On-site Day

The on-site conference will be taking place at SQUARE this year.

Opening of the on-site conference with Prof. Dr. Gudrun Sander and Cawa Younosi

9:30 – 10:15 | St.Gallen | German (with live English interpretation)

Sessions Round 1

10:30 – 12:00 | St.Gallen

Panel:

Empowerment programmes and the role of companies

Prof. Dr. Gudrun Sander, Vera Wemmie, Marc Maurer, Karin Peer and Christina Sandau-Jensen | German

When we talk about under-represented or untapped talent – whether it be women or people from migrant backgrounds, for example – we are not talking about a lack of potential. On the contrary: the potential has long been there. What is often lacking are fair opportunities, visibility, suitable conditions, and sometimes also a genuine willingness to challenge existing structures and ways of thinking.

In this panel session, we will discuss with Vera Wemmie, Marc Maurer, Karin Peer and Christina Sandau-Jensen what makes empowerment programmes successful and effective, what (young) talent is looking for, and where adjustments to structures, culture and mindset are needed within companies to actually harness this existing potential.

Workshop 1:

Challenging sexism – Protection from discrimination and sexual harassment

Dr. Anna-Katrin Heydenreich | German

Sexism is a deeply entrenched societal phenomenon that permeates our workplaces, educational institutions, and private lives, forming the breeding ground on which discrimination and sexual harassment thrive. Compliance with legal safeguards is indispensable, but only a minimum requirement. To address the problem more comprehensively, it is essential to bring the underlying sexist assumptions and habits into awareness and to question them. How can we achieve this?

In this workshop, we explore the spectrum from subtle to overt forms of sexism through concrete case studies in workplace and educational contexts. These forms of sexism can have their greatest impact precisely when they go unrecognized or are accepted as normal. We practice identifying the various forms of sexism and work through the options available to us for challenging them.

In our daily lives, we move through contexts where sensitivity to these phenomena varies considerably, which carries potential for conflict. How can we navigate this in order to create a shared learning space for all of us? To this end, we will exchange our experiences and explore together how we can embrace the challenge and make productive use of tensions that arise.

Workshop 2:

Beyond generational myths: Understanding and effectively managing age diversity

Prof. Dr. Stephan Böhm and Nicole Niedermann| German

Generational labels are widely used in the workplace. While they promise orientation, they also carry risks such as stereotyping and simplistic assumptions about skills, motivation, or willingness to learn. In this interactive workshop, we critically examine popular generational myths and place them in a scientific context.

Prof. Stephan Böhm explains why age, life stage, and work context are often more meaningful than generational affiliation. This perspective is complemented by the experiences of a company that has implemented concrete measures to address age and de-mographic change—sharing challenges, resistance, and key learnings.

The focus is on effective approaches and tools, ranging from age aware work design and permeable development models to intergenerational collaboration and leadership and HR practices free from age based logic. Together, participants reflect on where age related assump-tions shape HR processes and develop practical approaches for successfully dealing with age diversity.

Workshop 3:

Gender diversity in banking – 10 years of measurement, responsibility, and practice

Dr. Ines Hartmann, Jérémie Fleury, David Frey and Guest Speaker | German

What has actually changed in gender diversity within the Swiss banking sector over the past ten years – and why? This workshop makes developments visible, puts them into context, and connects data with lived practice. It is based on a unique HR data set resulting from the long-standing cooperation between Arbeitgeber Banken, Swiss banks, and the Competence Center for Diversity, Disability & Inclusion (CCDI) at the University of St.Gallen.

Insights from CCDI highlight the trends, progress, and untapped potential emerging from ten years of HSG Diversity Benchmarking in the banking sector. In the panel discussion, David Frey (Arbeitgeber Banken) and a bank as a long-standing participant and supporter of the cooperation share how corporate responsibility is translated into action and how transparency and measurement support strategic and operational decision-making. Special attention is given to the practice-oriented program “Together for Inclusion in Banking” and its contribution to sustainable impact.

