Month: February 2020

WORKPLACE DIVERSITY

In the era of globalised economy and exponentially increasing market competition, workplace diversity is the only mechanism employers can use to benefit from all of their employees’ potential while also building an inclusive work culture. Although the latter is often considered as a requirement for success, many companies still find it difficult to implement.

Each and every one of us is comprised of various complex identity perceptions that affect not only the way we perceive ourselves but also how others see us. Moreover, an important part of our identity is comprised of personal circumstances which we have no influence over – sex, race, nationality (as well as disability, sexual orientation, etc.). If we feel at odds with the majority of our workplace due to one of these circumstances, it can become a personal issue. A research conducted by Catalyst in the USA in 2014,[1] examining the feeling of otherness and its effect on the opportunities, advancement and aspirations of employees, paints a thought-provoking picture. When a person develops feelings of otherness, their opportunities of advancement and chances of accessing senior-level mentors within the work process (or entering mentorship schemes in general) diminish. Furthermore, such individuals also face the probability of lowering self-expectations and expectations within their workplace. Women participants who have experienced feelings of otherness were nearly twice as likely to have reported a “great” or “very great” negative impact on their career due to the lack of participation in visible projects that would have advanced their career. According to the findings of the research, these women attribute the lack of career advancement opportunities to their personal identity circumstances. In addition, women who felt racially or ethnically different in their workplace were more likely to downsize their career aspirations within a given organisation.

To ensure inclusivity, an employee’s workplace (including their co-workers and superiors) has to communicate two things: (1) that the employee is valued for their unique capabilities and (2) that despite their personal circumstances, they belong in the workplace. Catalyst cites four characteristics that are key for an inclusive leader – EACH (empowerment, acknowledgement, courage, humility). A good leader empowers employees, acknowledging their good practices and encouraging excellency in work; he/she is capable of humility, admitting their mistakes and ensuring they are part of a normal working process. Furthermore, a good and inclusive leader shows courage, performs in spite of all (personal) burdens and obstacles, passing such an attitude onto others as well. He/she takes on new tasks, takes risks in order to achieve higher goals, while at the same time encouraging their employees to do the same. Finally, what makes a good and inclusive leader is the ability to recognize their team’s good work and present it as such publicly.

Due to the prevalence of organisational culture within most institutions, there is still a long way to go before inclusive working environments become the norm. In the process of achieving inclusivity, obtaining and implementing the GEMA certificate can be of great help to you and your organisation. In order to transform your current workplace into an inclusive one and your senior employees into inclusive leaders, you certainly need some degree of courage which will pay off. Implementing the GEMA certificate will increase your market competitiveness by enabling your employees to present their new ideas on an equal basis, allowing them to feel better in their workplace, therefore also working more efficiently. What is more, the culture of your organisation will change throughout the process as well. Only such an innovative and dynamic work environment will enable you to maintain the finest personnel, while also attracting new candidates. Implementing GEMA brings gender-neutral ways of creating inclusive workplaces, which in turn enables the improvement of work processes and general mood of your employees.

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[1] The reasearch “Report: Feeling Different: Being “The Other” in the US Workplace” can be accessed at: https://www.catalyst.org/research/feeling-different-being-the-other-in-us-workplaces/.

Physical certificates are hard to store, display, distribute and verify. In order to ease its management, we pioneered GEMA as a blockchain certificate in partnership with 0xcert, a Slovene blockchain tech company. How will this benefit you or your company?

Digitalisation and easy verification

GEMA as a digital blockchain certificate is easy to manage. Digitalisation allows for a simple and efficient way of verifying the certificate’s authenticity and validity. Imagine how much time and paperwork you can save by applying to a call for tender with a digitalised certificate.

Preventing misuse/counterfeits

As soon as the GEMA certificate is written into the blockchain, it is impossible to modify it retrospectively, which effectively prevents its misuse.

Transparency and traceability

Blockchain allows for complete transparency and traceability of the distributed certificates, ensuring they were issued by the Gender Equality Research Institute, the only credible issuer of the GEMA certificate.

Credibility

The key effect that these benefits have is the credibility brought to the relationship with your clients and business partners by trustworthy and verifiable digital certificates, such as the GEMA blockchain certificate.

GEMA blockchain certificate can be purchased/obtained through Evidenspace platform, which is easy to use and does not require pre-existing technical blockchain knowledge.

Purchasing process

1. By clicking on this link, you will be taken to the Evidenspace platform, where you can add the “GEMA blockchain certificate” product into your basket.
2. Register before you continue with the purchase.
3. Create a digital wallet (with your username and password) or connect with your digital wallet if you already have one.
4. Finish your purchase with a credit card.
5. Wait until the Gender Equality Research Institute (issuer) verifies and approves your certificate.

Visualisation

By embedding the GEMA digital blockchain certificate in your website or e-mail signature you can enable easy verification for your customers. On the physical certificate, there is a QR code which takes you to the blockchain guarantee of authenticity verification when scanned.

Technical background

Evidenspace platform uses blockchain technology as its base. Although this technology is highly complex, it is skillfully hidden in the background of the platform and does not restrict an amateur user from utilising Evidenspace.

The platform is built on Ethreum, a public blockchain infrastructure. This enables the distribution and management of non-fungible tokens (standard ERC-721), digital duplicates of unique physical licenses, such as certificates, diplomas, guarantees of origin, guarantees of authenticity and others.

The issuer of GEMA certificate, Gender Equality Research Institute, issues the blockchain certificate through its business profile on the Evidenspace platform. The certificate is issued as a non-fungible token, which is transferred from the digital wallet of the issuer to the digital wallet of the certificate recipient, based on a smart contract.

Each certificate is defined with metadata, such as the recipient’s name, issue date, expiration date, a unique number, etc. Metadata is encrypted in a 64-digit code within each non-fungible token in the blockchain.

Looking towards the future

Intangible ownership

Blockchain technology is the first in history to offer intangible ownership in the digital world. Often, individuals are not the actual owners of their data or original files and documents they receive. These are actually owned by companies or third parties who store and manage the data on their centralised servers, which can lead to its loss or misuse. By using blockchain infrastructure, all your non-fungible tokens (e .g. certificates and other data) can be stored in a digital wallet which can only be accessed by you.

Digital identity of the company

Various certificates, such as ISO, EKO, credit excellence, GEMA certificate, Family Friendly Enterprise, etc. make up a company’s identity, influencing the way companies build relationships with their partners and clients. By combining trustworthy blockchain certificates, we are creating a digital identity of your company which will reaffirm its credibility to the client.