"It's cool to be different," says Beata Molska, Head of Human Resources at Xella Poland. "to keep this topic alive in the organization, it is important to get all managers on board. Valuing difference has to become part of the mindset for every part of us." For Beata Molska it is clear: "Only an organization with more tolerance, more understanding and big openness is a good employer." How far advanced Xella Poland is on the way to achieving this goal is evidenced by its participation in a prestigious competition, where the HR team described its projects implementing a D&I culture in the organization.

"We work on this with all colleagues and managers on three content levels: It's about knowledge, it's about skills and behaviour, and it's about active participation in these goals in the company."

The appreciation of cultural differences and internationality, heterogeneous professional competences, experiences and age groups, as well as a balanced relationship between the genders lead to an enormous wealth of perspectives. An international analysis of more than 1,000 companies in 15 countries by the consultancy McKinsey proves the influence of inclusion and diversity on business success. Companies with a high level of gender diversity have a 25 percent, and thus significantly greater, probability of being more profitable than average.

Xella also attaches great importance to employee training, including diversity: every year, the training hours per capita increase by 15 percent. The company itself also benefits D&I politics - Xella Poland is considered an attractive employer. We try to recruit people who share similar values. This is the reason why the question of how well a potential new employee fits into the Xella team is an important point in every job interview.

Diversity is a simple word for a complex undertaking. It is about valuing all people equally, regardless of their social or ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age or health.

Cognitive bias and blind spots in one's own perception can get in the way of inclusion and openness to diversity. Cognitive bias is the term used to describe systematically faulty tendencies in perceiving, remembering, thinking and judging. All people see and evaluate situations through a programmed filter. This is why it is so important to become aware of our own biases and thought patterns.

"This is also part of our tasks", says Beata Molska, "we use a big toolbox for this". This includes trainings and webinars like the "Friday Cup of Inspiration".

Just as important as diversity is inclusion. This refers to the extent to which organisations include all employees in the same way and give them the same opportunities for development.

Diversity has many faces. One often comes up short, finds Beata Molska. "We need more jobs for people with disabilities in Poland in general. It is certainly more difficult in production than in the office. But there, these employees can, for example, offer a very good telephone customer service or work remotely from home as IT employees, where they have everything set up optimally for their needs. It is crucial to support each disabled employee individually in his or her work process."

Gender diversity, on the other hand, is a controversial issue in Poland. "Especially in small towns, support for the queer community is rather weak. This makes it all the more important for us to make it clear in our administration and our eleven production sites: Xella values the diversity of our employees, regardless of sexual identity, age or skin colour," says Beata Molska.