In recent years, diversity and inclusion (D&I) initiatives have been gaining strength within companies. These initiatives focus on creating a diverse company staff where employees with different backgrounds can feel included and respected within the organisation. D&I efforts involve addressing aspects such as diversity in age, nationalities, and genders, among others, within the company. Implementations of these initiatives can benefit the company’s working culture, contribute to the well-being of employees, and widen the talent pool for future hires.
The first part of this D&I-focused project was called Dive In Twente: a composition of the words Diversity & Inclusion in Twente, with the association to a deep-dive into the D&I awareness within the regional manufacturing industry. At the outset of this first project the diversity status of an array of regional workplaces was assessed. This initiated an appreciation of D&I and yielded a set of useful resources for supporting the company’s efforts in this field. The resources developed include visual representations of each company’s progression, an interactive serious game, and an information guide.
During Dive in Twente, the lack of awareness on diversity strategies and its entailments became apparent. Therefore, to promote inclusion of D&I efforts as an integral part of company culture, Dive in Twente got allocated funds to continue the development of this project under the name DIVE2. The objective of this follow-up project is to continue to raise awareness and to provide valuable advice for employers and employees in regional manufacturing companies on how to address D&I. The partners in this project are software and manufacturing companies with on-going efforts in this area, such as Demcon, Movella, and Royal Grolsch. By gaining awareness and reflecting on their current D&I approach, they can contribute to an improved work environment that embraces diversity. To that end, the validity of the board game that was developed during the first stage of the project will be tested with these companies. This ensures the board game is based on top techniques for fostering diversity and inclusion. With validation of the board game, by playing it in an experimental setting, DIVE will provide the partners with validated resources to assist them on their respective D&I paths.
