Betriebliche Diversitätsstrategien in Deutschland
This report examines voluntary diversity strategies in Germany and analyses the impact of these strategies from both an employee and a business perspective. Based on data from the Linked Personnel Panel, a representative employer-employee data set of private sector establishments with more than 50 employees liable to social security, the report provides a first descriptive overview of the incidence and topics of such strategies in German firms.
Using regressions with structural controls as well as a difference-in-differences approach, little evidence for the effectiveness of these strategies can be found. In terms of company composition, employee recruitment and employee retention, the report shows no differences between companies with and without diversity strategies.
The limited evidence presented on the effectiveness of diversity strategies relates to measures that directly describe how employees perceive discrimination in the workplace. No differences are found between employees in workplaces with and without diversity policies in terms of perceived job
satisfaction and a range of other outcomes that are important from an employee's perspective.
Overall, the analyses in the report thus show little scope for the effectiveness of diversity strategies, at least in the considered time frame of five survey waves ranging from the years 2012 to 2021.
