Embrace diversity
in the workplace!

The project EMBRACIVE “Embracing Diversity and Fostering Inclusion in the Workplace” is a new and innovative project, which aims to promote diversity in business both in Greece and in Cyprus, a tool for businesses to engage with diversity ethics.

The project focuses on the need to create anti-discrimination practices – ‘’beyond national, EU and international legislation’– and to link anti-discrimination actions to promoting diversity. In Greece and Cyprus, there are challenges that are inherent in both countries from a political, cultural and economic point of view.

Promoting diversity and integration will be possible through a deep understanding of how to manage and address diversity in private businesses, as well as identifying their challenges and needs, so that business tools can be developed to incorporate the principles of the Diversity Charter into business practices and the promotion of the principles of integration and diversity.

Diversity Charters encourage organisations (NGOs, public bodies, private companies) to develop and implement diversity and inclusion policies. By signing a charter, an organisation commits to promote diversity and equal opportunities in the workplace, regardless of age, disability, gender, race or ethnic origin, religion or sexual orientation etc. Becoming a signatory to a Diversity Charter provides access to a peer network, publications and supporting tools for benchmarking, measuring and monitoring.

  • In Greece more than 150 private and public sector companies, with more than 50,000 employees, have already signed the Greek Diversity Charter, incorporating into their daily operations practices of efficient inclusion of different employees, with multifaceted benefits.

 

  • In Cyprus, the Diversity Charter was dynamically launched under the initiative of Center for Social Innovation (CSI) who are the partners of EMBRACIVE project from the island. Specifically, CSI has co-signed the charter with CYTA, the national and biggest telecommunications organization in Cyprus in 2019, thus, inaugurating a promising attempt to encourage the business and entrepreneurial ecosystem of Cyprus to further adopt and promote it.

Discrimination in the workplace is based on certain prejudices and occurs when an employee is treated unfavorably because of gender, sexuality, race, religion, pregnancy and maternity or disability. The gender overall earnings gap in Greece stands at 41.4% and 26.9% in Cyprus (the average gender overall earnings gap in the EU is 39.6%). It takes into account three types of disadvantages women face: lower hourly earnings; working fewer hours in paid jobs; and lower employment rates (for example when interrupting a career to take care of children or relatives). Management and supervisory positions are overwhelmingly held by men. Within each sector men are more often promoted than women, and paid better as a consequence. This trend culminates at the very top, where amongst CEOs less than 6% are women.

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