Focus on awareness: The IPN’s diversity strategy moving to the next level
The IPN is committed to being a safe environment, free from discrimination, hostility and abusive behavior, where we all value one another and treat one another with fairness respect. The IPN’s management, Staff Council and Diversity, Equality and Career Development Officer have worked together to draw up an institutional agreement that came into effect at the beginning of the year and engages in detail with awareness in the DEI context.
»We conceive of awareness as giving us opportunities to call out instances of discrimination and of the abuse of power, and to support people who have experienced violations in making their own decisions on how to proceed.«
The IPN’s Staff Council
As part of its new diversity strategy, the IPN’s institutional agreement on awareness represents a further stage in a process that began with its signing of the Diversity Charter (Charta der Vielfalt), an initiative enabling organizations to make a tangible commitment to diversity, equality, and inclusion. One of the agreement’s central components covers preventative action, including colloquia to provide staff with information and opportunities for reflection on the issues, training for line managers and senior staff, and individual coaching if warranted. Further, the agreement creates structures for the provision of appropriate support to all members of IPN staff who experience, for instance, discrimination, sexual harassment or violence, or bullying.
»Discrimination and abuse are not individual matters. The IPN’s agreement on awareness is a part of the systemic, collective action we are taking to respond to specific instances of discrimination and abuse.«
Mareike Bierlich, administrative director, IPN
The agreement additionally defines clear processes the IPN will follow should breaches of the agreement occur. We are establishing a complaints office staffed by a team the IPN’s management will appoint; this will give IPN staff the opportunity to raise complaints about unacceptable treatment. The complaints office will give advice to those involved in complaints and may recommend preventative measures, action to protect complainants, and sanctions for perpetrators. For instance, it may advise the granting of a leave of absence to the complainant or, for brief periods with the purpose of investigating the complaint, to the subject of allegations. Sanctions will cover a spectrum up to and including budget cuts or dismissal.
As well as taking the IPN's diversity strategy to the next level, the agreement emphasizes the Institute's ongoing commitment to providing its staff with a non-discriminatory workplace which values diversity and draws inspiration from the opportunities it presents.
