OTTO strengthens its diversity networks

Ulrike Andraschak founded the new board. The 38-year-old has been responsible for diversity management at OTTO since 2017 and has since launched collaborations with the Diversity Charter and PROUT AT WORK, among others. The political scientist is also an advocate for diversity and against exclusion within the company.

An overarching board for OTTO networks

"Diversity is a mainstay for me in many ways today, not just at OTTO, but at many corporations," she says. "Employee-led networks are playing an increasingly important role. They make diversity even more visible, always ask critical questions, and are thus an important part of our cultural change. The establishment of our overarching board is intended to promote visibility as well as synergies of the networks more strongly and increase collaboration with top management." As a central voice, the new board will in future bundle the interests of the diversity networks both internally and externally. OTTO Divisional Director Katy Roewer and Head of HR Susanne Heinrichs are also permanent members of the board, and representatives from HR and other departments can also be invited on a topic-related basis.

The basis for OTTO's involvement in the networks is a new playbook developed by Diversity Management, which defines the rules for networking. Among other things, it recommends that participation in networks should take place during working hours, in consultation with the respective manager.

Four diversity networks at OTTO

In addition to the Fe*Male network PLAN F and the queer network MORE*, members of the new BODN include OTTO's fathers' network and #experienced, which is explicitly aimed at employees over 50. "I am very pleased that we networks will be able to bundle and coordinate our activities even more in the future," says Dr. Leonie Koch, who as co-founder of #experienced is also a member of the new Board of Diversity Networks. The #experienced network is all about representing the interests of older employees and raising awareness of future developments: "Age is also a dimension of diversity, but unfortunately one that is often forgotten or dismissed as irrelevant. Yet, on the one hand, because of the shortage of skilled workers, and on the other hand, because of modern forms of work, digitization and the continuous need to learn, we as a company must take much greater care not to lose our colleagues in their 50s and 60s. The probability that we will all work longer and longer in the future is relatively high. This makes it all the more important for companies to adapt their measures accordingly at an early stage: that way, we can gather experience today for future generations as well."