The Adecco Foundation celebrated its XX Anniversary at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid in the presence of honorary presidents, Their Majesties The King and The Queen of Spain, as well as the Minister for Employment, Migration and Social Security, Magdalena Valerio Cordero.
In this context, CEOE President Antonio Garamendi, Adecco Foundation President Enrique Sánchez and Adecco Foundation trustee José Isaías Rodríguez unveiled the #CEOPorLaDiversidad Alliance and signed a commitment by the top CEOs to promote diversity policies at their companies. The move saw 60 CEOs from some of the biggest companies active in Spain decide to join the Adecco Foundation and the CEOE Foundation at this event to publicly pledge their commitment.
This Alliance seeks to bring together CEOs from Spain’s leading companies around a common and innovative vision of diversity, equity and inclusion (D & I). They will act as both drivers and ambassadors, aiming to advance the development of strategies that contribute to corporate excellence, the competitiveness of talent in Spain and the reduction of inequality and exclusion within Spanish society.
Magdalena Valerio, Minister of Employment, Migration and Social Security, stressed that this alliance “reinforces and confirms the role of company management in promoting diversity and inclusion strategies from the top, through research, exchange, and developing and fostering strategies and good business practices to favour diversity, equity and inclusion.”
For Magdalena Valerio, these strategies are fundamental to “achieving the decent employment objectives for dignified work which enables the development of one’s skills in compliance with labour principles and rights free of gender-based or any other kind of discrimination.”
Navantia president, Susana de Sarriá, who has signed up to the #CEOPorLaDiversidad Alliance, has reiterated this public company’s firm commitment to the fundamental values of diversity, equity and inclusion, as they enrich the company and strengthen its competitiveness. As such, she pledges to promote diversity strategies within companies, get the Management Committee involved and create a common vision of diversity.
According to Managing Director of the Adecco Foundation Francisco Mesonero, “the challenge is to hold diversity up as the essence of a new paradigm for leadership and inclusive business strategy. If we learn how to take full advantage of and manage it properly, we’ll create more competitive businesses in a global context like what we have today.”
President of the Adecco Foundation, Enrique Sánchez explained, “companies have a basic role to play in contributing to the well-being of all people in our society. Our Foundation considers dignity a fundamental value on which any business decision must be based.” Addressing the CEOs in attendance, Enrique Sánchez acknowledged, “being a leader of a great company like yours is difficult because decisions must be made which have an impact on thousands of people in our country. That’s why placing value on diversity and inclusion will help us make better decisions and ensure our companies are more valuable to society, more competitive and sustainable.”
CEOE president Antonio Garamendi said, “the goal for all companies should be not having to talk about diversity and inclusion because they are already part of our DNA. The key to that is putting people at the heart of the business. When we talk about SDGs, we’re talking about people and 70% of these Goals are businesses’ responsibility.”
Joaquín Nieto, head of the ILO Office for Spain, explained, “the launch of the #CEOPorLaDiversidad Alliance is further proof of the promising results we can achieve when we merge our efforts to help make sure economic growth is sustained, inclusive and sustainable, as set out by the United Nations 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals.”
