With Prof. Dr. Gudrun Sander

Note: this interview is held in German

Companies want to hire the best talent for their company and particularly for their specialist and managerial roles. Yet, the long-term demand for skilled workers in Switzerland and globally is rapidly increasing and the shortage of such talent is becoming more and more evident. Consequently, the hiring, development and retention of employees is becoming a key strategic matter for companies, and DE&I plays an important role in that.

Yet, how do you define who is the best candidate for your company? When is diversity beneficial and when not? What should you be mindful of, when working with diversity? In my discussion with Gudrun Sander, from the University of St. Gallen (HSG), we rely on her 30 year research on DE&I, and offer initial approaches to these issues.

Furthermore, to promote good practices around DE&I, Gudrun hosts every year in September the Diversity week at the University of St Gallen and online. It includes interesting sessions with researchers as well as business leaders and presents the latest Gender Diversity Report that it publishes together with Advance. You can find more about the report also in my interview with the Advance General Manager Alkistis Petropaki - https://fishintheboardroom.ch/6

What you will learn

• There is no such thing as 100% optimal diversity.
  What matters is how much diversity a manager can lead and in which industry the company is operating and in which development phase the company is currently in.
• Storytelling can help to ensure that the WHY for DE&I is clear and understood by all,
  so that measures can be implemented consistently and actually have an effect.
• Every company should define what they mean under "the best employees".
  This should be followed by a review of whether the criteria by which the company recruits and promotes managers are in alignment with this definition.

Tips

• Instead of making assumptions ABOUT employees, managers should talk WITH their employees - what do they really want and need?
• In dialogue and exchange, individual solutions - away from standardized process - can be found, which are most useful for both sides - people and company.
• Have these discussions regularly with your employees throughout the year, not just once a year for your annual review, things can evolve fast and support is needed throughout

Ressources

Competence Centre for Diversity and Inclusion at the HSG 
Understand where your company stands in DE&I by participating in the St Gallen Diversity Benchmarking 
Perform a salary analysis and get certified 
Gender Intelligence Report 
St Gallen Diversity & Inclusion Week 

Find Gudrun online

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gudrun-sander
https://www.linkedin.com/company/competence-center-for-diversity-inclusion/

Biography
Gudrun Sander s a Professor for Business Administration with a special emphasis on Diversity Management and a senior lecturer at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.