Berlin-Transfer

Initial situation

Flexibility, creativity, client-centered approach, generation management, gender awareness, skill shortages: Keywords, that highlight some of the challenges human resource managers must meet in businesses today in order to remain successful in the future. Businesses and human resource developers in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need strategic and practical support to meet these new demands.

Not only do SMES have a small budget and limited staff to help them manage change, they also tend to exhibit traditional corporate cultures characterized by hierarchical decision-making structures and little employee participation in decision-making processes. This makes the implementation of business renewal strategies, particularly in human resources, difficult.

Diversity management is a business management tool that shifts attention to the resources a business already has during the process of implementing necessary changes. The focus is on the skills and resources a diverse workforce offers: The women and men, Germans and immigrants employed by a company are an untapped resource that should be recognized, promoted, developed and used to the advantage of both the individual and the company.

Berlin, with an economy based on small and medium-sized businesses, has targeted its labor market policies to, among other aims, take full advantage of the skills available in its workforce and thus increase its attractiveness as a site for business. That’s why the vocational qualification unit of the Berlin Senate Department of Integration, Labour and Social Issues and the European Social Fund, through the project “Strong businesses through a diverse workforce—Diversity management in personnel development” are bringing diversity management to 20 Berlin SMEs. The goal is to make growth potentials visible and strengthen the SMEs ability to be innovative and flexible. The pilot project is managed by RKW GmbH, Berlin.