Is there a small or medium business (SME) that does NOT need to care about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)?
Written by Aušrinė Šilenskytė
This question was really important to answer from the start of the project and that is why we searched for the cases that could challenge our thinking and positive attitude to the DEI. This question was also essential when DEI4SME team was defining their stakeholders and target audience of the project's outcomes. Thus, we decided to investigate some company cases that, based on some initial assumptions, would be unlikely to benefit from DEI or would unlikely be interested in managing DEI.
We thought, maybe such firm could be something like a small local brewery that fosters deep traditions and that is located in a relatively small city within a very culturally homogenous country such as Finland?
To test our assumption, we visited brewery that is exactly like that – Bock's corner in Vaasa, Finland. Bock’s corner brews local beer, using local materials (even bread comes from a local bakery in Vaasa). The brewery sells its beers only locally in its local shop and several local supermarkets. The brewery strongly promotes circular economy, i.e., a business model where waste is reduced as much as possible and production cycle is closed – all waste materials are recycled or reused (e.g., what remains from brewing becomes animal food or is composted to become fertilizer), electricity is produced locally from the renewable sources, etc.
In such closed local ecosystem, we thought an SME would surely not need to care about diversity and inclusion. But we were wrong! It appears, diversity was in every corner of the brewery and inclusion was managed excellently to ensure business hsuccess.
It appeared, that brewing master in the brewery is German who is married to a local Finnish woman, and therefore happily found his new home in Finland. Equipment for brewing comes from Austria – exactly the region where DEI4SME Austrian partners are residing – Austrian province of Styria. Local shop in the brewery sells not only beer, but other locally produced products – ecological vegetables grown in a local farm nearby Vaasa owned by an Indian, many handcrafts made by crafts people – migrants from different countries, including Ukraine. Because Bock’s corner is loved not only by the beer lovers, but also by families who bring their kids to feed bocks (goats grown in front of the brewery building), the brewery has a selection of non-alcoholic drinks, suitable for families, but also for those whose religion advocates against alcohol consumption. The staff of the brewery is of different ages, gender identifications, and nationalities, and at least three languages – Finnish, Swedish (the second national language representing the biggest cultural minority in Finland), and nglish – are spoken in the brewery on a daily basis.
Conclusion from our visit: diversity and inclusion matters, even for small or medium and very local business, even in a small location within a very homogenous country. There are many diversity dimensions that every business has to consider to achieve success through inclusion of their workforce and their customers.