Participants are invited to reflect on the lessons learned in their own context and to discuss what really works when it comes to advancing gender diversity.

Workshop 4:

From yesterday to tomorrow: Men in leadership roles are shaping equality

Prof. Dr. Julia Nentwich and Dr. Gabriele Schambach | German

In line with the title of this Diversity & Inclusion Week, this session is all about Then, Now, and Next: gender equality in companies and public administrations has been, still is, and will continue to be a goal.

Looking back, we see that equality was regarded as a purely women’s issue, because it affected women. They were disadvantaged, and organisations took care of them. What did this achieve (for us)? What did it prevent (for us)?

Today, equality is still (predominantly) seen as a women’s issue, but there are clear shifts underway: we need to change the conditions and cultures within companies and public administrations — following the motto: Fix the system – not the women. And responsibility for systemic change lies with those in leadership positions — who (still) are mostly men. Equality, however, is not yet taken for granted as a leadership task — but we are working on it: How can men be involved in equality matters? How can barriers and resistance be overcome?

Looking ten years (optimistically) into the future, we will finally have taken a major step forward towards equality: men and women (now present in relevant numbers) in leadership positions will be shaping equality together. Which successes will have become a matter of course as a result? Who will have done what to reach this goal?

In this workshop, research findings as well as consulting experience from companies and public administrations gathered by Leader for Equality will provide the basis for raising and answering these questions.

Together with you / the participants, we will develop the answers interactively and build on them through your experiences and insights.

Insight to impact session: 

From heroic to postheroic leadership: Inclusion as a ley practice

Simon Reber and Isabel Rebling | English

Inclusive leadership rarely fails because of missing values or good intentions. It often falters in everyday moments, when leaders feel pressure to have the answers, give advice too quickly, or step in to “fix” problems for others. This Insight to Impact session invites participants to explore a different leadership mindset: the shift from heroic to a postheroic understanding of leadership.

Drawing on Alpiq’s coaching centric leadership approach, the session focuses on Presence and Curiosity as the core foundations of inclusive leadership. Participants explore how presence and curiosity shape the quality of leadership interactions, and how inclusion is created (or undermined) in what leaders say, ask, and do each day.

Through short inputs, experiential exercises, and peer reflection, the session looks at how inclusion translates into everyday leadership practice in moments such as 1:1s, meetings, feedback conversations, and decision making. Moving beyond one off DE&I actions, the session asks a deeper question: What is the impact of my leadership presence on inclusion, ownership, and growth?

Participants leave with practical coaching tools, a personal reflection, and a small leadership experiment they can immediately apply in their own context.

Panel

Then, now – what’s next? Shaping the future together

Prof. Dr. Gudrun Sander, Elisabeth Michel-Alder, Dalia Goldberger, Yves Hoffmann and Ueli Kunz | German (with live English interpretation)

Gender equality, demographic change and the inclusion of people with disabilities: what did we think, a decade ago, that we could achieve together? Where do we stand today, and which challenges must we overcome in the future? From today’s perspective, which initiatives will carry our vision of greater fairness and participation forward?

Together with experienced pioneers and committed young colleagues, we build a bridge between the experiences of the past ten years and the challenges of the coming decade. In the spirit of “Then, Now, Next.”, we will discuss with Elisabeth Michel-Alder, Dalia Goldberger, Ueli Kunz and Yves Hoffmann which impulses are needed to advance gender equality, demographic change and the inclusion of people with disabilities in a lasting way.

Workshop Round ll

14:45 – 16:15 

Workshop 1:

Inclusion as a growth engine: Lessons of the past 20 years for the AI era

Yves Hoffmann | German

People with disabilities represent 20% of the population, but only 4% of companies actively address them as a talent and customer group. For too long, disability inclusion has been treated as a charitable checkbox rather than a core economic driver.

Drawing on 20 years of experience as the largest inclusion portal in the German-speaking world, this workshop will show this to be significant missed opportunity for businesses and society alike. We will discuss concrete case examples to show how inclusive businesses have outperformed their peers and what your organisation can start doing today to set itself up for the future.

