. Every company wants to propagate this. Reason enough to appoint a 'Manager Diversity' and to implement a policy that pursues these D&I goals. This gives recruiters a certain pressure, in which they have to find a balance between quality and diversity. At the same time, an organisation with a diverse workforce is not automatically inclusive. Here too, many companies will have to make a cultural shift, which will cause some brain-teasing. Because D&I is not something that can be implemented just like that. 
 

Search for men 

We at Rvdb also recognise that this is a difficult theme. We may feel that we propagate diversity and inclusion, and our e-nps score may be an 8.8, but on the outside many people still see us as a group of blond women from the Randstad area who are about thirty years old. Especially for an HR organisation like Rvdb, attracting men is a challenge. HR Interim Professional Karen den Hartog takes a closer look at this attraction and discusses why attracting diversity is so difficult. At the same time, she provides best practices for making baby steps in attracting a more diverse group of employees - in this case, men. You can read her blog here.
 

The research

D&I is a theme that relates to how we look at each other, how we judge each other and how we then act on that. Above all, D&I is about how welcome you feel and whether you can therefore be yourself and get the best out of yourself. We spoke with initiators Natalie Holwerda-Mieras (owner/trainer at Nobbe-Mieras) and Maaike de Wit (CEO at Rvdb) about the reason for conducting this study in this setting and how HR professionals can take the lessons from this study into their daily practice. You can read the interview here.

In short, this joint study investigates how different groups are perceived in the Dutch workplace and whether this corresponds to (or deviates from) how the same groups are perceived in society as a whole. The findings of the study should provide information with which both Rvdb and Nobbe Mieras can make an impact in their own way. For example, the results of the study will provide valuable data that will sharpen training courses on inclusive leadership, such as the one conducted by Nobbe Mieras. The research is currently in its final phase.
 

Utrecht University

The knowledge centre Organisational Behaviour of Utrecht University was established to bridge the gap between science and practice through collaborations with organisations. The research into social perception in the workplace that they are conducting in cooperation with Rvdb and Nobbe Mieras training courses is an example of this.

Prof. Dr. Naomi Ellemers and Dr. Félice van Nunspeet of Utrecht University elaborate on this cooperation in their article and explain how they approached it. You can read the entire article here.
 

Workshop Sociale Beeldvorming op de werkvloer 

On 22 March 2022, in cooperation with training agency Nobbe Mieras, we organised a Diversity & Inclusion workshop for a group of around 100 HR professionals at YoungCapital in Hoofddorp. It was a successful afternoon, which included the joint D&I survey, a guest lecture by Farah Nobbe and a panel discussion on this theme. The panel consisted of Melek Usta, Agnes Huttinga, Vivian Acquah and Marcia Goddard. Watch the workshop via the videos below (in Dutch).