Diversity and inclusion in an expert organization

This guide provides expert organizations with support in their diversity work. It is aimed at organizations’ management and leadership, people responsible for organizational development and HR work – as well as anyone interested in work related to diversity and inclusion. Welcome to explore diversity and inclusion work!
-
-

This guide will provide you with information and tips:

  • How to get started with diversity and inclusion work and develop it further over the long term
  • How to promote inclusion and cohesion and prevent the experience of being left out
  • How to make use of language awareness and language-aware practices to take multilingualism into consideration in the work community
  • How to ensure equity in career development
  • How to ensure that everyone's skills are highlighted and fully utilized
  • How to meet the legal obligations of the employer under the Act on Equality between Women and Men and the Non-discrimination Act

The diversity of the Finnish population is reflected in Finnish work life and work organizations. In the future, the pool of experts will become increasingly diverse as the need to utilize the competence of international experts is growing due to factors such as labour shortages. The diversity of personnel requires employers to manage diversity and ensure a level playing field when it comes to issues such as career development, among others. The development of an inclusive culture is a key part of diversity work.

This guide provides expert organizations with support in their diversity work. The guide describes the first steps in diversity work and how to promote a cohesive work culture where everyone feels included. An increasing number of organizations have multilingual staff. Language awareness and language-aware practices can remove barriers to understanding, participation and utilizing knowledge. 

Both organizational structures and unconscious assumptions and biases can hinder equal career development. In a diverse work community, special attention must be paid to equity in both career development and the development of skills.  The promotion of equality and non-discrimination is an important part of inclusion work, which also has certain related legal obligations.

The methods of developing inclusion within an organization depend on many factors, such as the size of the organization and how international it is. Not all methods are directly applicable to every organization. However, all organizations can develop their inclusivity and make use of this guide.

Background to the guide

The guide was created in 2022 as part of the Manifold more - Leverage to the professional careers of immigrant background women project (2019–2022) funded by the European Social Fund. The project is conducted in co-operation with the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

Managers, HR representatives and female experts with immigrant background from diverse organizations were interviewed for the guide.

The guide was prepared by Leading Specialist Barbara Bergbom, Senior Specialist Kirsi Yli-Kaitala and Senior Specialist Minna Toivanen of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.

Keywords

Shift in work life