PENTATEAMS TRAINING SYSTEM IS FINALLY HERE
As the partnership enters the second year of the project, we are proud to present to the international VET training community PENTATEAMS Training System for managers on inclusive team building.
2025 opened with a stark change of route from some of the biggest companies in the world regarding their policies of D&I: Amazon, Meta, McDonalds, Ford and Toyota are only some of the big names that have backed down from DEI policies and Equality Indexes in the last six months. And while many argue that some of these companies’ commitment to gender and race equality was thin to begin with, it’s clear that a global political shift to the right has proved the perfect occasion to abandon progressive policies like open support to the LGBTQ+ community and to the POC community.
It’s particularly jarring to see Google-Alphabet in the list drafted by CNBC, since the tech giant had pioneered leadership and team-building research and initiatives through Project Aristotle, which PENTATEAMS is based on. Apparently, DEI training and policies are proving too expensive even for companies that reached 88 billion dollars (Alphabet, +15% on the previous year), 34 billion dollars (Meta, +23% on 2021) and 181 billion dollars (Amazon, +13% on the previous year) in revenues last year, and that predict a similar growth in 2025 due to the implementation of the AI sector.
The international VET community should now be fairly accustomed to hearing such justifications: training is expensive and not all companies are willing to invest in it, especially when results are not obvious from the get-go. In Italy, for example, only one company in four has declared having -and investing in- DEI policies. The recurring question is: what can we gain from DEI training? We are here to offer some insight, and hopefully, some answers to this question.
- There can be no environmental sustainability without social sustainability. UN Global Compact describes social sustainability as the impact a company or business has on the wider community that it interacts with, from labourers to clients to the wider market and society. This impact cannot be measured solely through economic indicators: it includes living standards and quality of life, mental wellbeing, upskilling opportunities, innovation and defence of human rights. Why should companies care about this? If anything, because the public can and will hold companies accountable; and frankly, if history teaches us anything, is that money alone cannot save businesses from the pitfalls of sudden financial crashes. Financial resilience is built through far-sighted initiatives that ensure the resilience of all the components of a business chain; resilience is a matter of community.
- DEI training is easy, because its basis is not rainbow merchandise or “pink-washed” advertisements. DEI helps implement fully meritocratic systems where decision-making and team-leading position are reached by the people genuinely more suited for the roles: equality doesn’t mean treating everyone the same, but acting accordingly so that all the specific obstacles that different people face because of their gender, sexual orientation, race and physical abilities are removed and evened. DEI training helps understand the different places of life people are coming from, and should pave the way for the removal of the barriers, physical and metaphorical, that prevent competent and motivated workers from reaching leadership positions where they can leave a mark.
- DEI is the key for innovation. People from different backgrounds look at things in different ways, have different problem-solving methods and ideas, and can lead companies and businesses to develop innovative strategies and products. It’s the main ingredient of “thinking outside the box”, which proves indispensable for every research sector.
If we have picked your interest, we invite you to look at the PENTATEAMS Training System for yourself, available at this link in 6 languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish, Greek and German.
While global politics shift to more conservative, more intransigent and less inclusive positions, it’s important that Europe solidifies its role as beacon of innovation, inclusion and democracy, a place where everyone feels safe, appreciated, and treated fairly. We are striving to do our part.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Agence Erasmus+ France / Education Formation. Neither the European Union nor the grating authority can be held responsible for them. Project Number: 2023-1-FR01-KA220-VET-000152480
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