One year ago, Volkswagen supported CSD for the first time. Has diversity also become more important in everyday life?
Elke Heitmüller: Our offensive for respect, tolerance and living diversity is very visible in the company. This also has to do with the fact that we advertise this at events such as the CSD event. The LGBTIQ* and friends network is growing. Since CSD 2019, other Group brands such as SEAT have joined.
Thore Masekowitz: More and more heterosexual employees are also becoming involved in the network, which makes me very happy as a network representative. They want to work in a culture in which gender, origin and sexual orientation play no role. There is strong support for this.
How do you make it stick?
Elke Heitmüller: The Diversity Team receives many requests from colleagues who want to support our work. They want to know what they can do in their department. The requests come from all areas of the company.
Thore Masekowitz: Our “we drive proud” T-shirts are a good example. Employees recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for them. In addition, developers* from the Digital Lab in Berlin have designed a digital rainbow Volkswagen flag that can be placed over your own profile picture as a symbol of diversity, for example on Linkedin or Facebook.