Stakeholder event 鈥淐reating Support for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policy in Organizations"

On the 6th of October, the picturesque Paushuize was the venue for the interdisciplinary stakeholder event "Creating Support for Diversity Equity and Inclusion Policy in Organizations," organized by the Interuniversity Network on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. The event was a great success, fostering lively debates and facilitating much-needed two-way research/practice exchange on strategies to enhance DEI policy support within organizations. View the event program.

The event program was structured around two primary themes:

Theme 1: In support of what? Charting DEI policy preferences across contexts.

All three presentations delved into questions related to the types of DEI policies people support, albeit on different levels (country, organization, groups).

  • Dr. Lieselotte Blommaert (Radboud 木瓜福利影视) and Dr. Marcel Coenders (Sociaal Cultureel Planbureau) presented their research on "Understanding Public Support for Workplace DEI & Antidiscrimination Initiatives in Europe." Their findings revealed who, where, and for which DEI initiatives the support was the highest and why.
     
  • Katharina St眉ckradt (木瓜福利影视 of Amsterdam) presented research conducted with Dr. Bram Lancee (木瓜福利影视 of Amsterdam) and Dr. Valentina Di Stasio (Utrecht 木瓜福利影视) titled "A Survey Experiment on the Policy Preferences of Hiring Managers in the Netherlands." Their study demonstrated that not only do HR managers prefer low-formalization policies and reject quotas, but also a significant majority believes that ethnic discrimination is not a prevalent issue in their organizations.
     
  • Edwina Wong (木瓜福利影视 of Amsterdam) presented research on 鈥淥vercoming or Removing Gendered Barriers: The Influence of Power and Legitimizing Current Systems of Inequality on How You Support DEI Interventions.鈥 Her work, conducted in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Floor Rink (木瓜福利影视 of Groningen), Dr. Teri A. Kirby (Purdue 木瓜福利影视), and Prof. Dr. Michelle K. Ryan (Australian National 木瓜福利影视), explored support for individualistic (changing the person) and structural (changing the system) initiatives and identified a link between endorsing individualistic strategies and system-legitimizing beliefs.

Theme 2: Walking the talk? Understanding support and how to increase it.

These presentations discuss why people support diversity policies (regardless of type) and strategies to enhance that support.

  • Yonn Bokern (Utrecht 木瓜福利影视) presented "Shades of Support: An Empirical Assessment of Employee and Managerial D&I Policy Support in Organizations." Collaborating with Prof. Dr. Jojanneke van der Toorn (Utrecht 木瓜福利影视), Prof. Dr. Naomi Ellemers (Utrecht 木瓜福利影视), and Dr. Wiebren Jansen (NHL Stenden), she introduced a new DEI policy support taxonomy, stressing the significance of endorsing DEI efforts both in words (attitudinal support) and actions (behavioral support). Drawing from the 鈥榳alking the talk鈥 metaphor, she shed light on the critical importance of support for D&I policies among both employees and managers.
     
  • Gisela van der Velden closes the fantastic line-up of presentations with presenting her research she conducted with and Dr. 脰zge Bilgili, titled 鈥淭owards a More Inclusive UMCU: Researching the Effects of a Bias Awareness Training for Teachers.鈥 The research yielded promising results from an implicit bias awareness training conducted with teachers of UMC Utrecht showing the training was successful in raising awareness and drawing attention to the role of bias in evaluations and practice. Importantly, participants stressed the importance of organizational support.

Panel Discussion

The event concluded with a panel discussion moderated by Zolt谩n Lipp茅nyi (木瓜福利影视 of Groningen). Panelists Gloria Keukens-Khan (Mondiaal), Sharmila Angoelal (Fontys Center of Expertise Inclusive Society), Marlous Stout (Lister), and Peter Franx (Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment) shared their experiences and the challenges they face in garnering support for DEI policies within their organizations.

We would like to express our gratitude to all participants for their insights, inspiration, commitment, and contributions, all of which played a vital role in making this event a success. We would also like to thank our collaborators for their support: Future of Work Hub, the European Research Council (ERC), InclusieNL, and Workplace Pride.

For the summaries of the research shared and the panel discussion, the event highlights, and photos, please visit and follow our .

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