Notably, we will dive into the role of inclusion in today’s talent landscape and show why Silicon Valley is leading the pack in seeking out employees with disabilities to win the AI race.

We will draw upon our own experiences in bringing youth with disabilities into the primary labour market to discuss how organisations can set up a sustainable talent pipeline. Ultimately, we want to problem solve together how we can foster the human qualities upon which competitive advantage will be based and which AI will not be able to replicate.

Workshop 2:

Creating inclusive spaces: How we make collaboration more inclusive

Dr. Miriam Baumgärtner | English

This workshop is built around interactive exercises that make inclusion directly tangible. Participants experiment in groups with different conditions, mindsets, and behaviours, exploring how these shape collaboration and team culture.

Together, we observe and reflect on these experiences and their impact. Based on these insights, we develop inclusive practices that can be applied in participants’ own work environments. The goal is to translate insights into practice, shaping collaboration more consciously and making it step by step more inclusive and effective.

Workshop 3:

AI in the workplace: Who benefits – and under what conditions?

Deana Gariup, Sabine Lehner and Dr. Ines Hartmann | German

Artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally reshaping job tasks, skill requirements, and ways of working. But who benefits from this development – and who struggles to keep up? Initial insights suggest that differences in how employees engage with AI across gender and age groups are less about individual abilities or preferences and more about organisational conditions.

In this Insight to Impact session, we connect academic insights with practical experience. We provide an overview of a joint project by the Competence Center for Diversity, Disability and Inclusion at the University of St.Gallen and the SBB Digitalisation Fund, exploring the perception, use, and impact of AI in the workplace, with a particular focus on gender and age. Together, we discuss how different groups perceive AI, what their specific needs are, and which contextual factors enable a successful and inclusive implementation.

Workshop 4:

Closing the fertility gap: How leaders and organizations can make a difference 

Dr. Anna Brzykcy and Dr. Damiano Urbinello | English

Around 1 in 7 couples in Switzerland experience infertility, meaning they do not conceive after 12 months of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse. At the same time, an increasing number of people are having fewer children than they had hoped for. This growing fertility gap is shaped by a combination of biological, social, and workplace factors—including delayed parenthood, age-related fertility decline, financial uncertainty, career demands, and organizational cultures. 

Join researchers, medical experts, and business leaders to explore the latest evidence on fertility and family planning, challenge common misconceptions, and discuss why the fertility gap continues to widen. Together, we will identify practical actions that organizations, leaders, and policymakers can take to better support employees throughout their fertility journeys and create inclusive workplaces. 

Workshop 5:

Entrepreneurship inclusive: Inclusive Leadership through Reverse Mentoring

Thomas Heymel and Dr. Louisa Riess | German

Inclusive leadership is increasingly regarded as a key success factor for companies. In this interactive workshop, we present the findings of a scientifically evaluated reverse mentoring program and demonstrate the effects observed among participating executives. The focus lies particularly on changes in attitudes, developments in resilience, and implications for innovative behavior.

We reflect on the mechanisms underlying these changes. In addition, we discuss, using successful best-practice examples, the key design principles that can support sustainable implementation and how these can be adapted to different organizational contexts.

Our goal in this workshop is to reflect on concrete approaches for fostering innovative learning formats within participants’ own organizations. The workshop is aimed at executives, HR professionals, and anyone seeking to effectively advance sustainable development formats within their organization.

Workshop 6:

Building the skills for what’s next: Exploring drag as a tool for personal & business transformation

Betty Business | English

Human skills like creativity, curiosity, leadership & social influence and resilience will play a crucial role in the AI-era. The problem: Decades of corporate culture have normed and deformed our human skills.

In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore how we can unlearn our normed business performance and strengthen our human skills in a playful and embodied way – by wondering who we’d be as a drag queen.

Join Betty Business for a powerful and queer approach to AI upskilling that is truly transformative.

Aperitif

from 16:45 Uhr

The on-site conference will be taking place at SQUARE this year.