"i-work Business Award" honors cultural diversity in the economy
JenaWirtschaft and the University of Jena are inviting companies from Jena and the surrounding area to take part. Applications are now open until 11.09.2020.
"Interculturally excellent" - the "i-work Business Award - Intercultural Business Award for Jena and the region" honors companies that are successfully committed to internationality. This is the fourth time that the prize has been awarded by the Jena Economic Development Corporation (JenaWirtschaft) and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena to recognize employers whose teams are made up of employees from many different cultures. Local and regional companies that specifically recruit foreign workers and welcome them into the company are invited to apply for the award by 11.09.2020.
Making successful examples visible, promoting cultural diversity
"Once again this year, we want to highlight successful examples of what intercultural openness in business can look like," says Wilfried Röpke, Managing Director of Jena Business Development (JenaWirtschaft). "Cultural diversity in a team promotes innovation and global competitiveness, as we see in many successful institutions. These examples should set a precedent." According to the head of JenaWirtschaft, the high export rate of Jena companies of around 70 percent and the high global integration of supply chains and value creation make it profitable for companies to further internationalize their HR work. According to Röpke, international employees can also fill the gaps when demographic trends mean that not enough young people are joining local companies. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the issue of recruiting skilled workers remains important for Jena: "Jena's companies will continue to need qualified staff in the medium and long term, despite the current short-time working and higher unemployment figures." Especially in times of crisis, companies benefit from the different experiences of international team members, says Röpke.
Dr. Claudia Hillinger, Head of the International Office at Friedrich Schiller University, confirms this view: "When people from different nations and cultures work together, this has advantages for everyone - these companies are particularly well positioned to meet the challenges of the future. The i-work Business Award recognizes this successful HR work and also offers companies that want to hire more international employees in the future tangible examples of how all employees can work together to shape integration in the workplace." According to Hillinger, the focus is on openness to all international employees, regardless of qualification level or industry. "Team members from other countries are best received locally if the company and the Jena site have a welcoming culture," says Hillinger
Application still possible until 11.09.2020
The i-work company prize is awarded in two categories: "Small and medium-sized companies" and "Large companies". "Depending on the size of the company, very different challenges have to be overcome when integrating new team members," says project manager Ramona Scheiding from the Jena Economic Development Agency. According to Scheiding, different financial and human resources are available on the one hand, and on the other hand, different concepts of how integration is practiced in the team come into play. "We would also like to explicitly encourage small local and regional companies to apply for the i-work 2020 and present us with their ideas on how to implement diversity in the team."
Last year, the Jena-based digital agency dotSource won in the "large companies" category and SGHG Ingenieure in the "small and medium-sized companies" category. For this year's edition of the competition, companies from all sectors - from trade to high-tech - can apply until 11.09.2020 at www.jenawirtschaft.de/i-work.