Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is becoming a ‘license to play’ for corporations. Earlier this year, BCG helped Grundfos understand their DE&I starting point and define a strategy and an action plan for the years ahead.
It is not often we get to lift the veil of client confidentiality and share details on what we help our clients with. However, our recent DE&I work with Grundfos is different, and I had the chance to sit down with Martina & Jakob, two of the BCG consultants who were part of the work, to learn more about the project.
First off, why is diversity, equity & inclusion important for modern companies? What do companies that excel on DE&I gain relative to companies that don’t?
“DE&I is becoming a ‘license to play’ for corporations. Young professionals are actively looking for employers, who have DE&I engrained into their DNA by showing bold ambitions and strong traction on progress. The latter is critical – employees and investors simply don’t accept half-backed statements any longer”, Martina explained, before Jakob added:
“I agree – and by now it is widely accepted that greater performance on diversity measures translates to a range of positive business outcomes, including financial performance. I have been surprised to learn how well engrained this notion is throughout senior leadership; they don’t need the ‘why’ – they are ready for the ‘how’ “
How did BCG support the DE&I at Grundfos? Which steps were involved, and what was the outcome?
“The project was a two-phased effort, where we first did a diagnostic based on quantitative and qualitative input, and then developed concrete actions for Grundfos to work with, bundled in five core diversity themes”, Jakob described before Martina continued:
“Exactly, and here it was very important to secure a solid data foundation. We analyzed HR data, surveyed more than 4,000 employees globally and conducted focus group interviews with different employee segments to understand their situation and perspectives. Based on that, we developed a recommendation on concrete actions and designed a roadmap for Grundfos’ DE&I journey. By laying out the objective facts, it became a much stronger and sustainable message to get across to the organization”
On the Grundfos website, you can read more about the concrete DE&I ambitions, themes and initiatives resulting from the work.
And how would you describe the collaboration between Grundfos & BCG?
“Working as a consultant is much easier when the clients are super engaged. While we brought a lot of expertise and facts to the table, the activities and development plans were all developed based on input from Grundfos’ own people who were very actively involved throughout the project. A really enjoyable and collaborative process!”, Jakob explained
Now, looking back on the work with Grundfos, what are your most important learnings? What is one thing about DE&I that everyone should know?
“How important ‘inclusion’ is to DE&I. You may have a super diverse group of people, but inclusion is the key to unlock the value behind diverse perspectives and mindsets. Companies often overfocus on tackling DE&I through recruiting, but the journey doesn’t stop there”, Martina outlined, before clarifying:
“It crucial to think about the full employee lifecycle and how to make an inclusive workplace – even with the smallest efforts. The project really opened my eyes to how minor actions can be exclusive even though that was not their intention at all. It’s so important that employees feel safe and able to speak up, otherwise all their diverse thoughts go to waste”
“Exactly – the point about all the minor, unintentionally excluding actions is essential. And another key learning was that everybody should recognize and accept the fact that people are at different stages in their DE&I maturity, and that it’s just the reality that we need to work with”, Jakob added.
Finally, how has it been working on a social impact project? Is it something you would actively seek to do more of in the future?
“It’s so motivating! At BCG, we help clients solve different types of complex problems related to their business every single day, but this project definitely reached a new level of meaningfulness for me, personally. I would do this type of project again in a heartbeat!”, Martina explained
Fortunately, our work with Grundfos is not a stand-alone social impact project. At BCG Copenhagen, social impact work is an integrated part of our office, covering topics such as climate change, gender equality, integration, and, as in the Grundfos work, DE&I. In this article, we have gathered a short perspective on what social impact work we do, why we do it and how we do it. If you are interested in learning more about our Social Impact work or BCG Copenhagen more generally, feel free to get in touch.
Martina Ianev is a Consultant at BCG’s Copenhagen office. She joined BCG in November 2019 and holds a Master’s in International Business and Politics from Copenhagen Business School (CBS) and a double degree in CEMS in International Management from CBS and Università Bocconi
Jakob Terkildsen is an Associate at BCG’s Copenhagen office. He joined BCG in October 2020 and holds a Master’s degree in Applied Economics & Finance from Copenhagen Business School
