Hungarian Business Leaders Forum – Diversity Week in Hungary
date: 26/06/2019
Contact: Hungarian Diversity Charter
2019 HBLF Diversity Week opening program was hosted at the residency of H.E. Rene van Hell Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands. The Ambassador together with H.E. Borbala Czako the President of HBLF welcomed the participants. They both joined the opening panel and shared their experiences with the audience. The opening panel also included Deputy Ambassador of Sweden Katarina Szecsi Asbrink and Heineken Hungary CEO Geert Swaanenburg. Lots of valuable examples and best practices were shared as well as challenges of inclusion. The second panel was moderated by Márta Pálfalvi. Human Resource and Corporate Affairs Director of Heineken Hungary who introduced Daniel Maczonkai, the Diversity and Inclusion Ambassador of Heineken Hungary. The panel had participants from multinational companies as well as SMEs. Lively discussions kept the 35+ participants engaged throughout the event.
Photos of the event are available:
Shell Hungary zRt. hosted two events during the Diversity Week. May 22 in the morning with 30+ participants “Unconscious Bias” training was held. During the opening Andrea Solti Istenesné Human Resource Manager CEE, Country HR Manager Czech, Hungary, Slovakia, Board Member of Shell Hungary zRt. welcomed the participants and stressed the importance of the subject. The trainer Ágota Bíró, Employee Inspiration Lead, Emarsys has introduced the notion of hidden assumptions and prejudices in everyone and how they affect the daily functioning of individuals, teams and organizations. The participants were given lots of valuable exercises and examples. The participants gained an insight into how these assumptions determine people's decisions and recognized why it is important to understand this concept in order to better understand the possibility of creating equal opportunities in the workplace. The participants got tips on how to control the negative effects of our assumptions individually and in organizations (recruitment, promotion, compensation). Through the sharing of practical experience in training, participants could jointly consider the experience of diversity management in their own organization and how to introduce knowledge of non-conscious prejudices. The participants expressed interest to have more targeted Unconscious trainings in the future.
Photos of the event are available here:
HBLF Diversity Week continued in the afternoon with the launch of the 2019/2020 HBLF-BWN Mentor Program at Shell Hungary zRt. Andrea Bujdosó Shell Hungary zRt. Country Chair & Chairman of the Board welcomed with H.E. Borbála Czakó HBLF President the 50+ participants (facilitators, mentors, mentees and observers) The program was originally launched in 2017, at that time has been attended by 15 pairs (mentors and mentees) who worked together for a year to achieve the goals each pair set at the beginning of the program together. The program was well received by the participating pairs. The mentors were supportive and had time for meetings, friendships and cooperation. The HBLF mentors and mentees were acknowledged and gained valuable experience through the process. Building on the success of this program, in 2019, the HBLF announced its inter-company women's mentor program again with the aim to support the development of female leaders and promote gender-based participation in leadership. This initiative gives value to the participating HBLF companies and Diversity Charter signatories. The program also encourages the development mentoring competencies and helps to launch similar programs within the participating companies. After a short introduction of the mentors and the mentees the program continued with a series of “rapid dates” facilitated by dr. Andrea Juhos Managing Partner, Lee Hecht Harrison Hungary and Tímea Csontos OD Consultant, Purpose & Company. The aim of the event was to prepare mentors and mentees to get to know each other professionally and personally and to prepare the best possible pairs based on sympathy and professional interest. The program lasts for 1.5 years, during which the 22 mentor/mentee pairs organizes meetings every two months.
The pictures taken at the event are available here:
The closing event of the HBLF Diversity Week was hosted by Melanie Seymour, CEO of BlackRock. The closing event was back to back with the Hungarian Business Leaders Forum General Assembly the 202020minimum20 HBLF Women's Forum had Melanie Seymour of BlackRock as its special guest and through a “mini-hard talk” facilitated by H.E. Borbála Czakó HBLF President, she shared her experiences in Hungary. H.M.A. Iain Lindsay British Ambassador to Hungary was special guest of the evening, lots of discussions and networking opportunity followed the events. The pictures taken at the event are available here: https://hblf.hu/esemenyek/sokszinuseg_hete_-_hblf_-_blackrock_-_hblf_kozgyules_-_202020minimum20_noforum_rendezveny.448.html?pageid=11
The Hungarian Diversity Charter Signatories organized several other programs during the week while some decided to move the date to June and organize it for a whole week in their company for their employees. These reports will be prepared at a later stage and would be summarized for the next newsletter (s). In the 2019 Diversity Week Calendar, the events of some of the signing companies are listed.