Companies and their role in favor of inclusion, debated in Barcelona

In a global city like Barcelona, la multiculturalism has emerged as a distinctive feature of all dimensions of the Catalan capital, including its companies. In an increasingly international context, companies and their workforces have been adding diversity from multiple points of view.

To address this diversity in companies and how to manage it to ensure inclusion and combat discriminatory practices, the conference Companies and the creation of an inclusive corporate culture will review good practices of large companies through their managers. Organized by Harmon and The New Barcelona Post in collaboration with Casa Seat, the event will bring together experts on December 11 between 10 am and 12 pm at Casa Seat. Tickets to attend for free can be reserved at this link.

The meeting has been designed to promote and share business practices to combat discrimination and promote diversity, based on the conviction that companies have the responsibility to promote inclusion as a basic tool to guarantee economic and social prosperity.

To address these issues, the event will be structured into two panels, which will start after the interventions of the Commissioner for Citizen Relations and Religious Diversity of the Barcelona City Council, Sara Belbeida, and the Public Sector partner of Harmon, Pau Solanilla. Then, a first panel will address the role of companies in this area with the Head of Studies and Academic Operations at GBSB Global Business School, Hind Naaman; the Director of Policy at MSD Spain and Vice President of Asebio, Cristina Nadal, and the Head of Public Affairs at Boehringer Ingelheim, Montse Tomillero.

Then it will be the turn of a second panel with the Head of Talent Brand & Acquisition and Diversity & Wellbeing Lead at Danone, Vanesa Berrido; the Head of Culture, Change, Diversity & People Growth at Cupra and Seat, Benjamin Ramírez, and the talent and diversity consultant at Harmon, Cristina Moreno.

The Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences at Unesco, Gabriela Ramos, will close the conference, which has been organized coinciding with the fourth edition of the Global Forum against Racism and Discrimination. Scheduled in the Catalan capital on December 10 and 11, the forum will bring together leaders, activists, and experts from around the world with Unesco to discuss strategies to combat racism and discrimination.

Thus, the event aims to promote innovation to move towards a corporate environment free of racism and discrimination, and to expose company strategies to prevent and combat racism and discrimination in the workplace. In this vein, it will also highlight the role of business leaders and management teams in creating an inclusive corporate culture, and how they can contribute to changing their employees' viewpoints.

"Companies have gone from being more homogeneous to being diverse, and this diversity needs to be managed in a different and more inclusive way"

"Companies have gone from being more homogeneous to being diverse, and this diversity needs to be managed in a different and more inclusive way," Solanilla highlighted. This management ranges from more everyday elements, such as the canteen's offerings and the celebration of festivities, to external and internal communication. "It requires a designed and structured diversity management," defended the Public Sector partner at Harmon and former commissioner for International Relations and City Promotion at the Barcelona City Council.

This diversity management must begin with recruitment processes that guarantee selection based on candidates' merits and abilities, without prejudice or bias. Furthermore, companies must go further and position themselves as active players in favor of inclusion and equality: "Companies must consider how to engage in corporate activism in favor of values and against discrimination."