On Wednesday, the 13th of November, eleven Estonian organisations signed the Diversity Charter. There are both well-known companies as well as social organisations among the new members: the charter was signed by AFS IT Services Estonia, Chalaro, Arista Executive Search, Hiiumaa Parish, Ruthie Belle, Fifaa, Brand Manual, the Young Social Democrats, the Social Democratic Party of Estonia, Deloitte and Aurora Yoga Studio. The event was hosted by AFS IT Services Estonia at their office in Telliskivi quarter.
Inclusive work environments which value diversity are followed by an increase in job satisfaction and a decline in labour turnover. Positive work environment is playing a more important role in influencing job choices than salary. In the current labour shortage, paying attention to these aspects is beneficial to all the employers.
Liina Rajaveer, who is in charge of diversity and inclusion matters at the Estonian Human Rights Centre, says that there has been a remarkable increase of interest towards the Estonian Diversity Charter. “We can see year after year that based on surveys Estonian people care about equal treatment — especially in the workplace. It is a pleasure to see that there is a growing number of organisations, whose leaders value diversity and equal treatment so highly that they choose to demonstrate it to the others as well,” said Rajaveer.
The Estonian Diversity Charter was founded in 2012 and functions as a platform for sharing best practices between organisations. Similar diversity networks function in 24 European states, in Estonia, the charter is coordinated by the Estonian Human Rights Centre.