Katy Roewer on D&I at OTTO: “We have to continuously protect what we have achieved”
Warum Vielfalt und Teilhabe für OTTO zur Unternehmenskultur gehören
Katy, OTTO has been actively committed to Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) for ten years. Why is diversity part of the company?
OTTO was and is a family business. This goes hand in hand with a strong commitment to values, which has always been carried into the organization and continued by management. Taking responsibility is part of our DNA - responsibility for the environment, but also social responsibility. OTTO has always focused its activities on people. Active and equal participation, fairness and respect for one another are therefore firmly rooted in our value system. I am very proud that we have anchored our commitment to diversity in our company for ten years now and that we are continuously expanding our commitment in this area.
What do diversity and equal opportunities mean to you?
That everyone can follow their own path in life without being disadvantaged or limited in their opportunities. I personally grew up in the DDR. A political system in which it was normal to deny people many of their freedoms. At the same time, I often had to deal with reservations because of my background. There are still many people out there who are treated like this every day and in many cases, of course, much worse. People who experience discrimination or inequality because of their origin, gender or sexual orientation, for example. I believe we have a responsibility to enable employees to follow their own personal path in life and to reconcile this with their job on an equal footing and without restrictions.
What dimensions does diversity include at OTTO?
Another focus dimension is ethnic origin and nationality. Here, for example, the aim is to attract and retain international talents by creating an open corporate culture, establishing multilingualism and promoting intercultural communication.
Beyond this, however, we also consider aspects such as sexual orientation, religion and ideology, age diversity and social background.
What do you think are the biggest milestones on OTTO's D&I journey so far?
In 2014, we set the basis for our D&I activities with our panel discussion “Diversity at OTTO”, where we brought the topic into the organization across the board for the first time. We recognized the relevance of fathers very early on when it comes to enabling families to have different life paths and models. That's why we launched our cooperation with Conpadres in the same year. In 2016, we founded our first internal network, Plan F, which deals with topics such as financial independence for women, women in IT and returning from parental leave. Numerous networks, e.g. against racism, for LGBTQIA+ visibility and age diversity, were to follow. In 2019, we combined these with the Otto Group in the Board of Diversity Networks (BODN) to facilitate an ideal exchange and joint projects.
In the same year, we became the first Hamburg-based company to become a member of the Diversity Charter, which we had already signed in 2012. The Transidentity Guide and our D&I Report were also important milestones in making our activities even more visible and transparent.
How are you looking at current socio-political developments?
Isn't it becoming increasingly risky to position yourself as a company in the social discourse?
The times we live in clearly show why it is worth standing up for the rights and equality of every individual every day. The global political developments of recent years have not only revealed that we as a society have still not achieved true equality of opportunity, but also that progress in this area cannot be taken for granted. Instead, we must continuously protect and defend what we have achieved. And that means taking a stand. Becoming apolitical is the wrong direction. We will continue to get involved and hope that as many companies as possible will do the same.
Thank you very much, Katy.
