Authors: Dr. Annette Icks, Dr. Teita Bijedić, Dr. Rosemarie Kay, Philipp Latzke (IfM),
Andreas Merx (pro diversity, Berlin), with contributions by Christian Mappala (third culture, Wiesbaden), commissioned by the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency (FADA) Year of publication: 2022

Brief overview

The study assesses to what extent measures to foster diversity and protect against discrimination have been implemented in companies, public administrations and the third sector about 15 years after the introduction of the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) and the founding of the Diversity Charter. It focuses on the question how the practical implementation of the AGG is evaluated by employers and HR managers, and to what extent protection against discrimination and promotion of diversity have been embedded into corporate and organisational cultures. Based on a literature research and interviews held with experts, the qualitative study surveyed the management or HR managers of 50 companies, administrations and third-sector organisations. The survey results served as a basis for concrete action recommendations.

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Main results

Attitudes towards the AGG and towards diversity measures

The AGG’s intention of contributing to an improved protection against discrimination is consistently welcomed. The binding character of the AGG’s legal framework and the guidance provided by its clear requirements are appreciated, in particular, by major administrations and companies. Large companies and administrations frequently draw up strategies to reduce or avoid discrimination and to foster staff diversity. In administrations, these strategies can build on pre-existing structures and processes that emerged from previous experience with equality and employee representation legislation.

Smaller companies rather tend to perceive the hurdles and obstacles associated with the implementation of anti-discrimination and diversity measures, such as the fear of increased bureaucracy or a lack of resources. Some companies classify obligations for employers arising from the AGG as inappropriate restrictions of their ability to make their own entrepreneurial choices.

Awareness and implementation of the AGG

It became clear that administrations tend to have better knowledge of the AGG than companies and some of the third-sector organisations. However, a distinction must be drawn between the large and small companies surveyed. While, just like the administrations, all large companies are well-informed about the AGG, more than half of the small companies do not have any knowledge about the Act.

The situation is similar with regard to the obligations for employers included in the AGG. Here, too, the decisive factor is not the type of organisation but rather its size. While large companies have incorporated these obligations into their strategic approaches and recruitment processes and consider their implementation as a genuine part of modern leadership, many SMEs, most of which are owner-managed, are barely able to implement the obligations on their own due to limited capacities.

For reasons of scarce resources, particularly those measures that are publicly visible and do not bind human resources are being implemented, such as neutral phrasing of job adverts with regard to characteristics protected under the AGG. Setting up complaints boards and complaints management structures, however, requires additional staff, which an overwhelming majority of SMEs is not able or not willing to deploy.

The administrations surveyed are, overall, quite compliant with the obligations for employers, such as neutral phrasing of job adverts with regard to characteristics protected under the AGG, obligations to provide information and trainings to prevent and protect against discrimination. However, only some have set up complaints boards, and they show a low degree of commitment when it comes to taking affirmative action that goes beyond the measures known before the AGG came into force. Where such measures are in place, they refer to the equality of women and men as well as persons with disabilities.

Implementation of diversity management

All companies, administrations and non-profit organisations surveyed take diversity measures – partly without classifying them as such and not based on preventive or strategic considerations. Especially SMEs and micro companies usually do not have long-term strategies concerning topics such as anti-discrimination and staff diversity. They rather tend to react specifically to concrete incidents or current issues arising within their companies, such as skilled worker shortage or demographic changes.

In administrations and large companies, measures to promote non-discriminatory behaviour and workforce diversity have been institutionalised. Among others, they have appointed equal opportunities, diversity and integration officers. In small companies and organisations, this is often not the case.

Relevance of individual dimensions of the AGG and/or of diversity

All employers surveyed consider, above all, equal opportunities for women and men and measures for staff with disabilities as the most important approaches when it comes to ensuring diversity. Due to an increasing demand for skilled workers and demographic changes, the topics young people and/or attracting young professionals and age (young people/seniors) have become priority issues for administrations and companies. In major, global-level companies, particularly due to the recruitment of professionals abroad, the international background of staff members is a key issue. Administrations rather aim at increasing the number of employees with a migrant background. Other categories under the AGG and/or diversity dimensions, such as belief system and religion or sexual identity receive significantly less attention.

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Options for action

From their survey results, the authors derive a number of overarching recommendations for action, including the following (selection):

Target-group-oriented communication and access to information on anti-discrimination measures and institutions providing support

In small companies and also some of the smaller administrations and third-sector organisations, substantial knowledge gaps exist with regard to the AGG. To close these gaps, cooperations should be launched between the direct contact points, such as chambers, business associations, tax or business advisers and multipliers in the anti-discrimination and diversity field. This way, appropriate access for and communication with, above all, small companies could be ensured.

Target-group-specific concepts and practical examples of setting up complaints boards in accordance with the AGG and designing complaints management structures for companies, organisations and administrations

The development of low-threshold concepts for in-house complaints boards is necessary to illustrate, particularly to small companies and organisations, how such boards can be set up with limited resources. In order to provide incentives and implementation guidelines that are close to the addressees’ real-world experience, these concepts should be underpinned by concrete examples and field-trialled. The authors also recommend promoting models, in which complaints boards and management structures are located at a superior institution (e.g. chambers)

Target-group-specific collections of practical examples of taking affirmative action and legal opinions on how to ensure a legally secure implementation

Particularly in SMEs, there is little awareness of affirmative action for the prevention or compensation of existing disadvantages under the terms of Section 5 of the AGG. However, affirmative action forms an integral part of the AGG and serves to ensure a targeted reduction of existing discrimination as well as to boost, among other things, workforce diversity. Moreover, insecurity exists about whether and how affirmative action can be taken in a legally secure manner. Therefore, the authors recommend compiling collections of practical examples. Such collections could increase awareness of concrete ways of designing affirmative action and thus contribute towards its implementation. Support could also be provided in the form of legal opinions containing sector-specific practical examples, as these could foster the implementation of measures by giving legally sound examples.

Modular, target-group-specific tools for implementing diversity-oriented measures

Since SMEs, organisations and administrations often perceive a comprehensive horizontal diversity management concept as too complex and resource-intensive, modular tools for implementing diversity-oriented measures, which are tailored to the respective sizes and sectors, would be a good alternative. These measures should be designed with a particular focus on practical relevance and a low access threshold, and they should provide information on issues such as professional recognition processes, funding options and the Federal Act on Participation. Existing collections should be supplemented so as to cover further sectors and all dimensions of the AGG.

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