Erasmus+ fosters new friendships: Ivana Vagaska at Includia
Ivana Vagaska is Senior Program Manager for CSR in Pontis Foundation, one of the most important NGOs in Slovakia. She has more than 10 years of experience in the field of corporate responsibility and acts also as Executive Director of Business Leaders Forum, an association of companies committed to sustainability. Ivana and her team at Pontis work to advance the Diversity Charter and educate companies on D&I topics.
Thanks to Erasmus+ program, Ivana spent August in Estonia and Finland. We at Includia had the privilege to host Ivana for her last Erasmus week. We learned a lot during our discussions with Ivana, and want to share the key insights with you as well.
Q: Ivana, you have visited Estonia and Finland as part of an Erasmus + program. How did you come to choose these countries? And which organizations have you visited?
As our Diversity Charter is part of the European network, I have had the chance to meet representatives of other charters. I knew that a very similar organization to our Business Leaders Forum operates in Finland – FIBS – and that they have recently created a D&I self-assessment tool. As we also created the first Slovak self-assessment tool last year, I was curious to learn more about Finnish experience. I also knew that there is a Diverse Workplace Label in Estonia and again, I felt that it would be great to know more about it. Thus, I combined visits of two countries and I really would like to thank my hosts, Helen from the Estonian Center for Human Rights, Veera from FIBS and Jonna from Includia Leadership for all the help and cooperation.
Q: What has surprised you during your stays in Estonia and Finland?
I somehow expected that our countries would be very different. What has surprised me is that we have many similarities - not only in the field of D&I, but also when it comes to socio-political phenomenon and everyday life. What has not surprised me is a certain distance that I had expected. All Estonians and Finns I met have been super-nice and helpful, but there was a clear line between work and personal life. We, Slovaks, usually “force” our foreign guests to have a drink after work, we want to guide them in our city and also spend free time with them.
Q: Diversity means many different things. It can include but not be limited to demographics such as gender, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or neurodiversity. Which identities are particularly discussed in Slovakia at this moment? Do you see a difference between Slovakia and Finland and Estonia in terms of the groups focused on?
When comparing the overall situation in D&I in the workplace, Estonia, Finland and Slovakia are surprisingly very much alike. Gender Diversity seems to be the most prominent viewpoint, as it is one of a very few D&I topics that can be easily measured. The labor markets are highly segregated with women dominating the low-paid sectors of social and health care. Thus, the gender pay gap in all three countries is higher than the EU average of 14,1 %.
Other challenges which we have in common are insufficient employment of disabled persons, missing practices of age management or very high percentage of LGBTQ+ people who do not feel safe to come out in the workplace.
Q: D&I work should be present in all facets of an organization: from recruitment to sales and product development. We have been glad to see that in Finland more and more companies do D&I mappings to better understand their current challenges and strengths and use this data to plan their D&I work. Another new area we see companies focus more on is customers and collaboration partners. Do these topics sound familiar to you in Slovakia, or are there other hot topics?
D&I mappings are definitely on the rise. Companies want to know where they stand. That is why we created our self-assessment tool called Diversity Index. I would say that D&I in stakeholder relations has not been the topic of interest yet. The focus has been almost exclusively on employees and external communications. However, I remember that a couple of years ago a telecommunication company trained their sales personnel on how to be more inclusive towards their clients.
Q: We know from research that D&I work is most efficient when there are clear responsibility structures in place. However, in Finland very few organizations have full-time D&I professionals to advance the work. How is it in Slovakia? Is it common to have a D&I leader in place?
Also in this regard, Slovakia is very similar to Finland and Estonia too. The D&I agenda is often in the hands of passionate HR managers and adds to their regular workload. We have a very few formal D&I managers. And yes, there is a clear correlation between this and the quality, depth and efficiency of the D&I agenda. The worst, but unfortunately very common, case is that D&I is assigned solely to external communication managers as a task to show that “yes, we support diversity”.
Q: We have really enjoyed having you visit us at Includia. You have given us many new ideas and a long list of book recommendations! What learnings will you bring home from your Erasmus + stay?
I am taking a bunch of tips on specific D&I topics, event formats, as well as useful insights related to D&I mappings. I very much enjoyed the opportunity to meet experts in the field and our mutual sharing. At Includia, I’m not sure what impressed me the most: your profound research-based knowledge and attention to every detail, or your style of work based on careful listening, empathy and respect. Of course, it was a perfect mixture of all these elements with great conversations about literature during lunch breaks as a bonus. Thank you very much for having me and I hope we stay in touch!