Diversity is a fact. Is it though?

𝘈𝘴 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘋𝘌𝘐, 𝘸𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘢𝘺 “𝘋𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵”. 𝘉𝘶𝘵: 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦? 𝘓𝘦𝘵'𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥.

Polish society, though increasingly diverse, it is still in many aspects pretty homogenous. For example, a large majority of people in Poland have never met a Muslim person and doesn’t have any relatable experience of what today’s start of #Ramadan actually means and involves.  

According to the research*

- 92% of Polish people have never had contact with Muslims,

- 84% have never had contact with Jewish people,

75% have never had contact with LGBT+ or Roma people,

65% have never had contact with German people.

These statistics reveal a significant lack of exposure to diverse groups of people.

Note: of course we need to recognize that diversity encompasses more than just the groups mentioned above and we naturally experience diversity daily regarding other characteristics, but it is a limited experience.

What does it mean for DEI leaders in Poland?

• it should keep in mind present that diversity is not a fact for everyone to the same extend

• global DEI strategies need to be adapted to better correspond with the context in which employees and clients live

• organizational DEI culture context and geographical DEI culture context may differ a lot

• a well-planned DEI strategy implementation and communication is very important to involve everyone and avoid pushback.

Source: Anna Stefaniak, Katarzyna Malinowska i Marta Witkowska, Intergroup contact and social distance in the Polish Prejudice Survey 3.