ARAG’s Corporate Journal features Cultural diversity

How does cultural diversity look like in everyday business life inside a company? This is what the cover story of the latest ARAG company journal is about. Under the heading ‘Living Diversity’, the main article provides insights into practical D&I experiences at ARAG, a leading German insurance group with subsidiaries in 13 European countries. In addition, the Journal interviewed Diversity expert Michael Stuber about the business potential of cultural diversity. Another story shows the International future of the company.

In his Editorial ‘Diverse, United, and Strong’, Paul-Otto Faßbender, Chairman of the Management Board at ARAG Group, states that more and more people with different cultural backgrounds are working together at ARAG. His core insight from practical work is as simple as powerful: Diverse teams are finding better solutions for problems. Hence, he stresses the importance to continue to promote Diversity in the company.

Two articles illustrate the multicultural topic of the cover story. The leading article ‘Living Diversity’ vividly describes how cultural Diversity can already be experienced in the company’s everyday life and portrays some employees and managers with different cultural background working at ARAG. The story talks about multiculturalism as well as bi- or multilingualism both from a customer or market perspective and from a workplace point of view. Redouane Raki, department analyst in asset allocation, is a native Moroccon and points out: “It’s so refreshing to experience multicultural interaction. We not only enjoy a beautiful language, but also realize that our differences enrich us all. That makes the working environment even more attractive.”

The article reports that ARAG experiences overall positive effects and increased customer satisfaction from internationally composed teams. Furthermore, the author highlights the importance of values like openness and fairness for ARAG’s corporate principals and hence shows how D&I relates to the firm’s fundamental values. Another story in the Journal talks about the ARAG Awards that go to teams that exemplify the company’s values in an outstanding way.

An expert interview with Diversity guru, Michael Stuber, provides an external perspective. He explains the need for a pro-active Diversity Management with greater international mobility and from differentiation within societies. “For companies, this means that their employees, customers, shareholders and business partners are more diversified than ever“, Stuber summarises. Diversity must hence be considered as an already existing fact and not as an option. His answer to the question about the business benefits of cultural diversity refers to the empirical evidence showing that mixed groups generate better solution and hence contribute to better firm performance under the condition that diversity is valued and effectively managed.

The full interview with Michael Stuber can be downloaded exclusively from this website.