Two years after signing the Diversity Charter, we at Mikro+Polo find that we have truly internalized diversity in our company, since we include it in our daily internal and external communication without much thought, which we discovered when preparing the 2021 report. In our internal newsletter Mikrofon, we listed as many as 37 articles across five issues, in which we touch on the topic of diversity in one way or another.
Perhaps it is for this reason that we »overlooked« some of the planned dates related to the various commemorative days marking different forms of diversity. We are simply less inclined to formal commemorations and feel more relatedness to other various activities.
Nevertheless, next year we will do our best to include various important dates in our communication.
We are aware that without remembering and bearing in mind there are people among us who are different and that, regardless of the fact they might be a minority, they have the right to a full life, we can quickly forget about them and overlook them.
What Have We Achieved in 2021?
- 46.67 % of our management team members are women (7 out of 15); in addition, the leaders differ according to age, experience and mind-set, which we consider a great advantage;
- we implemented 2 projects aimed at improving the health and well-being of employees: POLET and Strong and Healthy (SAH) with both focusing on older employees: we raised employee awareness, introduced additional sports and recreational activities (fitness, the Connecting Through Sports campaign, two sports days, an exercise area in the company), we plan to expand this to more areas for active breaks and relaxation;
- we offer plenty of training to all our employees regardless of age, education or job position; we also provide free online training, the number of which has increased greatly in the last two years;
- we foster the use of inclusive language in our internal and external communication; we have carefully strengthened such communication in the process of acquiring new employees; our culture of accepting diversity is explained to the candidates;
- we inform our employees about the possibilities of supporting various social initiatives and organizations;
- we introduced the possibility of part-time work (80%) for all employees over 55 years of age;
- the systematic transfer of knowledge from older to younger employees is mainly done through mentorship, as well as through internal training;
- if employees wish to do so, they can extend their employment even after fulfilling the conditions for retirement;
- at public appearances, we highlight our respect for diversity as our competitive advantage;
- we celebrated May, the European Diversity Month, and once more supported the Pride Parade by flying a rainbow flag; we also celebrated December 10th, the International Human Rights Day; and on December 20th, the International Human Solidarity Day, we encouraged our Facebook followers to support the UP-ornik association.
Fostering Respect for Diversity in 2022
- Regular informing and raising employee awareness through our internal newsletter Mikrofon and the Mikro čvek channel in MS Teams, as well as through the Mikro+Polo portal (intranet);
- continuing to develop a healthy lifestyle at work and at home, which we started within the POLET and SAH projects, with an emphasis on older employees;
- further awareness-raising and sensitizing leaders on how to respect diversity in practice – continuation from 2021, as the training on emotional intelligence was started just at the end of the year;
- RIIs (regular individual interviews) have also been set to continue in 2022: we will be paying attention to the goals and ambitions of our employees, especially focusing on the elderly, of which the managers will be noted when instructed on the implementation of RIIs. In this respect, we will also enquire about possible wishes for a change in working hours of 55+ employees in accordance with the accepted possibility of reduced working hours. We will also pay attention to those who want to extend employment even after fulfilling their conditions for retirement.
- we will continue to encourage interdepartmental cooperation and teamwork of various employee profiles;
- posts on social networks and our website will include posts on various international and European holidays celebrating diversity;
- we will once again support the Pride Parade;
- we will continue to organize different activities, celebrations, trips and team building events to strengthen the communication and interaction among employees from different departments;
- we will establish additional spaces for socializing (in addition to the pallet garden, there are also plans to establish areas for active breaks and a relaxation area).
